MOORE COUNTY TOWNS (all information below was originally submitted by James Vann Comer taken from his central NC collection; reprinted from November 1988/January/November 1989 MCGS Newsletters ):
ABERDEEN: According to The Pine Knot, Southern Pines, NC, Saturday Morning, 26 November 1887 “Blue’s Crossing” – The name of this place will be changed to Aberdeen on January 1st. A very pretty name we think.”
JACKSON SPRINGS: According to the North Carolina Gazette, Fayetteville, NC, Thursday, 2 August 1877 – “For The Gazette, Jackson Springs, Moore County, NC – Messr Editor—- ‘the good old Jackson Springs’ – the richest treasure the county affords ••• They are situated on a small branch known as ‘The Mineral Branch’, in the western extremity of Moore County, and on the road leading from Carthage to Rockingham, and about half way between the two places. They present quite a romantic appearance to the traveler, who seldom passes within tasting their water, and, when he has once tasted it, ‘not a full, gushing goblet could tempt him to leave it, though niled with the nectar Jupiter sips.’
The Springs are always thronged with visitors from different parts of the State, in the summer and fall seasons. Some come for the benefit to be derived from the water, which is surpassed by none in the State, or perhaps in the U S, for the curing of certain chronic diseases; and such are always benefited, and often entirely cured thereby ••• There is a school going on here under the Supervision of Mr Clark, a graduate of Chapel Hill, a competent teacher, and, upon the whole, a very clever man. This school is intended to prepare boys and young men for college ••• ”
According to the North Carolina Gazette, Fayetteville, NC, Thursday, 6 September 1877 – “Visit to Moore -… The water of Jackson’s Springs is undoubtedly possessed of rare medicinal and health restoring properties, from the testimony given by intelligent persons who have used it, and from the cures it has accomplished. It is especially beneficial in all disorders of the liver, and it is claimed to be an almost unfailing specific for dyspepsia. The stream gushes forth from a fissure of the rock hardly large enough to admit of the entrance of a gourd, but this heathful fountain is inexhaustable and all the afflicted may drink without stint or price …..
MANLY: According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC, Thursday, 29 January 1880 – “Town of Manly is the name of a station in Moore County on the R & A A L RR and the correspondent of the Raleigh News says is the shipping point of quite a number of saw mills and turpentine distilleries. There are in the vicinity 15 of these distilleries and 11 saw mills, and the agent says that during the past year (1879) 30,000 barrels of naval stores were billed at that depot.” According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, NC, Thursday, 10 June 1880 – “From the Piney Woods – A correspondent for the new town of Manly, on the R & A A L RR, writes to The Record of follows: ‘This is a beautiful sand hill country located 67 miles from Raleigh, with immense pine forest to back it up. There are 16 turpentine stills located in the neighborhood of this place, together with about as many saw mills, affording employment to a large number of hands.'”
PARKWOOD: According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, NC, Thursday, 9 October 1879 – “Moore-County Grind-stones – J E Taylor, President of the Taylor Manufacturing Company, of Westminster, Maryland, was in this city (Charlotte) yesterday. We learn that he has bought millstone quarry in Moore County, about five miles from Carthage, which contains a stone that was discovered some 75 years ago, and has been worked by several parties in a primitive way, some ten quarries having been operated for years. The store has gained quite a local notoriety as Moore County Grit. It is a blue cement-colored rock filled with white flint, and it is claimed for it that it grinds corn in a manner superior to the French burr or esophus. The grit being so much sharper than that in the ordinary mill-stone makes a fine granulation instead of a pasty or floury meal. lilt is also claimed that it grinds with much less power than any other. Mr Taylor purchased the entire vein some five miles long, together with 350 acres of land, and has formed a company called the ‘Moore County Millstone Company’, which will put in all the improved machinery to put the stones on the market in quantities. The deposit is said by all acquainted with it to be inexhaustible. – Charlotte Observer.” According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, NC, Thursday, 5 August 1880 -“Telephone Line – Arrangements are now on foot by which this place (Carthage) will be connected with the railroad by a telephone. The Taylor Manufacturing Company, together with our citizens, will establish the line from the Rock Quarry via Carthage to Cameron, thus placing us in direct communication with the world. – Moore Index.” According to the Moore Gazette, Carthage, NC, Thursday, 22 September 1881 The Quarry – Last Saturday afternoon: Mr Robert McNeill took us out to Parkwood, where we found a perfect hive of industry and hard work about the quarry. New mills were being made, lumber sawed, and the hotel is rapidly approaching completion. This is a large building, finely located, and constructed with an eye to convenience and taste. The company is expending a large amount on this valuable property, which will doubtless be returned many fold. The yard is being prepared for making brick, and operations will commence in a few days. Superintendent Grimm tells us that he has an order for mills from South America, and the business is increasing beyond their sanguine expectations.”
