Posts

Woodpyre Mill: North Carolina's Forgotten Mill Town

Image
Located in the lush Great Balsam Mountains in North Carolina, the mill town of Woodpyre -- now largely forgotten -- was once a hub of commerce and manufacturing (not to mention violent crime) in the 1920s and in the early 1930's. The Bullock Textile Mill, owned by the wealthy Lile Bullock, was the center of the town, (population nearly 10,000), and residences quickly grew up around it, as did a series of shops and a local doctor's office. The mill, standing by the Tuckasegee River mainstream, employed town citizenry, including Cherokee Nation individuals. The Bullock mill transformed raw cotton into clothing, which was exported to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other northern states, as well as countries in Europe including France.   The mill saw its most profitable days in the late 1920's at a time when child labor was still legal in the United States, and there were frequent reports of child injuries, lost fingers, and fainting coming out of the mill. The Bullock M
Post a Comment
Read more

Can YOU see the Phantom in the picture?

Image
A reader who stayed at the cabins in the Great Balsam Mountains for a weekend claims he and his wife were visited by "Linthead" during their stay.  The word he used is "terrorized." He says he woke up to the sounds of his dog barking, went outside, and saw the Phantom under the light. Can you see the Phantom in this photo?
Post a Comment
Read more

Woodpyre Mill: Mayor Starnes' House

Image
After the fire of 1957, which decimated so much of the town, many of the original buildings at Woodpyre Mill were lost to time. The town physician office burned down to it foundations. The Martin General Store suffered the same fate. One house that remains standing, though in great disrepair, is the Mayor's residence pictured here (above).  It is located near the river, and mill.  The last elected mayor of the Woodpyre Mill was Artemis Starnes, who served from 1952-1958.
Post a Comment
Read more

Have YOU seen Linthead? (AKA The Phantom)

Image
If you had parents or grandparents who lived in Woodpyre Mill, or you ever lived there yourself...you know the stories.   Everyone told them. Everyone heard them.  At least once. So far as I can tell, these stories started sometime in the late 1940's or early 1950s, and probably on a playground nearby the town.  (Woodpyre Mill had a school in its last decades, Central Elementary, graduating grades K-6, as well as a high school).   During recess, the big kids would tease the little ones, especially those in kindergarten, about the Phantom. If you're bad, if you misbehave, Linthead will leave a "gift"on your porch. An old ceramic doll, made circa 1920.   If your house get marked with a doll, well, lock your doors, because when you are sound asleep in you're bed tonight, in the dart, he's going to sneak into your house and take you. Where did this urban legend get started?   I often asked my mother and father this before they passed. They lived in Woodpyre in the
Post a Comment
Read more