I know some of the history of this place, but because of it’s location and the vulnerability of it, I’m choosing to keep most of it to myself.However, what I can tell you is that this is an old preaching arbor that was active at least as early as 1932, but I have also foundContinue reading “The Preaching Arbor”
Tag Archives: north carolina history
The White Pine Club
I can find scant little about this place in the newspaper archives or anywhere else. I have one original picture and a rough estimate of it’s construction date. Since I don’t know it’s history, I don’t know how many times it was closed, reopened, or renamed either, but I do know it became “Johnny Mac’sContinue reading “The White Pine Club”
Asbury Respus: North Carolina’s First Serial Killer?
September 30th, 1931. Randelman Road, six miles outside Greensboro, North Carolina.It’s about 9 AM in the morning, and a man passing by notices smoke coming from the Leonard farm. When he rushes to investigate the source of the blaze, he finds that the Leonard home is burning. It’s as he is attempting to save theContinue reading “Asbury Respus: North Carolina’s First Serial Killer?”
The Life of Blum Hiliary Vestal
In preparation for two articles I’m currently working on, I’m uploading a small book about a man named Blum Hiliary Vestal, who will figure prominently in one and to some degree in the other. B.H. Vestal was a prolific evangelist who began his career in the early 1900’s after a miraculous conversion. He travelled inContinue reading “The Life of Blum Hiliary Vestal”
Researchers exhuming the body of “Marshal Ney” in hopes of DNA testing.
The old stories are all new again. Despite all the past efforts and the various learned men and women opining on the matter, it looks like there might finally be conclusive proof as to whether the man who immigrated to America and died in Mocksville was actually one of Napoleon’s most trusted men.Today, French researchersContinue reading “Researchers exhuming the body of “Marshal Ney” in hopes of DNA testing.”
The Bugle Boy Who Was Buried Twice
Thomas Boyd Speaks was born in Union Grove, NC in 1901 to John Peter (J.P.) Speaks and Gillie Lutissen Templeton. Thomas’ father John was a local farmer who lived just off NC-901 and had been in the community his whole life. With a sizeable property of almost 100 acres, he was probably able to keepContinue reading “The Bugle Boy Who Was Buried Twice”
Photo of the Day: The Fort
I found this in some of my old files. I think it’s Fort Fisher at Kure Beach.
Olive Branch Church
The little hill in Davie County where Olive Branch Methodist Church once stood has been in use for over 200 years in one way or another.The church was organized on paper in 1804, but before that met in an old log schoolhouse building in roughly the same area. It may have been in use forContinue reading “Olive Branch Church”
September, 1975 in Statesville. Murders, rape, and a John Doe.
Humans seemed naturally wired to look for patterns in life. Sometimes coincidences have meaning and sometimes they are statistical improbabilities. Either way, the mind naturally wants to create order from chaos, and the more we do that, the more likely we are to refute the randomness of events that share the same space and timeContinue reading “September, 1975 in Statesville. Murders, rape, and a John Doe.”
Zephyr School
Time has a way of erasing things we used to think of as important. As the world becomes bigger, the size of human history and existence further obscures our knowledge of what once was. Today, we’ll try to push the shadows away ever so slightly to see what can still be known about a majorContinue reading “Zephyr School”