Mary Ellen Black McKinney, widow of A.C. McKinney, died on Dec. 5. She was 83.
We need new members, and we need you to keep your membership up to date.
How can you join or check your annual expiration date? Go to the Membership panel on the Society page.
Remember Cliffside now has a Facebook page. Post your comments and reply to others. You might find some old friends and make some new ones.
And we have a YouTube channel. We've just added another video.
A Look Back...
...but not too far back. We've assembled the work of six photographers during the 2005 demolition of the old Cliffside Mill. It's a six-minute movie on YouTube's Remember Cliffside channel.
House Moving
In 1955 Duke Village ceased to exist. Several houses were purchased by their occupants, who moved them to their own land nearby. See the Observer story by our own Hannah Miller about the "moving" experience of Mrs. T. M. Bishop.
Updated with another story.
Firebugs
In the '60s, as the mill houses became vacant (and eyesores), some were intentionally burned by the Cliffside Fire Department. Sounds wasteful but these old dwellings were not worth the gas it took to burn them down.
Where is this clock?
It has been in town for 90 years, but seen by only a handful of people. It's an important element of a major landmark. Where is it?
Avondale Map & Aerial Photo
In 1975, Avondale historian Irene Roach Delpino, drawing on the memories of fellow residents, drew a very detailed map of her town as it was around the year 1950.
Also, there's an aerial photo of the Haynes Mill, and many of the homes in that village.
They're in The County section (under History), on the Places and Photos pages.
The Old Dry Cleaners
It was built in the 1910's as a silent movie theater. In 1926 it was converted to a dry cleaning plant that remained in operation for about 50 years.
Family Stories
The oldest graves in Cliffside Cemetery hold four descendents of one Robert Haney, a Revolutionary War veteran and, after 1783, resident of the High Shoals area. It is thought that Haney or his children once owned the land on which Cliffside was later founded.
Who lived where in Cliffside? If you're interested in 1964, we've found an old county cross-reference directory that lists 667 individuals on the streets and roads in and around Cliffside.
Buck Shoals School
It was a small, three-room school just across Broad River from Cliffside. In 1938 it was closed and the students were merged into Cliffside School. Don Bailey has ferreted out the details and discovered what happened to the building. Are you in this photo of the school's students in its last year?
Landscapes & Bridges
Cliffside was in turmoil in the late 1960's when a large swath of its streets were carved away for a bypass, a new bridge was built and two were demolished. It changed forever the character of the Cliffside we had known. Here are 32 photos from the Roy Lee Harris collection.
“A Little Hill To Climb”
 W. T. Tate was born near Cliffside before the town existed. As a small boy he went to the Simmons school on Ferry Road. He worked in the mills at Henrietta and Cliffside. He was destined to become a preacher, and he did, after graduating from Wake Forest in 1916. Then he wrote this compelling memoir, "A Little Hill To Climb," about the first three decades of his life. Another valuable find by Don Bailey.
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Landmarks
Few people have visited it. Most are unaware it exists. It's the Haynes Grove Cemetery, located only a half mile or so behind Cliffside School. Don Bailey has researched the site and reveals a lot about the people buried there.
Duke Plant Modernization
The Steam Station we remember from years past is dwarfed behind the stack of the new modern unit 6. Duke Energy released this series of photos to fill us in on the goings on just over our horizon.
Look! Up in the sky!
The skies were abuzz over Rutherford County soon after the Great War. These little planes did stunts, delivered newspapers and even transported Santa Claus.
Project Complete
Our clock face restoration is finished and you can follow the months-long effort with over 100 photos (in three galleries) and two Courier stories. You can also find a list of all 93 of the clock fund contributors who made it all possible.
Movie Tycoon
Of all the boys in Cliffside who grew up to become movie producers and owners of their own studio, this one definitely stands out. From only a few of the many news stories about him published over the span of four decades, you'll get an inside glimpse at the background, personality and talents of the inimitable Earl Owensby.
Big Night
 The Gathering on Oct. 7 was the largest ever, when we honored Ben Humphries and he regaled us with stories of his life. A DVD of the program will soon be available. Here are photos from the evening by Marilyn Moore Kerr and here is a poem written for the occasion by Janna Dea Harris.
Big Day
Remember Cliffside Day on Oct. 8 was a big success as well. Old Main Street, from the clock tower to the Post Office, was well populated with excited people and entries in the Old Car & Tractor Show. Here are the shots made by Marilyn Moore Kerr. More will be added when we get them. Anyone care to share their photos of the event?
