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What's New - 2005
12/29/05 In our new department called “The County,” there's the first of many articles we've borrowed from The Forest City Courier's 50th Anniversary Edition, dated August 1, 1968. It's a brief history of Rutherford County.
Something else that's new is JoAnn Huskey's Cliffside Sketches, an ever-growing collection of her stories about her Cliffside kin and their friends and neighbors. We'll be adding more to this section as time goes by.
There's a huuuge photo gallery (89 pictures) taken on Senior Day (Nov. 21) when over 100 Cliffside seniors and mill retirees were invited to the school for the annual Thanksgiving program and a luncheon in the school cafeteria.
What's doing in Cliffside in the past few weeks? The new Swing house at 32 North is going up at a fast clip. We have a story on the Swings' development plans, and a small collection of construction photos.
In Memories, on a page we've called "The More Things Change..." we compare two photos, taken 53 years apart, of a tree, a house and a little girl.
We've appended an editor's note to the item in Did You Know? about the Sauline Players who used to visit out school.
And our Photo of the Month, taken just days ago by Roger Padgett, is of a beautiful sunrise shedding its first light on the remains of the old mill.
12/01/05 Once in the mid 1930s a young Cliffside man joined an expedition to the Dark Continent of Africa to capture wild animals. His name was Erin McMurray. The story, from the Rutherford County News, is in the Miscellaneous category of our In the News section.
We've added four columns by F. C. "Skipper" Thompson for the month of November 1934. We hope you read this collection carefully and discover the tidbits describing the life and times of Cliffside 70 years ago. We're told that Mr. Thompson is still living, in a nursing home in Albemarle, N. C.
We urged Peggy Blanton Hadden to write down some of her memories of Cliffside. She came through like a champ, as you will discover when you read her article in Memories. Pay no attention to her professing to having no writing skills. Wethinks she doth profess too much. Read to the end and find out what she and husband James have been up to since leaving Cliffside over 50 years ago.
December's Photo of the Month captures a moment at the high school graduation exercises in May of 1957. Little did those fresh-faced graduates realize that one day they'd be old and gray.
In Odds and Ends, there are three new items:
1) a beautiful old (1927) map of High Shoals Township drawn by Cliffside's own Ed Carpenter, contributed by Dan Marsh, Jr. You might even spot your granddaddy's house.
2) It was ever thus. Even before the Internet came along people were being fooled, swindled and scammed. In 1947 Ilene Scruggs Bailey received an official-sounding phone call telling her she had won a new car! Read how it all turned out.
3) Don't let the sun go down on you without reading the official North Carolina State Board of Health's Rules for the Maintenance of Earth Pit Privies. Although issued in 1919, some of the rules are pertinent even today, like don't let chickens live in your outhouse.
In going through the Cliffside Historical Society archives (of which you'll be seeing much more over the coming months), we found another poem by Mabel Cargill called "Mundo Vista Fountains." Mrs. Cargill was a prolific writer and a civic dynamo.
From a reader comes a timely suggestion that we include coverage of other places and people in Rutherford county. Read his suggestions and compliments in Reader Comments. It was purely coincidental that his suggestion came one the eve of our completing a brand new "room" in our History wing called...
"The County"
Let the word go forth: On the premise that no town is an island, this Web site, although primarily about Cliffside, is expanding its reach, determined to include the history and lore of the surrounding area. So, we're establishing a new project, a section under History called "The County," where we will post articles that may not necessarily pertain to Cliffside. You know, all that history we all need to know, but don't.
The first such posting is a series of articles from The State magazine dated August 31, 1963. Remember that dear old publication whose banner read "Down Home in North Carolina?" We'll post separately all the articles in the issue that pertained to the county.
Soon to come in this new section is a series of 47 columns called "Memories and Events of a Half Century," written for the Forest City Courier in 1938 and '39 by Robert K. Hollifield (1868-1957). These columns dwell mostly on his memories of people and families in all sections the county from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
We're moving a couple of older postings from History, Articles, into the new County section. They are "A Short History of Henrietta" and Caroleen and The Story of Haynes Mill and Avondale.
And not least of all, we've added 22 new names to the Contributor's List, who have given their support in one way or another to this Web site. The total number of "official" supporters is now 248.11/18/05 In a big box of documents and keepsakes collected by the late Bill Ingram, Jr. (father of Patsy, Billy and Gene), we ran across this handwritten poem he created at some point in his life. It's called "The Third Shift Blues," which a lot of people may be able to relate to.
