Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
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for "Greenville Times / Pitt's Past"
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22824
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Christmas in the 1890s was very different than it is today. While eating oysters and turkey for Christmas dinner, people enjoyed various social activities with firecrackers blasting along with the fun.
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Record #:
22825
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Those who attended these two Halloween parties--the 1911 East Carolina Teaches Training School party and the 1920 Baptist Church party--had a great deal of fun.
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22826
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The following was taken from an article written Kate W. Lewis, a faculty member at East Carolina Teachers Training School, capturing the essence of Greenville during the period 1900-1919. She talks about Fifth Street, the Model School, Buzzard’s Roost, College View, Yellowley’s house, Sam White’s Field, Greenville High School, and ECTTS.
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22827
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More unusual stories from Pitt County’s past include home seekers from Ohio visiting Greenville in 1921 who get accidently locked in the Pitt County Jail. In 1912, the children of T. G. Manning were playing with dynamite caps which nearly blew up the kitchen and T. G. Manning nearly lost his left hand. In 1920, Greenville ordinances stated every vehicle had to stop five minutes when the fire alarm sounded or until the fire truck had passed. Also, that all vehicles had to be off the streets from 1:00-6:00 am so that the streets could be cleaned. In 1931, the businessmen of Greenville formed a volleyball team. They played on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. In 1920, Miss Maude Blow Fulford had a terrible fall while sleepwalking. And lastly, Fanny May Bowen and Guy Moore had numerous love trials. They eloped several times, but were caught each time. The Bowen family disowned her and she married Moore and lived near Ormondsville, NC with his people.
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Record #:
22828
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If someone told you Greenville was prone to Earthquakes you would probably say they were crazy. But the records reveal that Greenville and other Pitt communities were shaken by earthquakes on December 16, 1811; February 12, 1812; August 31, 1886; and May 31, 1897. Kammerer gives much detail surrounding the August 31, 1886 (Great Charleston Earthquake) in the Greenville community. He also raises the surreal question: what if an earthquake hits Greenville and ECU’s high rise dormitories?
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Record #:
22829
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Kammerer gives a detailed account of a bloody affair which occurred on the streets of Greenville on May 27, 1830. It seems Dempsey Eason, a saddlemaker, was being verbally abused and physically threatened by John Cherry, a merchant in Greenville. Eason was driven to violence and shot and killed Cherry in the street. Eason was arrested and eventually acquitted at trial for self-defense. Eason turned to drinking, lost his business and ended up living with his sister in Wilson County, NC. She died and he went to the Wilson County Poor House, where he died after a blighted life.
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Record #:
22830
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Kammerer gives the history of the Bertha Hotel and the Vines House. The Bertha Hotel was the first commercial hotel built in Greenville. Benjamin F. Patrick built the Bertha Hotel near the northwest corner of Fifth and Evans streets in 1900. He hired C. C. Vines and wife to run it. They left in 1913 and opened the Vines House. By 1920, the Bertha was known as the Princeton Hotel. The Princeton burned in 1925 and it was rebuilt. The Vines House was a boarding house built in 1913 by C. C. Vines and wife, located on the southeast corner of Pitt and Fifth Streets. Mr. Vines died in 1917 and the city bought the house for a teacherage. It was leased to the Salvation Army as a USO in WWII and later served as a boarding house until it was torn down in 1970.
Benjamin F. Patrick built the Bertha Hotel on the northwest corner of Fifth and Evans streets in 1900. The Vines House, a boarding house built in 1913 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carson Vies, was located on the southeast corner of Pitt and Fifth Streets.
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Record #:
22831
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This collection of unusual tales includes a funny story from 1944 about a hen house being robbed and a parrot catching the thief. Funny instances dealing with the coming of rural electricity. Many people were distrustful of this new-fangled electricity. One man got electricity to operate one bulb so he could light his kerosene lamps. One man got electricity when he found out that they made ice cream makers. There was a family named Moore in Fountain with seven children. They married only into three families: Killibrew, Wooten and Deans. A story about wind freaks when the tobacco cloth of Billie Branch, of near Winterville was caught up by the wind in 1944 and made an unusual journey. Also a galvanized wash bucket blew away nearly half a mile and later the wind changed and blew it back against the back door of the house. There are comparison funeral prices from 1944 and the details of a war between Sunshine and Cascade Cleaners in 1939. And lastly, in 1938 it was reported that Mr. and Mrs. Archie Coburn of Bethel had the same great-grandfather and lived in the same house in which he lived.
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Record #:
22832
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There was a long held tradition told in Pitt County that there was a man from Pactolus whose daughter married Frank James, the outlaw, brother of Jesse James. The tale had grown over the years to include stories of hidden treasure at Pactolus. Kammerer lays out the story, combined with facts, to show how the story was fascinating, but wasn’t true.
