June 4, 2021 Coats Museum News
Do any of you have favorite memories of a Vacation Bible School? Was there a special teacher or a new friend from another church that stays in your memories? Do you recall a snack that you always looked forward to or maybe a trip to Pullen Park or another outing associated with the event? Have the Vacation Bible Schools changed from when you attended them in days past? I do know the Coats Baptist Church Bible School was well attended in June of 1987 according to the director, Sherry Byrd Royal.
Mandy Byrd -daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Danny Byrd- Mr. David Stevens and Pat D. Lee were all home from their stays at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh. Mr. Maylon Pollard had been ill and recuperated at the home of his daughter, Thurlene Klein, in Raleigh. Mr. Lee J. Williams was in Good Hope Hospital while Baxton Pollard was in the VA Hospital in Fayetteville.
Wanda Pollard sent birthday wishes to Ronnie Barnes, Bentley Gregory, Benny Weaver, Albert Colville, Amy Parrish, O’Neal Bass, Mrs. Lynn Hayes, Gail Regan, Murry T. Phillips, and Linda Massengill. Anniversaries celebrated were by Mr. and Mrs. Gary Penny, Mr. and Mrs. Wade Stephenson, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. John Wiggins, Mr. and Mrs. Carlie Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. Daywood Langdon, Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Guy, Mr. and Mrs. Don Ennis and Mr. and Mrs. Lee Shearin.
Read like June was a good month to have a wedding. Do more people get married in June than in any other month? I do know that Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Ennis announced the engagement of their daughter, Domini Lynn Ennis, to Mr. Bobby Pierce. Domini was a graduate of Coats High School and Campbell University while Bobby was a graduate of Dunn High and the Heritage Bible School (Daily Record June 30, 1987).
The July edition of the Daily Record reported on the growth of the town of Coats and recapped the history of its beginning. We love telling the history of Coats at the museum when we have visitors from far and near. Many of the visitors have no idea that the first site of Coats was a few little buildings owned by Daniel Shaw and was on the Raleigh Fayetteville Stage Road. Shaw’s descendants say that stagecoaches stopped by his place to get fresh horses to continue the trip to Fayetteville or Raleigh. There was no post office at his place but just north of where the Coats Baptist Church is located was the Troyville Post Office and it was the one manned by Joseph Ary Stewart. It remained the place that the stagecoaches dropped off area mail for people in Grove Township to come by foot or animal to retrieve their mail. It remained there even after Tom Coats bought the Daniel Shaw land from his heirs in 1875-76.
If you have a copy of the “Heritage of Coats, NC”, begin reading on page 26 in Volume 1 and you will thoroughly enjoy revisiting the past of Coats. Read and learn about the Joel Denning, Sr. and Willis Turlington Connection, J.T. Coats in Troyville and all the other happenings from 1875 until you want to stop learning about the early happenings in Troyville, Barclaysville and Turlington. You are welcome to come read it in our Coats Museums books on Thursdays and Sundays or you can purchase a book to take home for your children to have in years to come.
One of the most beautiful markers in the Coats City Cemetery is that of Daniel Shaw. Check it out. It is just to the right of the Coats family circle of tomb markers. I always wondered if the couple were interred there or were they later moved there and the family then placed the marker. The town history states that Preacher James Thomas Coats picked out a plot of his land on a hill to be the burial site for Coats folks. There may be a few foreign souls resting there now.
In 1903 when the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad (later named the Durham and Southern) came through Coats on its way to Duke Mill (Erwin), the new site for the mail drop-off was the train depot. That was two years before the town was incorporated as Coats. Andrew Coats would become the new postmaster and train depot agent.
There were other post offices in the area. One was at the Stewart Academy at Bailey’s Crossroads; one initially in the Barclay’s Inn and one at Turlington near the current site of the Coats-Erwin Middle School.
Train depots were also at Barclaysville and at Turlington. Brookie Stewart, (daughter of Gustave Stewart, who transported students from Turlington to Coats School in a covered wagon pulled by two mules and a gong, to announce his arrival –several years before school busses made their debut) was the depot agent at the Turlington stop. Some of this time was before we had the Highway 55.
Jumping back to 1987, the Pope’s Family Center and the Warehouse Sale made the news. The Pope Organization was established in 1948 by W.P. Pope, Sr., in Coats, NC. It consisted of one store and then grew into a two -state enterprise. In 1957, William R. Pope established Pope Distributing Co. and procured a building on Main Street to serve as the distribution site.
The company operated with only four employees- William R. Pope as general manager and buyer, one office secretary, a warehouse clerk and a delivery man. Mr. Pope acquired in 1966 a plot of land on the edge of Coats and built a 20,000 sq. ft. office headquarters and warehouse. The company was divided into three major branches being directed by one of the three assistant vice-presidents. The executive staff consisted of Donald Pope, Merchandise Manager; Tommy Pope, Director of Store Operations, and Michael Parham, Comptroller. The stores and warehouse continued to prosper from the humble beginnings 40 years prior.