Life is not fair, for the good die too young. Jack Biggerstaff passed on at a hospice in Hendersonville on November 16. These words, written by his children, appeared as his obituary in the Shelby Star.10/31/05 For our November Photo of the Month we've chosen one taken recently. It's a wide-angle view of Cliffside from a vantage point rarely used. 10/23/05 From an out-of-print book, Rutherford County 1979: A People's Bicentennial History, we've reprinted “A Short History of Henrietta and Caroleen,” written by Mabel Bridges Cargill.
In Documents, there are a couple of significant new scans. One is the 1944 Rutherford County Telephone Directory (all 28 pages of it), contributed by Anne Cargill. And from Jim Haynes comes this copy of the 1901 Cliffside Mills Articles of Incorporation, wherein R. R. Haynes goes into an agreement with T. B. Lovelace, Henry Jenkins, L. A. Holland, Gaither Kennedy and J. F. Whisnant to form the corporation that literally put Cliffside on the map.
H. C. Beatty came to Cliffside School in 1927. Forty-two years later, in 1969, he retired. The Courier ran a superb story about the event. It's in History, Articles. And on the story is a link to some information on Mr. B's early life.
On October 8, a good time was had by all at the fourth annual Cliffside Day. Here's a story about the day and a small photo gallery of some of the attendees. And look for the dramatic aerial shot of Cliffside that afternoon when the river was up.
We've received a bevy of nice Reader Comments from Melissa Beatty Chitwood and Harriet Tarleton Miller, about their days in Cliffside, about the Web site, and a request for more content about the Duke Power village. And Victoria Condon-Silliphant of Vista, California, had some nice words, and told of her connection with Cliffside.
There are some very interesting updates, one to our "Chasing History" article of September 30, 2005 from the grandson of a young girl in a picture from 1919; another that amplifies what we know about the Black Bear Trail; and one that substantiates what we thought we knew about the old railroad trestle.
Our Poetry department continues to grow with a new entry by Mabel Cargill. Actually it's not a poem, but a song, written especially for the dedication of the Cliffside Post Office, October 22, 1961. In addition we have a brand new poet, Cindy Robinson Gosey, daughter of Jimmy and Hazel McDaniel Robinson. Cindy works in the Publications and Promotion Department at Clemson University.
There's a poignant story in Did You Know? and, in Remember That?, a short look at advertising methods employed in mid-twentieth century Cliffside.
Keep a sharp eye on the front page. We've rearranged it and added a few things, as we'll continue to do. We don't want you to miss anything.
And, finally, there are two new additions to the Suggested Reading list.09/29/05 Before there was a Cliffside, around 1896, R. R. Haynes built himself a grand new home in the new mill town of Henrietta. We've put together a short history of the house and a present-day pictorial tour. It's found in the Haynes Legacy section, under History. We've expanded on the story with a profile of the Luckadoos who bought and are preserving the house. See "Mill Workers Buy Mill Owner's House" in History, Articles and Profiles.
Also in Haynes Legacy, we've added the only news item we can find that announced R. R. Haynes' death in 1917. Read The Sad News, then think a moment. Is there anything you can add, such as clippings, stories or photos?
Last June we added a Family Story on Mary Quinn Womick Prewitt. Recently she had her 100th birthday and may be the oldest surviving native of Cliffside. JoAnn Huskey, who wrote that story, has honored Mary Quinn (JoAnn's step-grandmother) once again with more on her incredible life, including her remarkable three-year episode of amnesia! It's a "must read."
What is they say about assumptions? They'll make an ass out of u and me. In the Cliffside book, we published a photo that we assumed was of one thing, but it was actually of something else. Read all about it in "Chasing History is Hard Work," under History, Articles and Profiles.
We've often said that from its first years Cliffside was lauded and applauded for its innovative and admirable approach to community development. Read this 1916 article by a state official in the Rutherford County Sun. It's under History in the "In The News" section in the Miscellaneous category.
There are four new columns by F. C. Thompson, all for October 1934. Have you thanked Bud and Jeri Crow lately for transcribing and providing all this valuable material? We bet that if you express your appreciation in an entry in the Guest Book, they would see it and get a warm, tingly feeling. By the way these entertaining columns are located in Memories under the Projects heading.
October's Photo of the Month is a bird's eye view of a good section of Cliffside around 1927. Someone climbed up into the clock tower and snapped a breath-taking shot of our charming, sleepy little town. Those were the days.