PINEBLUFF: According to The Pine Knot, Southern Pines, NC, Saturday morning, 19 November-1887 “The Town of Pine Bluff – Six miles south of Southern Pines, on the R & AAL RR is a high bluff, a little back from the railroad. It is well wooded with oak and long-leaf pine, and the round, sloping in all directions, assures perfect natural drainage. Here Messrs R M Couch and J FAllen, both of New Hampshire, have established a new town which they have named Pine Bluff. The same plan will be adopted as has been in use here (Southern Pines), with slight modifications ••• ” According to The Pine Knot, Southern Pines, NC, Saturday morning, 3 December- l887. George Biddell is surveying this new town. The present survey covers about 75 acres but over six hundred acres will be added to this. The blocks are 500 feet square, and are like the blocks at the (Southern) Pines, except that there are 12 lots instead of 24 to the blocks. At the intersection of each street and avenue is a public park and the streets & avenues are one hundred feet wide each. Except the main avenue which is 130 feet wide with a 30 foot park running the whole length down the centre. On a beautiful eminent Seminary Hill, a graded school will be built so that Northern people settling here will have good advantages for their children who may be unable to attend school at home on account of the cold winters. The lake covers over twenty acres and will have a two story pavilion facing it. The lake is fed by a brook of pure water flowing over a pebble bed. The main road from Southern Pines to Keyser runs through Pine Bluff and will run over the dam. A beautiful bridge will span the gate.”
SOUTHERN PINES: According to the Moore Gazette, Carthage, NC, Thursday, 16 October 1884 – “The new winter resort near Manly is still being laid off and cleared up. The hotel will soon be completed and will be filled with boarders during the coming winter. Its name has been changed from ‘Vineland’ to ‘Southern Pines’. There is a winter resort in New Jersey by the name of ‘Vineland’ so they changed the name to prevent mistakes.”
WEST END: According to the Diary of the Rev William Henry Harrison Lawhon – “Friday, 7 June 1889 – Took dinner and spent two hours with Brother A B Coving at West End – a town that has grown up in a few months. Spend a short while at Jackson Springs.” According to the Diary of the Rev William Henry Harrison Lawhon – “Monday, 3 April 1893 – Last Saturday (1 April 1893) everything from Jackson Springs to D.Hannon was burned in West End – three stores and some other houses was burned. The wind was high and dry & c. A big rain at night.”
CAMERON AND CARTHAGE: According to The Carthaginian, Carthage, NC, Thursday, 31 January 1878 – “Cameron, NC, Editors Carthaginian Our little city is still progressing, our people are healthy and all seem happy. By way of diversity, we have added to our many interesting avocations, the spark of electricity (telegram) by which we are in a moments communication with the balance of civilization ••• ” According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC, Thursday, 10 February 1881 – “State News Moore Gazette: The N. C. Mill-Stone Company have now almost completed telephonic communication between their (Parkwood) quarry and Cameron, and an arrangement is being made by which the business men of Carthage can also have the benefit of the line.” According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 21 June 1894 – “Town and Vicinity – The people of Raleigh and Durham are happy. The two towns are now connected by the telephone .This reminds us that Cameron and Carthage were once connected by the telephone. For several years this was the only means of quick communication between the two towns. But when Carthage Railroad was built the ‘phone went out of use, the telegraph taking its place. Cameron and Carthage were the first two towns in the State to be connected”by the long distance telephone.” According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC, Thursday, 26 November 1885 – “Local Records Railroad to Carthage We are pleased to learn that our neighbors over in Moore (County) are taking steps to build a railroad to their county town (Carthage). The last Legislature passed an act incorporating a company for that purpose, and on Monday of last week, the incorporators held a meeting at Carthage, and appointed persons to open books of subscription to the capital stock of the company ••• ” According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC, Thursday, 18 February 1886 – “Local Records On the 8th instant (Feb 1886), an election was held in the Carthage Township, Moore County, upon the question of subscribing $10,000 to aid in the construction of a railroad from some point (Cameron) on the R. & A. A. L. road. The vote stood 265 for subscription and 99 against.”
