Mill Village

The Glencoe Cotton Mill and its village have a story very similar to that of other 19th- and 20th-century mill communities across the South. The mill operated from 1880 until 1954, and its employees lived in mill houses and shopped at the company store. After it closed, the community faded into vacant houses, rutted streets, and weed-covered properties. Unlike other mills, however, Glencoe found a spark of new life. People interested in its history—headed by Graham resident Sarah Rhyne—joined together to see the property declared a national historic site. Work reclaimed the mill and preserved it for the future. Preservation North Carolina helped, as did a number of individuals from the area, and life returned. Many of the mill houses have been purchased and restored and are now home to a new generation of residents. The Textile Heritage Museum occupies the old office-store building and, with its displays, shows the history of Glencoe and southern textiles in general.

In 1904, the building of a planned community began, and the Henry River Manufacturing Company started producing fine cotton yarns in 1905. In its time, Henry River Mill Village was a completely self-sustained town: it operated under its own currency, generated its own electricity, and churned its own moonshine. While the mill thrived during its operating years, the 12-hour shifts often proved backbreaking for workers. By the time the 12,000 spindles slowed to a halt in the late 1960s, many workers had hoboed out of town looking for higher wages. The mill itself burned down in 1977, but the two-story company store and many of the workers' houses remain, creating an eerie silhouette--and serving as inspiration to both artists and filmmakers.

This is the story of a revolution--the factors influencing management's decision to sell, the extent of the sales, procedures followed in the various sales, psychological effects upon the worker, effects upon labor-management relations, the reaction of the union, and the changes in mill village life resulting from the sales. Originally published in 1949. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The Eubanks family has the picture-perfect life. Their home is filled with love, happiness, and extravagant wealth from old Southern money. Life was pure bliss until a tragic accident occurs. Everything changes as a darkness falls over this beloved family. Tragic accidents become common as time goes by. How long will this go on? Who will the next victim be? And who will survive the Mill Village curse?

One of the earliest mill communities in the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed along Spot Pond Brook, a few miles north of Boston. Thomas Coytmore built the first mill in 1640 at the brook's downstream end in "Mistick Side" (present-day Malden). Other mills sprang up along the brook as well. Today, most of Spot Pond Brook is hidden in culverts beneath the busy streets of Malden and Melrose. However, remnants of the lost mill village of Haywardville--foundations, millruns and ponds and waterfalls--are preserved within Middlesex Fells Reservation, part of Boston's world-famous Metropolitan Park System. Authors Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox trace the history of this thriving early American community.

The story of Ray Pettit is the story of America. a country of decent and generous people, a country with a heritage and system of government based on liberty and the rights of individuals, a country where opportunity has no bounds. Encouraged by his mill-worker parents, who were lacking in formal education but not in intelligence, character, and love for their children, he used his natural ability in mathematics and high-level academic achievement as a springboard to great accomplishments in engineering, some of which contributed to the development of today's modem cellphone technology .Mill-Village Boy begins with the story of a barefoot boy in overalls, in the small town of Canton, Georgia, during the depression years of the 1930s. Unconditionally loved by his parents, Ray Pettit went from Class Valedictorian to graduation from Georgia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering. This was followed by Masters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, and outstanding achievements in industry and academia. Mill-Village Boy has elements of intrigue and danger, love and adventure, comedy and sadness, loyalty and betrayal. . . a fascinating description of an exciting and rewarding life!