June 28, 2024 Coats Museum News
How many of you have heard the expression-It’s where so and so “use to be”? With the tremendous growth occurring all around us, that expression will surely be said as we share with family or friends coming to visit us from distant points and talking about a particular new restaurant or school new to the area.
Just last night one of my best friends, Linda Cobb, and I were talking about old houses on Highway 27 which “use to be” Highway 40 and has always gone by her (Pollard) Cobb house. Linda shared where the road “use to be” when she was very young. She said it “use to be” a part of the current Delma Grimes Road. Linda recalled that where the curve is in the road is where it went through the woods and came out below her house in the area of Kenneth Pollard’s house. My good friend, Judy Williams Ennis, who grew up on the now Delma Grimes Road had shared with me several years ago similar info on the path of the old road. Just this past week the Williams house was taken down and now folks will say that is where Judy Williams Ennis’s house “use to be”.
It would be in 1949 when Herbert Johnson and other landowners with property from the today Ebenezer Church Road gave up farmland for the new section of road. This road “use to be Highway 40”, but now it’s Highway 27. Do you know when the number name was changed?
Let’s revisit an article in the Dunn Dispatch from the March 9, 1949 edition. The article wrote that Harnett County was to gain 200 miles of roads from the $200 million-road bond issue IF it passed. If not, then the county would only get 10 miles of new roads. Petitions were heard by the HCBOC for a road in Grove, a stretch on “Highway 40” forming a link between Black River and Coats. Does that sound familiar? Is that another “use to be”? Is that when the name changed?
This I do know. The Coats Area Chamber of Commerce focused on Peede Sanitation Service. David Peede had a fleet of rural garbage pickup trucks that served a broad area in Harnett, Johnston and Wake Counties. The company was founded in 1981 and had its headquarters on the Old Stage Road. Gwen Flowers Peede, Mr. Peede’s wife, was business manager. She was the daughter of the late Neatice and Gwen Flowers. Mr. Peede had had a stroke in 1992 and was disabled and Gwen had recently opened Gwen’s Tropical Plants (Daily Record Aug. 10, 1994).
Death had visited the area and taken Jessie E. Byrd of Route 2, Angier. He was an eighty year- old retired farmer and security guard. He was the son of the late Ben Eli Byrd and Rosa Catherine Stevens Byrd. His services were held at the Rose and Graham Funeral Home by Elders Sexton Pope and Fred Williams. Burial was in the Devotional Gardens. His wife was the former Elsie Pope and his daughter was Marjorie Byrd King. Agnes Dixon Hall was a foster daughter (Daily Record Aug. 10, 1994).
How wonderful it is to have groups coming to the museum again. Last week we enjoyed three groups: the ladies from the McGee’s Crossroads Book Club, a group of residents of the Oak Hill Assisted Living in Angier and the family reunion of the descendants of Green Whittington. The volunteers loved sharing the stories of the many displays in our Heritage and Cotton Museums.
Deaths in the past few weeks have touched the families of many in Coats. Many memorials have been generous in their honor of those deceased. Former Coats pharmacist Larry Denning, who is brother of our museum board member Ralph Denning, was remembered by Walter Weeks, Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler and Gayle Sorrell. Gail McLamb was remembered by Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler, Rhonda and Randy Stephenson and Gayle Sorrell. Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler, Randy and Rhonda Stephenson and Gayle Sorrell remembered Karen Ferguson. JoAnne Hairr was memorialized by Gayle Sorrell and Robie and Lynda Butler who also remembered Rumel Taylor Brandt.
A special thank you goes to Ralph and Lorena Denning for the donation to the Coats Museum Building Fund in memory of H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and to Annette Sauls for honoring the McGee’s Crossroads Book Club. Thank you goes to all of these faithful supporters of the Coats Museum.
How many of you have heard the expression-It’s where so and so “use to be”? With the tremendous growth occurring all around us, that expression will surely be said as we share with family or friends coming to visit us from distant points and talking about a particular new restaurant or school new to the area.
Just last night one of my best friends, Linda Cobb, and I were talking about old houses on Highway 27 which “use to be” Highway 40 and has always gone by her (Pollard) Cobb house. Linda shared where the road “use to be” when she was very young. She said it “use to be” a part of the current Delma Grimes Road. Linda recalled that where the curve is in the road is where it went through the woods and came out below her house in the area of Kenneth Pollard’s house. My good friend, Judy Williams Ennis, who grew up on the now Delma Grimes Road had shared with me several years ago similar info on the path of the old road. Just this past week the Williams house was taken down and now folks will say that is where Judy Williams Ennis’s house “use to be”.
It would be in 1949 when Herbert Johnson and other landowners with property from the today Ebenezer Church Road gave up farmland for the new section of road. This road “use to be Highway 40”, but now it’s Highway 27. Do you know when the number name was changed?
Let’s revisit an article in the Dunn Dispatch from the March 9, 1949 edition. The article wrote that Harnett County was to gain 200 miles of roads from the $200 million-road bond issue IF it passed. If not, then the county would only get 10 miles of new roads. Petitions were heard by the HCBOC for a road in Grove, a stretch on “Highway 40” forming a link between Black River and Coats. Does that sound familiar? Is that another “use to be”? Is that when the name changed?
This I do know. The Coats Area Chamber of Commerce focused on Peede Sanitation Service. David Peede had a fleet of rural garbage pickup trucks that served a broad area in Harnett, Johnston and Wake Counties. The company was founded in 1981 and had its headquarters on the Old Stage Road. Gwen Flowers Peede, Mr. Peede’s wife, was business manager. She was the daughter of the late Neatice and Gwen Flowers. Mr. Peede had had a stroke in 1992 and was disabled and Gwen had recently opened Gwen’s Tropical Plants (Daily Record Aug. 10, 1994).
Death had visited the area and taken Jessie E. Byrd of Route 2, Angier. He was an eighty year- old retired farmer and security guard. He was the son of the late Ben Eli Byrd and Rosa Catherine Stevens Byrd. His services were held at the Rose and Graham Funeral Home by Elders Sexton Pope and Fred Williams. Burial was in the Devotional Gardens. His wife was the former Elsie Pope and his daughter was Marjorie Byrd King. Agnes Dixon Hall was a foster daughter (Daily Record Aug. 10, 1994).
How wonderful it is to have groups coming to the museum again. Last week we enjoyed three groups: the ladies from the McGee’s Crossroads Book Club, a group of residents of the Oak Hill Assisted Living in Angier and the family reunion of the descendants of Green Whittington. The volunteers loved sharing the stories of the many displays in our Heritage and Cotton Museums.
Deaths in the past few weeks have touched the families of many in Coats. Many memorials have been generous in their honor of those deceased. Former Coats pharmacist Larry Denning, who is brother of our museum board member Ralph Denning, was remembered by Walter Weeks, Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler and Gayle Sorrell. Gail McLamb was remembered by Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler, Rhonda and Randy Stephenson and Gayle Sorrell. Joy Dan Spivey, Robie and Lynda Butler, Randy and Rhonda Stephenson and Gayle Sorrell remembered Karen Ferguson. JoAnne Hairr was memorialized by Gayle Sorrell and Robie and Lynda Butler who also remembered Rumel Taylor Brandt.
A special thank you goes to Ralph and Lorena Denning for the donation to the Coats Museum Building Fund in memory of H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and to Annette Sauls for honoring the McGee’s Crossroads Book Club. Thank you goes to all of these faithful supporters of the Coats Museum.