Record #:

7757

Author(s):

London, George E.

Abstract:

Giovanni Da Verrazano arrived in North Carolina sixty-four years before Sir Walter Raleigh, yet many historians fail to mention him at all. He was born into a wealthy family in Italy around 1480. He moved to France to become a privateer and later was credited with capturing $1.5 million from a Spanish ship on its way to Charles V. In 1524 he embarked on a voyage to find a short cut to the Far East. He hit land in the Cape Fear region of what is today Bogue Banks, Carteret County. Verrazano stayed on board while crew members disembarked for water. One crew member gave small gifts to the natives. He was the first European they ever encountered. Verrazano made several other stops along the shores, including the New York Bay, before returning home without finding a passage around North America.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 4, Sept 1986, p14-15, 29, il, por

Subject(s):

America--Discovery and exploration--French; Verrazano, Giovanni da, 1485?-1527

Record #:

7758

Author(s):

Toomey, W. Glenn

Abstract:

Nearly every boy who grew up in the rural South during the 1920s and 1930s had a slingshot. Homemade from rubber strips, wood prongs, and a leather patch, the slingshot provided hours of entertainment. Opportunities for practice could be found with squirrels, rabbits, snakes, and other varmints around the farm. Not everyone could consider himself an expert, but many boys took to the sport quite seriously.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 4, Sept 1986, p20-21, 33, il

Subject(s):

Slings; Country life

Record #:

7759

Author(s):

Arthur, Billy

Abstract:

“Pictures compliment the written word,” says Jerry W. Cotton, archivist at the North Carolina Collection in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Started in 1928 by Mary L. Thornton, there were only 135 prints by the end of the first year. But by 1986, there were between 150,000 and 200,000 prints, including pictures of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Wright Brothers' flight, and the Union occupation of New Bern in the Civil War. There are also two special collections, Thomas Wolfe and Mrs. Bayard Wooten. These were created separately because they contained so many photographs. Archivist Jerry W. Cotton and curator Dr. H.G. Jones encourage people to donate their old photographs to the collection so they can be preserved and made available to the public.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 4, Sept 1986, p10-13, il, por

Subject(s):

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wilson Library--North Carolina Collection

Record #:

7761

Author(s):

Byrd, Dick

Abstract:

Two prominent families were brought together when Henry Flagler and Mary Kenan wed in 1901. Flagler was one of the founders of the Standard Oil Company and founder of the Florida East Coast Railway System. Kenan also came from a well-known family. Her brother, for example, was famous for discovering carbon gas for home lighting before the electric light was used, and he built the first electric light plant in Chapel Hill. Henry Flagler died in 1918 (sic) and left their $4 million mansion named “Whitehall,” in Palm Beach, Florida, to Mary. She established the Kenan Professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her siblings inherited the estate after her death and began a long tradition of philanthropy in North Carolina, including major funding for the Kenan Stadium and Kenan Memorial Auditorium.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 4, Sept 1986, p16-17,28, il, por

Subject(s):

Kenan family; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History; Bingham, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, 1867-1917

Record #:

7766

Author(s):

Wheeler, Vince

Abstract:

In 1978, the Historic Jamestown Society was given the Mendenhall Plantation in Jamestown, North Carolina, as a donation from the owner, Mrs. W.G. Ragsdale. The plantation represented a part of the south that many people were not familiar with: the small farmer who did not depend on slave labor. James Mendenhall and his family were Pennsylvania Quakers who settled the area around 1762. They named the settlement between Salisbury and Virginia Jamestown after James. The plantation was built around 1811 by Richard Mendenhall, the son of the town's founder. The two-story, “hall and parlor” style structure had Flemish bond brick walls and arched openings. There is also a Pennsylvania-style barn on the grounds, which was once used to teach runaway slaves a trade. The Jamestown Society plans to open the site to visitors and furnish it with antiques from the period.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 4, Sept 1986, p22-23, il

Subject(s):

Quakers--History; Plantations--Jamestown; Slavery--History