Why so much new material for October? We wanted to get it all included on a new CD of the Web site we're unveiling at the Cliffside Day celebration on October 8. We hope you'll pick up one for grandma 'n 'em, for anyone who doesn't have access to the Internet, or those who have slooooowww dialup connections. We will also have CDs available of the Old Mill Tour. Oh, and did we mention we'll have autographed copies of the book for sale, along with fine quality t-shirts with the cover of the Cliffside book on the front and a variety of t-shirts in children's sizes from past Cliffside events. See you under the big "Cliffside Historical Society" tent, beside the Masonic Lodge.09/13/05 Front page news: There's new activity in Cliffside: Marc and Janice Swing have broken ground for their new house on Main Street, the first new residence in the downtown district in decades. 09/03/05 Added news of Broad River Sweep 2005 on front page. 08/31/05 Two new updates: about Cliffside's new owners, and more information on the Black Bear Trail.
Bill Ingram shares two more poems based on incidents in his youth in Cliffside. One is called The Buccaneers; the other is The Haircut.
Bill's brother Gene Ingram contributed an interesting four-page sales circular from 1937 for the “Home Stores,” the grocery located in Cliffside's store building.
In 2003 D. C. Cole was inducted in the North Carolina Bandmasters' Hall of Fame. Read the Courier article and Mr. Cole's obituary from 1974.08/14/05 There's a new moon over Cliffside beginning August 20! It's The Blue Moon Gallery of Art. Its Grand Opening is on the weekend of August 20-21. The hours are: Saturday 10:00am to 8:00pm; Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm. On both days, signed copies of the just-released book Cliffside: Portrait of a Carolina Mill Town will be on sale at the Blue Moon. The author will be lurking about the premises on Saturday, to autograph copies to your liking. Come by, say hello and buy a book or two (or three or four).
We've added four more of Mabel Bridges Cargill's works in the Poems of Cliffside section.
In History, Articles, there are the obituary of Lawrence "Jack" Blanton, and a tribute to him by F. C. Thompson. Jack was a rising young leader of Cliffside who was struck down far too early.07/31/05 In August's Photo of the Month, you get a bird's eye view of Railroad Street with one of the old steam engines chuffing through.
Excuse our being whimsical, but in Odd's & Ends there's a little guessing game of who would have owned a particular personalized license plate in 1956?
And just in time for The Book, we've created a Company Store, a page from which you can purchase things like, oh, The Book. Maybe there'll be other items for sale in the future, but for now all we have is Cliffside: Portrait of a Carolina Mill Town, 128 pages, 214 stunning photographs, 18,000 words (every one a polished jewel). And it's only $19.99. Step right up.07/24/05 Marilyn Moore Kerr has made a major contribution to this site with a collection of articles and photos about the family of Fred and Era Robinson, her grandparents. She's captured the true character of a loving and loyal family and memories of their lives in Cliffside. It's all in Family Stories, in the History section.
In Odds & Ends, there's a quaint old tourist promotion flyer from the 1920s about something called the Black Bear Trail. The trail, actually a series of designated "scenic" highways wound from Miami, Florida, to Quebec, Canada—through Cliffside!
We have yet another Reader Comment, this one from Richard Champion.
On the front page in a small article titled "Upgrade," we urge you to trade up your browser and email software to a relatively new combo called Firefox and Thunderbird. Sick of popups, spy ware and spam? These won't entirely solve the problem but they will sure help.
We've added the columns of F. C. “Skipper” Thompson for the month of September 1934.07/20/05 The publisher of the new book Cliffside: Portrait of A Carolina Mill Town has announced a release date: the week of August 22. It will be available sometime that week at The Swinging Pig in Cliffside, at bookstores in Rutherford and Cleveland Counties, and at various other outlets across the Carolinas. You can preorder the book on the Web sites of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and soon on Arcadia Publishing. 07/02/05 A nice Reader Comment from Jerry Norville, an appeal for donations, and the Picture of the Month for July. 06/17/05 If you like verse, you may be charmed by the new section under Memories titled Poems of Cliffside. We've found some works by and about Cliffside folks and hope you'll provide more.
Check out Did You Know? for a unusual family relationship about which you probably weren't aware.
In History, there's a new Family Story about Mary Quinn Womick Prewitt and her family, who lived in Cliffside until the mid 1930s.
Ironically two Cliffside brothers both drowned— 52 years apart. See The Freeman Tragedies, under History, Articles.
In The Thompson Columns (under Memories) we've appended all Skipper's columns for the month of August 1934, in which he mentions a lot of Cliffside people including Shirley White, Johnny Mills, Roy Ramsey and J. C. Hames.
The organizers of Cliffside Day have sent us the official flyer of the planned activities for the big day, Saturday, October 9.
