November 28, 2014 Coats Museum News
Do you think more bales of cotton were produced in 1950, 1949, 1933 or 1932 in Harnett County? The December 7, 1933 edition of the Harnett County News recorded 22,610 bales in 1932 and 24, 983 in 1933. However, the Dunn Dispatch, August 7, 1950 edition printed that 10,000 bales were predicted for 1950 which was 2000 bales less than 1949. Wonder how the folks in Harnett County were reacting to this since they had just received notices that the new tax rate would be $1.34 with an additional 19 cents for Road Referendum Bonds for Grove taxpayers.
This I do know. Road pleas were heard by the commissioners and four projects were approved and sent to the State Highway Commission. Two projects involving Grove Township were approved. First, a road from Crawford Road southeast of R.L. Byrd’s house and back to the highway at Mrs. Ben Upchurch’s was .8 of a mile. The second project was west of Mingo Swamp leading from Oakdale School to the Parlia Wood place and thence to a westward direction along the old path across the lands of Susan Johnson and W.B. Tart to a crook and thence southward direction across the Walter Ennis lands to the road leading from Coats to the Parlia Wood Road., a distance of approximately one mile. Confused? Do any of you recognize the two roads? Were they paved as indicated?
I do know that once again a national politician was in the Coats area. This time it was Congressman and Mrs. Johnny McMillan. With them were Judge and Mrs. R.D. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. M.K. Meadows from Florence, S.C. They were guests of Mrs. Nell Stewart Paschal Byrd and her daughter Linda. The group motored to visit with friends in Benson for the weekend (Dunn Dispatch August 9, 1950). Does anyone know the connection of these folks?
Some of you will recall that Grove white students went to schools with names such as Ennis, Sorrell, Coats, Gregory, Turlington, Penny, Parker, Wiggins, Barclaysville, and Oakdale. Eventually, most of these schools were consolidated into each other or into the Coats Union School. It was not until 1950 that the last of the district schools consolidated with the Coats School and that was under the order of Superintendent Reid Ross. Oakdale, the only other brick school of the original Grove Schools, had dropped enrollment to one teacher and the parents preferred consolidation. Mrs. Jeff (Dona Ennis)Turlington and Mrs. Helen Sinclair had been serving the school. Mrs. Turlington would transfer to Coats. The brick school had six classrooms, an auditorium, and an office. The HCBOE members-Chairman Sidney Thomas, W.M. Pearson, W.E. Nichols, and Bob Baggett were present while Charles Skinner of Dunn was absent for the vote. The building was ordered to be advertised in September and sold in October (Dunn Dispatch –between August 7-15, 1950).
The school was no more but the love that abided in that small community lived on. The property was auctioned and William “Tinker” Howard was the highest bidder. He owned the land surrounding the building and after he acquired the school, it was first used to house chickens belonging to Dorothy and Charles Denning who have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Dixie –Denning Gas Company. Charles and his siblings actually attended school there and likely their parents provided lodging for some of the teachers from Oakdale. Could students cross county lines in 1950? Tinker later allowed farmers in the area, Sherrill Creech, Bugs Norris, Bill Howard, and Craig Johnson, to name a few, to store tobacco until it was ready for market. Tinker claimed the stage area to work and store his crop and the others picked their spots. Elsie Johnson remembered ordering tobacco in the pit. Bobby Caudle recalled there being so much tobacco in the building that it was comparable to other tobacco warehouses.
Several couples in the Oakdale area began their housekeeping in the school’s front wings. The remainder of the building served as a community building. Tinker granted the Oakdale Home Demonstration Club permission to use a large classroom and the auditorium area.
The school had been the most modern of the country schools in Grove. It later had indoor plumbing including two bathrooms in the back wings-one for boys and one for girls. Each had a row of four toilets without vanity stalls. The field between the school and crossroads had been used for visiting carnivals and fairs. Every baseball season the community folks would gather to watch Sunday afternoon baseball games. Pitcher Peanut Norris had a phenomenal pitching arm and Tinker himself loved the sport and was referred as “Grandpa”. A favorite rival of the team was Pea Ridge.
An old country store stood at the crossroads. The front served as a store and the back, which was separated by a breezeway, served as living quarters for the storekeeper’s family. Tinker operated the store for a short time and then rented it to Garland and Ernest Barefoot, Arlene and Toby Allen, Tinker again, and then Hubert Creech. It was at this old store that the community could gather and watch TV. Although it was only black and white and “snowy”, it was more than most had at home. The old store was eventually torn down and replaced by a cinderblock dwelling by Tinker’s daughter, Arlene and husband Toby Allen.