Daphene Ledford Cantrell
 Many of our young people have gone out to find their place in the world and made us extremey proud. None more so than Daphene Ledford, a member of Cliffside High's class of 1948. In the days when few women entered the legal profession, she obtained her law degree, became a successful lawyer and eventually served for many years as a District Court judge in Mecklenburg County. On October 16, Daphene passed away at the age of 81. Here is her obituary.
On The Case - Part II
Sometimes, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Noticing that this historical marker in West Henrietta, honoring R. R. Haynes, was suffering the ravages of time, and finding no other entity eager to address the issue, our Society, or at least two of our members, leapt into action.
Here's the result of the new paint and reposting job:
Service Rules
“We want clerks that can say 'TATERS' when the customer says 'TATERS'...” demanded the manager of the Cliffside Mills Store about 1918.
This old document laid out the rules the staff was to follow when answering the phone, greeting customers, etc., all of which would be pertinent today. The customer was always right!
Decorate Your Vehicle
We've devised a neat five-inch car magnet that looks great on any vehicle! Show your pride in Cliffside: Get one for each of your cars and for your boat, RV, airplane, tractor, go-cart and hot-air balloon!
Order them here.
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Photo of the Month — February
Members of the USPS Morning News
Club, Chapter #28024, a fairly new social organization, spend a part of each weekday morning in and around the post office, mostly drinking coffee and gossiping. We understand the dues are very affordable.
Melrose Dover
The cover story of a recent issue of Rutherford Woman magazine was on Cliffside's Melrose Dover, a familiar face to those who frequent the Country Plaza. Great story and photos. Our thanks to the magazine for allowing us to republish them.
The Twin Reporters
We've added over 30 "new" columns from the Twin Reporters, all from 1937. Read what Grandma 'n 'em were doing back then.
Learn what happened to your old friends since they left Cliffside. Click on a photo.
Landmarks: Jenkins Grocery
Not a filling station, as such, although you could buy gas and oil. Not a supermarket, although you could shop for essentials. It was the convenience store of its day, run by a man named Voyd Jenkins. The building still stands, although it has been remodeled and repurposed.
“I am so happy to review the Cliffside memories. My teachers also included Miss Dickerson; Mr Huff [Huss], math teacher; Mr. Beatty, principal. I listened to the presidents speech on the radio in class the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor...”
— Ruby Ward Cervino
Poems of Cliffside
“Listen, I’ve got to tell you—
Cannot keep it longer or be still—
Walked down the street one day last week
And got a job in the Cliffside Mill.”
That's just a taste of the poetic offerings you'll find in this section.
From The Rutherford County Sun, dozens of articles and columns from the late 1920s, describing events both tragic and humorous; changes to the town; advertising by Cliffside stores and businesses; and community, school and church news.
Latest addition: In 1919 came news of progress on the new mill in Avondale, Cliffside's support of the recent war, the company's benevolence during the great flu epidemic in the past few months.
Did you ever wonder how it all started? In our Documents section we've added the Articles of Incorporation for Cliffside Mills, dated February 4, 1901. It's the agreement between R. R. Haynes and his other partners to start a business that would prosper for over 100 years.
Remember those old two, three and four digit phone numbers? Find the number of everyone in town in the Rutherford County Phone Directory for 1944.
Browse through these and many other old Cliffside papers. This is history, folks.
Visit The Archives
The snippets on this page appear for only a few months and then, alas, in order to make room for new features, they vanish into thin air.
Or do they?
Actually they don't vanish at all, but take up residence on one of our archives pages. Browse through them occasionally. You may find an item you missed when it was first published.
Note: None of the pages on this site is ever archived, all remain wherever they were first stored, in History, Memories, etc. Only these front-page teasers are moved to the archive section.
Cliffside Sketches
The latest: stories of a true pioneer of Cliffside, James Edward Atkinson (1857-1954), the author's grandfather.
Were you aware?
There is a list of all the dozens of Photos of the Month we've selected since Remember Cliffside began in 2002. On the Galleries home page you can go through the list and revisit all those outstanding photos.
 Find the house where you lived and the streets where you walked and played, on this map drawn in 1942.
Good Man Gone
In April 1935, Ciffside School's principal was killed in an auto wreck. The entire town was stunned. The Purple Cloud, the school paper, devoted its entire May issue to the man and the incident.
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