Do any of you have favorite memories of a Vacation Bible School? Was there a special teacher or a new friend from another church that stays in your memories? Do you recall a snack that you always looked forward to or maybe a trip to Pullen Park or another outing associated with the event? Have the Vacation Bible Schools changed from when you attended them in days past? I do know the Coats Baptist Church Bible School was well attended in June of 1987 according to the director, Sherry Byrd Royal.
Mandy Byrd -daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Danny Byrd- Mr. David Stevens and Pat D. Lee were all home from their stays at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh. Mr. Maylon Pollard had been ill and recuperated at the home of his daughter, Thurlene Klein, in Raleigh. Mr. Lee J. Williams was in Good Hope Hospital while Baxton Pollard was in the VA Hospital in Fayetteville.
Wanda Pollard sent birthday wishes to Ronnie Barnes, Bentley Gregory, Benny Weaver, Albert Colville, Amy Parrish, O’Neal Bass, Mrs. Lynn Hayes, Gail Regan, Murry T. Phillips, and Linda Massengill. Anniversaries celebrated were by Mr. and Mrs. Gary Penny, Mr. and Mrs. Wade Stephenson, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. John Wiggins, Mr. and Mrs. Carlie Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. Daywood Langdon, Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Guy, Mr. and Mrs. Don Ennis and Mr. and Mrs. Lee Shearin.
Read like June was a good month to have a wedding. Do more people get married in June than in any other month? I do know that Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Ennis announced the engagement of their daughter, Domini Lynn Ennis, to Mr. Bobby Pierce. Domini was a graduate of Coats High School and Campbell University while Bobby was a graduate of Dunn High and the Heritage Bible School (Daily Record June 30, 1987).
The July edition of the Daily Record reported on the growth of the town of Coats and recapped the history of its beginning. We love telling the history of Coats at the museum when we have visitors from far and near. Many of the visitors have no idea that the first site of Coats was a few little buildings owned by Daniel Shaw and was on the Raleigh Fayetteville Stage Road. Shaw’s descendants say that stagecoaches stopped by his place to get fresh horses to continue the trip to Fayetteville or Raleigh. There was no post office at his place but just north of where the Coats Baptist Church is located was the Troyville Post Office and it was the one manned by Joseph Ary Stewart. It remained the place that the stagecoaches dropped off area mail for people in Grove Township to come by foot or animal to retrieve their mail. It remained there even after Tom Coats bought the Daniel Shaw land from his heirs in 1875-76.
If you have a copy of the “Heritage of Coats, NC”, begin reading on page 26 in Volume 1 and you will thoroughly enjoy revisiting the past of Coats. Read and learn about the Joel Denning, Sr. and Willis Turlington Connection, J.T. Coats in Troyville and all the other happenings from 1875 until you want to stop learning about the early happenings in Troyville, Barclaysville and Turlington. You are welcome to come read it in our Coats Museums books on Thursdays and Sundays or you can purchase a book to take home for your children to have in years to come.
One of the most beautiful markers in the Coats City Cemetery is that of Daniel Shaw. Check it out. It is just to the right of the Coats family circle of tomb markers. I always wondered if the couple were interred there or were they later moved there and the family then placed the marker. The town history states that Preacher James Thomas Coats picked out a plot of his land on a hill to be the burial site for Coats folks. There may be a few foreign souls resting there now.
In 1903 when the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad (later named the Durham and Southern) came through Coats on its way to Duke Mill (Erwin), the new site for the mail drop-off was the train depot. That was two years before the town was incorporated as Coats. Andrew Coats would become the new postmaster and train depot agent.
There were other post offices in the area. One was at the Stewart Academy at Bailey’s Crossroads; one initially in the Barclay’s Inn and one at Turlington near the current site of the Coats-Erwin Middle School.
Train depots were also at Barclaysville and at Turlington. Brookie Stewart, (daughter of Gustave Stewart, who transported students from Turlington to Coats School in a covered wagon pulled by two mules and a gong, to announce his arrival –several years before school busses made their debut) was the depot agent at the Turlington stop. Some of this time was before we had the Highway 55.
Jumping back to 1987, the Pope’s Family Center and the Warehouse Sale made the news. The Pope Organization was established in 1948 by W.P. Pope, Sr., in Coats, NC. It consisted of one store and then grew into a two -state enterprise. In 1957, William R. Pope established Pope Distributing Co. and procured a building on Main Street to serve as the distribution site.
The company operated with only four employees- William R. Pope as general manager and buyer, one office secretary, a warehouse clerk and a delivery man. Mr. Pope acquired in 1966 a plot of land on the edge of Coats and built a 20,000 sq. ft. office headquarters and warehouse. The company was divided into three major branches being directed by one of the three assistant vice-presidents. The executive staff consisted of Donald Pope, Merchandise Manager; Tommy Pope, Director of Store Operations, and Michael Parham, Comptroller. The stores and warehouse continued to prosper from the humble beginnings 40 years prior.