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Archive for the ‘Civil War’ Category

The Civil War: Hard Times on the Home Front

Posted in Burgins, Civil War, _Interviewee: Peggy Silvers, tagged , , , on September 22, 2009 |

The Burgin family looms large in McDowell County history as well as in the history of our nation.  Along with the Greenlees, Carsons, and McDowells, they were among the first settlers of what is now McDowell County. Phillip Burgin arrived in America in 1677, and his son Benjamin “Pioneer Ben” Burgin made his way to the Old [...]

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North Cove Conversation

Posted in Civil War, Depression Years, Everyday life, Farming, North Cove, Trains, _Interviewee: Clara McCall, _Interviewee: Freddie Brown, tagged , , on September 1, 2009 |

The view from Freddie Brown’s front porch Due to the rugged terrain and distance from the closest towns, the North Cove and Ashford communities in the northern tip of McDowell County remained relatively isolated until the mid- twentieth century. Electricity didn’t arrive until 1947, and telephones were rare until about 1960.  Nearly everyone farmed and the community was [...]

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Letters From A Homesick Confederate Soldier

Posted in Civil War, _Interviewee: Dee Daughtridge, tagged , , on August 17, 2009 |

Dee Sawyer Daughtridge of Old Fort has deep roots in the Curtis Creek area of McDowell County and can trace her family history back eight generations.  She is also fortunate to have come into the possession of letters that her great-grandfather, Green Berry Woody, wrote to his wife and children when he was a soldier in [...]

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A Civil War Story of Stoneman’s Raiders…and A Gift They Left Behind

Posted in Civil War, _Interviewee: Gwen Bradsher, _Interviewee: Nancy Greenlee, tagged , , , on August 13, 2009 |

As the Civil War  neared an end in 1865, Union cavalry commander Major General George Stoneman mounted a raid from Tennessee across the Blue Ridge Mountains into western North Carolina.  His troops passed right through McDowell County and some excellent stories have been handed down about the his raiders’ unwelcome visits to homes in the area. Stoneman’s [...]

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Brackettown: Gold Mining Center of the Country

Posted in Brackettown, Civil War, Gold, _Interviewee: Wade Nanney, tagged , , , on August 11, 2009 |

Today, many think of the Brackettown Community located in the southeast corner of McDowell County as “the middle of nowhere”. But two centuries ago, the area was the gold mining center of the country and was home to dozens of families engaged in farming and logging as well. Wade Nanney, whose family arrived just over [...]

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Neither rain nor sleet nor snow…

Posted in Civil War, Everyday life, Marion, _Interviewee: Robert Hawkins, tagged , , on July 29, 2009 |

Robert Hawkins has deep family roots in McDowell County and was a mailman from 1954 to 1990. He sat down in his rocker by the fireplace in his Marion home to tell us about  his father’s eyewitness account of the 1894 fire that destroyed nearly all of downtown, his grandmother’s story of Union raiders passing through her family’s farm [...]

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The Civil War Comes to McDowell County

Posted in Carsons/Carson House, Civil War, tagged , , on July 13, 2009 |

The Carson House is located on Highway 70, less than five miles west of Marion. Construction of this three-story historic residence began in 1793 by Colonel John Carson on the banks of  Buck Creek. In the early 1860s, while the home was occupied by Jonathan Logan Carson and family, a private school for young ladies operated there. [...]

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“Pieces of the Heart”: A Guided Tour of Carson House Quilts

Posted in Arts & Crafts, Carsons/Carson House, Civil War, Quilts, _Interviewee: James Haney, tagged , , on July 12, 2009 |

In the early 1800s, the historic Carson House served as a stagecoach stop and inn for travelers between Salisbury and Asheville. McDowell County was organized in the house in 1843, and the structure served as the first seat of county government. The house is now a museum, and in 2009 hosted an exhibit of quilts with [...]

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