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Record #:
22833
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The public school system was first started in NC in 1817, but later went down. This brought on an onslaught of local academies. The NC School Law of 1839 brought about improvements by providing funds and setting up school boards in each county. Alfred Moye was an early superintendent for the Pitt County schools. Comparing today's figures to the early days, teachers would actually think their occupation is one of the best. In 1849, there were twenty-nine districts in the county with only nineteen teachers serving them. The annual payroll for the previous year and a half (half of 1847 and all of 1848) was $1,321.97. In the 1850s, there were thirty-nine districts and an increase in payroll to $4,111.55 by 1859. The column lists the few teachers who taught in Pitt County between 1846 and 1864.
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Record #:
22834
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Old Christmas, known as Welsh Night, occurs twelve days after Christmas because it follows the non-Gregorian calendar. As of 1991, this Christmas tradition was still practiced in Rodanthe on the Outer Banks. In this town, Old Buck, not Santa, would bring gifts to all the people. Other North Carolina traditions with this holiday included: lighting the yule log, decorating the house and lawns, and hanging stockings. In Edenton, Washington, New Bern, and Greenville, blacks called "John Koones" or "De Kooners," in particular, would dress in costumes and go around houses blowing horns and singing in wagons. If a house gave these mummers something, that house would receive good luck throughout the rest of the year.
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Record #:
22835
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The author gives several interesting stories including when Richard Ficke and Newman Jones of Grifton made a presidential bet in 1932. Ficke lost and he had to push Jones in a wheelbarrow from the artesian well in Grifton to Five Points in Greenville. They started the 20 mile trek at 8:20 am and finished at 1:10 pm. Another bet of the same nature occurred in Farmville when Bill Whitley lost to Eugene Hobgood. Their wheelbarrow joyride went 12 miles to Saratoga. In 1931, Ross Cannon ran over a fox and he took it home to give his wife a fox stole. During Prohibition, a 15 year old boy was arrested for making moonshine in 1932. The Judge ordered the Sheriff to give him a sound spanking and return him home. In 1931 there was a funny lost dog announcement in the newspaper, G. O. Vanderford raised a 61 pound watermelon and R. L. Manning owned a freak mule that gave milk. In 1932, Miss Grace Hunter, first grade teacher of West Greenville School, organized 30 youngsters into a toy band. In June 1932, the Toy Band gave a concert in Raleigh where it was broadcast over Radio Station WPTF.
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Record #:
22836
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In 1919, four local businessmen, J.B. Kittrell, Dave Clark, Alex Blow, and Paul Clodfelter, decided that Greenville needed an organization for community fellowship and improvement. Knowing that Wilson had a successful Rotary Club, the businessmen contacted one of its members, Tom Pettus about the possibility of beginning a similar club in Greenville. After being approved by Rotary International and finding twenty-two community leaders to charter the club, the Greenville Rotary Club had its first official meeting in August 1919. Initially meeting in churches and even car showrooms, many of the members decided that the club needed its own building. After searching for an appropriate location, the members chose a spot on Johnston St. and construction was begun quickly thereafter. The building was completed in 1921 and would prove to be the first permanent Rotary Club facility in the world. Following many years of assistance to the community, including donations to fire and medical services as well as sponsorship of numerous community events, the Greenville Rotary Club sparked interest for additional clubs to be created in Farmville, Ayden, and Bethel.
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Record #:
22837
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This article contains a collection of different stories, including a number of snake tales from 1911. Edward W. Hearne killed a snake on a street with a chair and Sheriff Dudley had a milk cow with a large black snake dangling from each horn. The snakes had tried to eat each horn. In 1905, Mrs. H. A. White owned the first bath tub in Greenville. She was also one of the first to have a car and the modern convenience of a radio, a Victrola, oil heat and electric lights. The people of Greenville could not understand how the electric lights could burn without oil. Until the novelty wore off, people walked through Mrs. White’s house day and night, switching the lights on and off, screwing the bulbs out and sticking their fingers into the sockets. There is a funny story of how a cat and rat fight destroyed the garage of the Hines Motor Company in 1923. There was a Anti-Rat Campaign waged in Pitt County in 1923. Leland Forlines of Winterville won with 114 rat tails and Jim Dupree turned in 56 rat tails. The children winning the highest Greenville prize were: Jim Tucker, 51; Downell Elks, 40; Louise Barnett, 38; Leroy Coward, 37; and J. B. Eastman, 14..
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Record #:
22838
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Built in 1849 to educate the local male population, Greenville Male Academy had a interesting history. William H. Ragsdale was the principal of this school twice, reflecting his love for education. During the Civil War, the building was used as a hospital. The student body, attendance, and teachers made it a very important institution for Greenville in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, it was closed and disposed of in 1903.
Greenville Male Academy, built in 1849 to educate boys, had an interesting history such as its use as a hospital during the Civil War. William H. Ragsdale was principle of the school twice. In 1903, the Academy was closed and demolished.
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