May 31, 2024 Coats Museum News
Wait and then wait might have been on the minds of many in the Coats area as they had to wait until August 15th to give Judge Smith time to review the voluminous evidence on the annexation in the Coats community. Most of the land to be annexed was along the road frontage with the remainder being either farm land and /or woods according to the July 21, 1994 edition of the Daily Record.
It had been 20 years since the town had undertaken a general annexation project. A total of 303 persons would come into the town if the annexation continued involving the 140 housing units and 215 parcels of land with an estimated value of $6.5 million and personal property totals of $800,000 (Daily Record July 21, 1994).
Just for enjoyment, let’s visit the coatsmuseum.com website under Historical Records of US Census 1870 and 1880 that were transcribed by Mark Valsame. In the 1870 US Census for Grove Township of Harnett County there were 180 households and 1093 people of which 915 were white and 178 black. Coats was part of Grove Township.
In 1880 there were only 10,862 people in Harnett County and the assessed value of real estate was $587, 516 and personal property was $284,831.
Those numbers were so ridiculously low that I kept going back to Mark’s research on our museum’s website to check the numbers to see if I was reading them correctly. Then I realized even though it seems like only yesterday that the first car my husband and I bought together was a 1965 Thunderbird which was burgundy with white leather interior for $4500. H.L.’s first paycheck as a teacher was under $400 dollars a month. During the era of the 1870’s, land was valued at $1.00 per acre so I decided to move on and stop comparing then to today- maybe in another Coats Museum News article.
Summer is a fun time for picnics and family reunions. Homer and Rose Williams hosted the reunion for the Elmond Williams and Betty Turner Williams descendants at the Coats Community Center. About seventy-five from various towns and states attended. Don’t you wish they had told where some of them were traveling from to come to the reunion in Coats?
Belle in her “Notes from Coats” shared that Victor Whittington had died in Fairhope, Alabama. He had grown up in the Coats and Buies Creek area. She also mentioned that several had had birthdays. Amy Carroll had celebrated with her Grandmother Helen Carroll. They had spent the day shopping and eating at the Pizza Inn in Dunn. Julian Danenburg had celebrated his 70th birthday with a cookout with about seventy people from Ohio, Virginia, and Coats. Mrs. Katie Dorman had enjoyed her 82nd birthday at Ron’s Barn. Among those attending were her children Leona Alphin, Donnie and Lonnie Dorman.
Gert Spears who operated the Gert’s Thrift Shop on Main Street had been opened for ten months and the business was great. Belle had received news that Janice Turner, daughter of the late Lonnie and Sarah “Sissie” Turner, was a resident of the Brookfield Retirement Center near Lillington. Douglas and Carolyn Turner Johnson were elated to finally become grandparents. The first grandchild was Shannon Douglas Johnson who was son of Jody and Teresa Johnson of Lillington (Daily Record July 21, 1994).
Little Jordan Faircloth, son of Ricky and Mary Faircloth of Coats, was pictured in the Daily Record as he was enjoying both the Little League IV Tournament and some popcorn (Daily Record July 26, 1994).
Summer is such a great time to visit the county museums. Don’t all of the areas in Harnett have some type of museum? Angier Depot is the site for the Angier Museum. Buies Creek has a museum on the Campbell University campus; Erwin has one with superb artifacts waiting to be relocated into a larger site worthy of Erwin folks. Coats has three choices to make a visit- a 1914 two- room school that houses a Theater Room and Research Library, a Kress and Nell Penny Williams Exhibit Hall and a Cotton Museum; Dunn has two- General William C. Lee and a Local History Museum; Lillington lost its original site but is working on one to house their many items to be displayed. Is there still an Indian Museum near Lafayette and isn’t there a Boy Scout Museum? Is there a collection of historic houses in the Mamers or Boone Trail area? Near the Coats- Erwin Middle School, Bryan Avery is faithfully restoring the old Dushee Shaw Halfway House and nearby is the old Turlington House which has a great collection of local artifacts.
Does Harnett County government have a central phone number or location where tourists can contact to get locations and operating times of these wonderful museums which bring in publicity and money to local restaurants and businesses?
