March 17, 2023 Coats Museum News
From time to time, the volunteers are questioned about cane mills. Since there is a road leading out of Coats and entering the Red Hill Church Road named Cane Mill Road, some folks ask where is or was the cane mill? This particular cane mill was operated by the Parlie (Parley) Wood family and was said to be located in the general area where the Cane Mill Road connects with Red Hill Church Road.
Many, many years ago, a short article was printed that times were really tough for everyone in the county when a Mr. Wood (likely our Parley) was somewhat delinquent on his county taxes and went into the county seat to work out a deal to pay his tax bill. Being very short on cash, Mr. Wood desired to barter his cane syrup for payment of his taxes and was immediately told that the county no longer honored such bartering practices. Not sure if Mr. Wood’s face showed misery or tears, but by chance the gentleman in charge of the county home which was sometimes referred to as the County Poorhouse said, ”You know we might can use a few gallons of the syrup over at the home.”
Do you think Mr. Wood left Lillington with a lighter heart and fewer gallons of his popular cane syrup? I do know history has shared that there were several other cane mills in the vicinity of Coats. In the general area of the Carlos Dixon home site where Dunbar Stewart and Gwen resided, there was said to be a cane mill.
Another cane mill was written about in the paper and this one was located on Highway 55 just beyond old Ma’s Grill. This one belonged to McRay Stewart and he was assisted in the operation by his three beautiful young daughters –Cheryl, Kay and Gail. It was Cheryl’s daughter, Jatanna and husband Eddie Barrow, who became parents of a beautiful new daughter (Daily Record June 2, 1992).
Growing up in rural America introduced the farm children to both usual and unusual farm practices. When my dad would buy a nearby farm, he would move the buildings, normally the house and barns, to make room for more farming space and more storage for his crops. Such was the case when he bought the Gregory farm. He had the house moved to our farm and it was always referred to as the Gregory house. This Gregory house still sits in front of the Johnson house in which I grew up and is now the home of my sister-in-law, Betty Ruth Tart Johnson.
This Gregory house was a well built structure. I do vividly recall that the downstairs had what appeared to be three bedrooms, a kitchen and a big open room that could have been a parlor. There was a back porch; but, if there had been a front porch, it was not on the building when I was growing up. Stairs leading to the second level were a bit scary as there were no rails for a youngster to hold on for safety when sent up stairs where cured tobacco or hay was stored. A shelter had been added to the house for the feeding and bedding of farm animals. My siblings and I referred to that add-on structure as mule stables and cow stables. Those animals were necessities on a farm prior to and after tractors were purchased.
My dad had found a half dime underneath the Gregory house when it was being moved. I heard on occasions the half dime mentioned but never saw it. On those occasions, my young mind pondered what that half dime looked like because I never got even a peep at it for Dad kept it and other items he considered valuable in a massive safe that likely had belonged to my Grandfather Ben F. Johnson who operated one of the 8 cotton gins and saws mills in Grove Township area. After my dad died my siblings and I found the half dime. Can you imagine the look upon my face when I saw it?
A second farm story associated with the Gregory house is about syrup or molasses. It was in this Gregory building that a tremendous wooden barrel with a spout of some sort was located near the bottom of it but I don’t recall what type of opening was on the top but it surely had one. I know Dad had used its contents in the cotton boll poison solution but is it also possible he mixed it with cotton seed meal to feed some of the animals on the farm?
The farmers would draw the syrup from the wooden barrel through spout near the bottom of the barrel and put it into a metal barrel with a specified amount of water, poison and syrup. It was mixed thoroughly by stirring with a long paddle of some kind and then it was taken to a cotton field on a mule drawn drag. The solution was applied in earlier years by farm workers or children with a handmade mop and a bucket full of the poisonous solution to mop each plant with maturing cotton bolls. Later a mule drawn sprayer was used to spray the entire plant to kill boll weevils. I never did any of the above but as al little girl, I can vividly recall the sweet smell of the poisonous spray as someone drove the tractor over the rows of cotton near our yard.
Time changes things and continued to do so in 1992 when Hardees’s merged with SKATS in Coats.
Are you surprised at the number of couples who had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries? Carsie and Mary Denning had a special event at the Coats Senior Center according to Belle’s Notes from Coats. Belle also wrote that the Coats Flower Shop was moving to the building across from the First Citizens Bank, previously known as the Dick Lamm Service station. The owners Robert and Jeanette Pleasant had landscaped the area in the heat to get it ready for the new business tenants (Daily Record May 28, 1992).
The March meeting of the Coats Museum Board of Directors met last Saturday morning with Andy Cole doing a remarkable job in his new role as Chairman to replace H.L. Lenny Parker was elected to serve as Vice Chairman. Good days are surely in the picture with this leadership and board members.
If H.L. had not died, we would have been celebrating his birthday big time yesterday. Instead I made a birthday memorial for him to the Coats Museum. Lenee, Bryan and I are so appreciative of those who gave memorials in H.L.’s honor this past week and he would be so humbled: my nephew-Dr. Bill and Stephanie Beckett from Dothan, AL., Larry and Peggy Byrd, Eddie Vaughn, Robert and Kay Pollard Denning and the “Three K Girls” from Coats Kiwanis.