We've added several items to our Documents archives, including Eva Haynes' and Holloway Wall's marriage license; a program from a Cone Mills Service Recognition Program in June, 1965; a collection of school and church certificates from the 1920s; stock certificates for Cliffside Mills, Lakeview Mills and the Cliffside Railroad. (New documents are always added to the top of the list. )06/01/05 In Odds & Ends you'll find a fascinating woven portrait of a famous man designed by a well-known son of Cliffside.
June's Photo of the Month is actually two 60-year-old photos stitched together and submitted by Grover Haynes, Jr.05/14/05 There's a reception planned soon for Phillip White, who is retiring after 36 years as principal of Cliffside School. Get the details here.
That talented Frances McMurray Houser has sent us a wonderful essay on growing up on Railroad Street, called Cliffside: The Town That WAS. It resides in the Memories department under Original Articles.
There are three new Forest City Courier columns by F. C. “Skipper” Thompson from way back in July 1934. In one, he describes his visit to the Chicago World's Fair (the “Century of Progress” exposition).
We've added 34 new names to the Contributors list, increasing the number to 222 of those who have given their time and funds toward making Remember Cliffside the most unique and acclaimed Web site of its kind (dedicated to the history of a small town).05/04/05 May's Photo of the Month (the old trestle) created a lot of interest. Check out the Updates page.
Don't forget: this Sunday is Memorial Day in Cliffside. Everyone please take photos of everyone else.05/01/05 While preparing the Cliffside book we gathered lots of new material that you'll be seeing in the next few weeks and months: photos, artifacts, family stories, etc. In fact, keep checking this spot daily for newly-added material. We won't hold it til the end of the month.
At the reunion last weekend we heard lots of compliments about this web site. Although a lot of towns would like to have a site "like Cliffside's" not many out there are likely to attempt a site of this one's size and scope.
We'll be busy in late summer and early fall promoting the book, and you can help. If you happen to be in a retail outlet in the Carolinas that sells books, don't hesitate to mention the Cliffside book to the proprietor. If you'd like to leave behind a brochure or card at the store, let us know. We'll mail you a handful.
And now for today's new stuff: It's time for May's Photo of the Month. It's another from the vast collection of Hazel Haynes Bridges, who, a few months ago, allowed us to scan several hundred outstanding photos that span the history of Cliffside. We were astonished when we saw this one. It's of a structure we never knew existed. If you have any information about it, share it with us.04/13/05 Finally, puff, puff, we get around to April's Photo of the Month, this one a landscape, taken around the turn of the last century, of a mill town not too far from our own.
We've added another month's worth of Skipper Thompson columns—for June of 1934. This was the month and year when Cliffside was shocked and saddened by the untimely death of Lawrence "Cliffside Jack" Blanton, a good friend of Thompson's, who devoted a column to Jack.
On the front page is the latest on The Book—did we mention we're writing a book?—and a first look at the actual cover. We would bet you'll be hearing more about it in the months to come.03/12/05 There is an important 2-day event occurring on a weekend in April in Kannapolis, NC. It's a cotton mill reunion and convention arranged by the Textile Heritage Iniative. We urge you to attend and learn what others are doing to preserve the history of Southern mill towns, and to weave your own story into the overall "fabric" of our textile experience. Read all about it.
We've added the Textile Heritage Iniative to our Links page. Check their site from time to time for new developments in their efforts.03/02/04 March's Photo of the Month is a 100-year-old look at the weave room in Cliffside, contributed by Joan Harris.
We're directing you to a photo album of the mill demolition. It's located on another site (Yahoo!) that allows photos to be added easily and quickly. We'll be adding more pictures and more albums as times goes on. These particular pictures were made by Reno Bailey on 02/17/05. Upcoming shots will be made by a variety of photographers.
Under Current Events on the front page, we announce the new book, Cliffside: Portrait of a Carolina Mill Town, to be released this fall.
We've added pictures to the names of the new residents of Cliffside who are operating their businesses out of the former mill office across from the old Baptist church.01/31/05 Cliffside is changing (again!). Here's the latest.
February's Photo of the Month is a World War II vintage snapshot of several prominent men of the town.
There are a couple of significant updates to the recently-posted 1934 murder story, and to the Photo of the Month story on Jim's cabin.
There are four new Skipper Thompson columns for the month of April 1934. They have some interesting and little-known facts about Cliffside in the '30s. Plus, if you've wondered what Skipper looked like shortly after he wrote these columns, go to the About Skipper page. Also, in Skipper's column for January 25, 1934 there is mention of young Maurice Splawn having died at only 16 years of age. Click here, go find and click on Maurice's name to see his picture. (Thanks to his brother, Frank Splawn.)
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