Wait and then wait might have been on the minds of many in the Coats area as they had to wait until August 15th to give Judge Smith time to review the voluminous evidence on the annexation in the Coats community. Most of the land to be annexed was along the road frontage with the remainder being either farm land and /or woods according to the July 21, 1994 edition of the Daily Record.
It had been 20 years since the town had undertaken a general annexation project. A total of 303 persons would come into the town if the annexation continued involving the 140 housing units and 215 parcels of land with an estimated value of $6.5 million and personal property totals of $800,000 (Daily Record July 21, 1994).
Just for enjoyment, let’s visit the coatsmuseum.com website under Historical Records of US Census 1870 and 1880 that were transcribed by Mark Valsame. In the 1870 US Census for Grove Township of Harnett County there were 180 households and 1093 people of which 915 were white and 178 black. Coats was part of Grove Township.
In 1880 there were only 10,862 people in Harnett County and the assessed value of real estate was $587, 516 and personal property was $284,831.
Those numbers were so ridiculously low that I kept going back to Mark’s research on our museum’s website to check the numbers to see if I was reading them correctly. Then I realized even though it seems like only yesterday that the first car my husband and I bought together was a 1965 Thunderbird which was burgundy with white leather interior for $4500. H.L.’s first paycheck as a teacher was under $400 dollars a month. During the era of the 1870’s, land was valued at $1.00 per acre so I decided to move on and stop comparing then to today- maybe in another Coats Museum News article.
Summer is a fun time for picnics and family reunions. Homer and Rose Williams hosted the reunion for the Elmond Williams and Betty Turner Williams descendants at the Coats Community Center. About seventy-five from various towns and states attended. Don’t you wish they had told where some of them were traveling from to come to the reunion in Coats?
Belle in her “Notes from Coats” shared that Victor Whittington had died in Fairhope, Alabama. He had grown up in the Coats and Buies Creek area. She also mentioned that several had had birthdays. Amy Carroll had celebrated with her Grandmother Helen Carroll. They had spent the day shopping and eating at the Pizza Inn in Dunn. Julian Danenburg had celebrated his 70th birthday with a cookout with about seventy people from Ohio, Virginia, and Coats. Mrs. Katie Dorman had enjoyed her 82nd birthday at Ron’s Barn. Among those attending were her children Leona Alphin, Donnie and Lonnie Dorman.
Gert Spears who operated the Gert’s Thrift Shop on Main Street had been opened for ten months and the business was great. Belle had received news that Janice Turner, daughter of the late Lonnie and Sarah “Sissie” Turner, was a resident of the Brookfield Retirement Center near Lillington. Douglas and Carolyn Turner Johnson were elated to finally become grandparents. The first grandchild was Shannon Douglas Johnson who was son of Jody and Teresa Johnson of Lillington (Daily Record July 21, 1994).
Little Jordan Faircloth, son of Ricky and Mary Faircloth of Coats, was pictured in the Daily Record as he was enjoying both the Little League IV Tournament and some popcorn (Daily Record July 26, 1994).
Summer is such a great time to visit the county museums. Don’t all of the areas in Harnett have some type of museum? Angier Depot is the site for the Angier Museum. Buies Creek has a museum on the Campbell University campus; Erwin has one with superb artifacts waiting to be relocated into a larger site worthy of Erwin folks. Coats has three choices to make a visit- a 1914 two- room school that houses a Theater Room and Research Library, a Kress and Nell Penny Williams Exhibit Hall and a Cotton Museum; Dunn has two- General William C. Lee and a Local History Museum; Lillington lost its original site but is working on one to house their many items to be displayed. Is there still an Indian Museum near Lafayette and isn’t there a Boy Scout Museum? Is there a collection of historic houses in the Mamers or Boone Trail area? Near the Coats- Erwin Middle School, Bryan Avery is faithfully restoring the old Dushee Shaw Halfway House and nearby is the old Turlington House which has a great collection of local artifacts.
Does Harnett County government have a central phone number or location where tourists can contact to get locations and operating times of these wonderful museums which bring in publicity and money to local restaurants and businesses?