From time to time, the volunteers are questioned about cane mills. Since there is a road leading out of Coats and entering the Red Hill Church Road named Cane Mill Road, some folks ask where is or was the cane mill? This particular cane mill was operated by the Parlie (Parley) Wood family and was said to be located in the general area where the Cane Mill Road connects with Red Hill Church Road.
Many, many years ago, a short article was printed that times were really tough for everyone in the county when a Mr. Wood (likely our Parley) was somewhat delinquent on his county taxes and went into the county seat to work out a deal to pay his tax bill. Being very short on cash, Mr. Wood desired to barter his cane syrup for payment of his taxes and was immediately told that the county no longer honored such bartering practices. Not sure if Mr. Wood’s face showed misery or tears, but by chance the gentleman in charge of the county home which was sometimes referred to as the County Poorhouse said, ”You know we might can use a few gallons of the syrup over at the home.”
Do you think Mr. Wood left Lillington with a lighter heart and fewer gallons of his popular cane syrup? I do know history has shared that there were several other cane mills in the vicinity of Coats. In the general area of the Carlos Dixon home site where Dunbar Stewart and Gwen resided, there was said to be a cane mill.
Another cane mill was written about in the paper and this one was located on Highway 55 just beyond old Ma’s Grill. This one belonged to McRay Stewart and he was assisted in the operation by his three beautiful young daughters –Cheryl, Kay and Gail. It was Cheryl’s daughter, Jatanna and husband Eddie Barrow, who became parents of a beautiful new daughter (Daily Record June 2, 1992).
Growing up in rural America introduced the farm children to both usual and unusual farm practices. When my dad would buy a nearby farm, he would move the buildings, normally the house and barns, to make room for more farming space and more storage for his crops. Such was the case when he bought the Gregory farm. He had the house moved to our farm and it was always referred to as the Gregory house. This Gregory house still sits in front of the Johnson house in which I grew up and is now the home of my sister-in-law, Betty Ruth Tart Johnson.
This Gregory house was a well built structure. I do vividly recall that the downstairs had what appeared to be three bedrooms, a kitchen and a big open room that could have been a parlor. There was a back porch; but, if there had been a front porch, it was not on the building when I was growing up. Stairs leading to the second level were a bit scary as there were no rails for a youngster to hold on for safety when sent up stairs where cured tobacco or hay was stored. A shelter had been added to the house for the feeding and bedding of farm animals. My siblings and I referred to that add-on structure as mule stables and cow stables. Those animals were necessities on a farm prior to and after tractors were purchased.
My dad had found a half dime underneath the Gregory house when it was being moved. I heard on occasions the half dime mentioned but never saw it. On those occasions, my young mind pondered what that half dime looked like because I never got even a peep at it for Dad kept it and other items he considered valuable in a massive safe that likely had belonged to my Grandfather Ben F. Johnson who operated one of the 8 cotton gins and saws mills in Grove Township area. After my dad died my siblings and I found the half dime. Can you imagine the look upon my face when I saw it?
A second farm story associated with the Gregory house is about syrup or molasses. It was in this Gregory building that a tremendous wooden barrel with a spout of some sort was located near the bottom of it but I don’t recall what type of opening was on the top but it surely had one. I know Dad had used its contents in the cotton boll poison solution but is it also possible he mixed it with cotton seed meal to feed some of the animals on the farm?
The farmers would draw the syrup from the wooden barrel through spout near the bottom of the barrel and put it into a metal barrel with a specified amount of water, poison and syrup. It was mixed thoroughly by stirring with a long paddle of some kind and then it was taken to a cotton field on a mule drawn drag. The solution was applied in earlier years by farm workers or children with a handmade mop and a bucket full of the poisonous solution to mop each plant with maturing cotton bolls. Later a mule drawn sprayer was used to spray the entire plant to kill boll weevils. I never did any of the above but as al little girl, I can vividly recall the sweet smell of the poisonous spray as someone drove the tractor over the rows of cotton near our yard.
Time changes things and continued to do so in 1992 when Hardees’s merged with SKATS in Coats.
Are you surprised at the number of couples who had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries? Carsie and Mary Denning had a special event at the Coats Senior Center according to Belle’s Notes from Coats. Belle also wrote that the Coats Flower Shop was moving to the building across from the First Citizens Bank, previously known as the Dick Lamm Service station. The owners Robert and Jeanette Pleasant had landscaped the area in the heat to get it ready for the new business tenants (Daily Record May 28, 1992).
The March meeting of the Coats Museum Board of Directors met last Saturday morning with Andy Cole doing a remarkable job in his new role as Chairman to replace H.L. Lenny Parker was elected to serve as Vice Chairman. Good days are surely in the picture with this leadership and board members.
If H.L. had not died, we would have been celebrating his birthday big time yesterday. Instead I made a birthday memorial for him to the Coats Museum. Lenee, Bryan and I are so appreciative of those who gave memorials in H.L.’s honor this past week and he would be so humbled: my nephew-Dr. Bill and Stephanie Beckett from Dothan, AL., Larry and Peggy Byrd, Eddie Vaughn, Robert and Kay Pollard Denning and the “Three K Girls” from Coats Kiwanis.