In this same area there were corn shuckings and gravel bordering the Mingo Swamp was sold to the State to build roads. Tinker’s pond was enjoyed by all in the community. It was equipped with a diving board for swimmers, but it also served as a place where area farmers could wash their feed sacks. A trailer could be backed to the water’s edge and the children could wash the sacks as they played in the water. When the job was finished, the farmer and his family could drive away with clean sacks.
The community looked forward to Mr. Tinker’s fish fries. Mr. Tinker and the men looked after the fish and the women prepared the rest. If the fish were not biting and there wasn’t enough to go around, his father-in-law, Clint Spivey, came to his rescue with ample fish.
Mr. Spivey was the “fish man” who peddled fish. Farmers and housewives could hear Mr. Spivey toot his horn and they could stand at the back of his truck to make their fish selection. Scales ready, he could weigh out the amount his customer wanted and slide them into one’s pan, ready to be cleaned. The community could also look forward to Pine State delivering milk, eggs and ice cream and Mr. W.T. Sorrell collecting insurance premiums.
Mr. Tinker’s death marked the end of the Oakdale Community. After his death, his land was divided among his heirs. His son Bobby Sherrill inherited the old school building and eventually sold it to his father-in-law, Redding McLamb, who used it as a dance club until it burned on a cold winter evening in February of 1972 (Material for this Oakdale School and community history came from Becky Ennis Adams’ material from Bobby Caudle, Elsie Johnson, and others who lived in the community).
The volunteers at the museum are always thankful for the generosity of the people who support the Coats Museum. Recently Bennie Harmon dropped by and donated a yardstick used as advertisement for the Western Auto in Coats, two small brooms made of broom sage, and a can of worm oil. Thanks Bennie for adding to our artifacts. Lib Guy also dropped in to bring a pen and ink drawing by Sylvia Austin of the old Stewart Hotel, a picture Mollie Stewart and another of her son, Dan and Mary Louise Stewart, and several citations given to Dan who was very involved in the planning of the Research Triangle Park and who grew up in the old Stewart Hotel in Coats.
Do you think more bales of cotton were produced in 1950, 1949, 1933 or 1932 in Harnett County? The December 7, 1933 edition of the Harnett County News recorded 22,610 bales in 1932 and 24, 983 in 1933. However, the Dunn Dispatch, August 7, 1950 edition printed that 10,000 bales were predicted for 1950 which was 2000 bales less than 1949. Wonder how the folks in Harnett County were reacting to this since they had just received notices that the new tax rate would be $1.34 with an additional 19 cents for Road Referendum Bonds for Grove taxpayers.
This I do know. Road pleas were heard by the commissioners and four projects were approved and sent to the State Highway Commission. Two projects involving Grove Township were approved. First, a road from Crawford Road southeast of R.L. Byrd’s house and back to the highway at Mrs. Ben Upchurch’s was .8 of a mile. The second project was west of Mingo Swamp leading from Oakdale School to the Parlia Wood place and thence to a westward direction along the old path across the lands of Susan Johnson and W.B. Tart to a crook and thence southward direction across the Walter Ennis lands to the road leading from Coats to the Parlia Wood Road., a distance of approximately one mile. Confused? Do any of you recognize the two roads? Were they paved as indicated?
I do know that once again a national politician was in the Coats area. This time it was Congressman and Mrs. Johnny McMillan. With them were Judge and Mrs. R.D. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. M.K. Meadows from Florence, S.C. They were guests of Mrs. Nell Stewart Paschal Byrd and her daughter Linda. The group motored to visit with friends in Benson for the weekend (Dunn Dispatch August 9, 1950). Does anyone know the connection of these folks?
Some of you will recall that Grove white students went to schools with names such as Ennis, Sorrell, Coats, Gregory, Turlington, Penny, Parker, Wiggins, Barclaysville, and Oakdale. Eventually, most of these schools were consolidated into each other or into the Coats Union School. It was not until 1950 that the last of the district schools consolidated with the Coats School and that was under the order of Superintendent Reid Ross. Oakdale, the only other brick school of the original Grove Schools, had dropped enrollment to one teacher and the parents preferred consolidation. Mrs. Jeff (Dona Ennis)Turlington and Mrs. Helen Sinclair had been serving the school. Mrs. Turlington would transfer to Coats. The brick school had six classrooms, an auditorium, and an office. The HCBOE members-Chairman Sidney Thomas, W.M. Pearson, W.E. Nichols, and Bob Baggett were present while Charles Skinner of Dunn was absent for the vote. The building was ordered to be advertised in September and sold in October (Dunn Dispatch –between August 7-15, 1950).
The school was no more but the love that abided in that small community lived on. The property was auctioned and William “Tinker” Howard was the highest bidder. He owned the land surrounding the building and after he acquired the school, it was first used to house chickens belonging to Dorothy and Charles Denning who have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Dixie –Denning Gas Company. Charles and his siblings actually attended school there and likely their parents provided lodging for some of the teachers from Oakdale. Could students cross county lines in 1950? Tinker later allowed farmers in the area, Sherrill Creech, Bugs Norris, Bill Howard, and Craig Johnson, to name a few, to store tobacco until it was ready for market. Tinker claimed the stage area to work and store his crop and the others picked their spots. Elsie Johnson remembered ordering tobacco in the pit. Bobby Caudle recalled there being so much tobacco in the building that it was comparable to other tobacco warehouses.
Several couples in the Oakdale area began their housekeeping in the school’s front wings. The remainder of the building served as a community building. Tinker granted the Oakdale Home Demonstration Club permission to use a large classroom and the auditorium area.
The school had been the most modern of the country schools in Grove. It later had indoor plumbing including two bathrooms in the back wings-one for boys and one for girls. Each had a row of four toilets without vanity stalls. The field between the school and crossroads had been used for visiting carnivals and fairs. Every baseball season the community folks would gather to watch Sunday afternoon baseball games. Pitcher Peanut Norris had a phenomenal pitching arm and Tinker himself loved the sport and was referred as “Grandpa”. A favorite rival of the team was Pea Ridge.
An old country store stood at the crossroads. The front served as a store and the back, which was separated by a breezeway, served as living quarters for the storekeeper’s family. Tinker operated the store for a short time and then rented it to Garland and Ernest Barefoot, Arlene and Toby Allen, Tinker again, and then Hubert Creech. It was at this old store that the community could gather and watch TV. Although it was only black and white and “snowy”, it was more than most had at home. The old store was eventually torn down and replaced by a cinderblock dwelling by Tinker’s daughter, Arlene and husband Toby Allen.
In this same area there were corn shuckings and gravel bordering the Mingo Swamp was sold to the State to build roads. Tinker’s pond was enjoyed by all in the community. It was equipped with a diving board for swimmers, but it also served as a place where area farmers could wash their feed sacks. A trailer could be backed to the water’s edge and the children could wash the sacks as they played in the water. When the job was finished, the farmer and his family could drive away with clean sacks.
The community looked forward to Mr. Tinker’s fish fries. Mr. Tinker and the men looked after the fish and the women prepared the rest. If the fish were not biting and there wasn’t enough to go around, his father-in-law, Clint Spivey, came to his rescue with ample fish.
Mr. Spivey was the “fish man” who peddled fish. Farmers and housewives could hear Mr. Spivey toot his horn and they could stand at the back of his truck to make their fish selection. Scales ready, he could weigh out the amount his customer wanted and slide them into one’s pan, ready to be cleaned. The community could also look forward to Pine State delivering milk, eggs and ice cream and Mr. W.T. Sorrell collecting insurance premiums.
Mr. Tinker’s death marked the end of the Oakdale Community. After his death, his land was divided among his heirs. His son Bobby Sherrill inherited the old school building and eventually sold it to his father-in-law, Redding McLamb, who used it as a dance club until it burned on a cold winter evening in February of 1972 (Material for this Oakdale School and community history came from Becky Ennis Adams’ material from Bobby Caudle, Elsie Johnson, and others who lived in the community).
The volunteers at the museum are always thankful for the generosity of the people who support the Coats Museum. Recently Bennie Harmon dropped by and donated a yardstick used as advertisement for the Western Auto in Coats, two small brooms made of broom sage, and a can of worm oil. Thanks Bennie for adding to our artifacts. Lib Guy also dropped in to bring a pen and ink drawing by Sylvia Austin of the old Stewart Hotel, a picture Mollie Stewart and another of her son, Dan and Mary Louise Stewart, and several citations given to Dan who was very involved in the planning of the Research Triangle Park and who grew up in the old Stewart Hotel in Coats.