CARTHAGE: According to The Carthage Blade, Carthage, NC, Thursday, 23 August 1888 – “Localets – Our railroad is now a fixed fact. It is well equipped, and rides as smoothly as the main line of the R. & A. We took our first trip over it, since its completion, last Saturday afternoon. We were agreeably surprised to find it in such a good condition. It shows beyond doubt that Capt. Holman, who superintended tracklaying, is no novice in railroad building, and that he did his full duty by our people.”
FEAGANSVILLE: According to the North Carolina Gazette, Fayetteville, NC, Thursday, 12 April 1877 – “Moore County – The November Term, 1785, was held at the dwelling-house of Richardson Feagan the site selected for the county seat ••• The place was called ‘Feagansville’, in honor of Richardson Feagan, Esq., who furnished the site, and who was a man of means and influence in the county ••• Feagansville did not grow to be a place of much importance, and, as the county was sparsely settled, it is probable that the mercantile business was quite limited. R. Feagan, Esq., was nabob of the town, being Sheriff and ordinary (hotel-keeper) ••• Feagansville was situated about 3/4 of a mile from the present site of Carthage; a little west of south, and while there is nothing about the locality that would indicate to a stranger that it had ever been used as a seat of justice, yet the identical spot where the old court-house stood can be pointed out by some of the older citizens. The court was held here for twelve years, the last term held here being May, 1798 ••• via Rowland.” According to the North Carolina Gazette, Fayetteville, NC, Thursday, 19 April 1877 – “Moore County – The new County seat was called Carthage from 1798 to 1806, and Feagansville from 1806 to 1818. ” ••• The name Carthage was fixed by an act of the Legislature in 1818, at the instance of Benjamin Person, Esq., one of the Representatives from this (Moore) county via Rowland.” [Note: also spelled Fagansville, Faginville]
GLENDON: According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, Thursday, 19 April 1894 – “Town and Vicinity – A new post office, called Glendon has been established in this (Moore) county at the southern terminus of the Glendon and Gulf railroad.” According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 28 June 1894 – “Town and Vicinity – Mr. J. R. Jones, of Carbonton, was here yesterday. He says a daily mail system was recently established by the government over the new line of railroad from Gulf to Glendon. The people of Glendon are now in touch with the outside world and are posted on the daily happenings.”
PINEHURST: According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 8 August 1895 – “Local Laconics – Speaking of the new town that is building in this (Moore) county, the Aberdeen Telegram says: ‘Mr. Frederick Law Olmstead, the greatest landscape architect in America and one of the finest in the world, is laying off the grounds. Mr. H. E. Knox, of Charlotte, has the contract and is now boring an artesian well. Mr Tufts proposes to make this a model town for health and beauty. ‘ A Southern Pines gentleman tells the Express that the car line to connect the new town with Southern Pines will be commenced at once. New Florida is not the name of the place, as was reported. It is yet without a name.” According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 5 September 1895 – Pinehurst Mr. James W. Tufts (Boston millionaire), who is building a new town in the southern part of this (Moore) county, has named it ‘Pinehurst’ ….. According to The Sanford Express, December 1895 – “Sanford Expressions” – Mr. Tufts is going to fence in his property at Pinehurst. He just bought 900 rods of wire fence for that purpose.
ROSELAND: According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 1 November 1894 – “A New Town .!.£. ~ Established i.E.. Moore County Roselands is a new town to be established in Moore County, on the Moore County railroad, four miles from Aberdeen. A land improvement company has purchased 4,000 acres of land lying on both sides of the railroad, and intends securing a number of settlers to go into the fruit and grape business on a considerable scale. The company also owns 5,000 acres of land which will be utilized for the same purpose as fast as the timber is cut and marketed via Fayetteville Observer.” According to The Sanford Express, Sanford, NC, Thursday, 4 July 1895 – ‘Local Laconics – The prospects are that in a few years the southern part of Moore County will be a community of towns and villages. Recently an Express reporter was shown a map of Roselands by Surveryor Francis Deaton, of Carthage. Roselands is a high plateau of forest land containing about 2,000 acres owned by a northern syndicate, who propose to establish thereon a health resort and fruit growing villa on a similar plan to that adopted at Southern Pines. land.” Town lots have been laid off on this land.
VASS: According to The Carthage Blade, Carthage, Moore County, NC, Tuesday, 26 April 1892 – “Cameron News – Our neighbor town Winder has had her name changed to Vass, in honor of W. W. Vass of the R. & A. Rail Road.”
ALLISON: According to the Central Express, Sanford, NC, Saturday, 2 February 1889 – “Local Expressions” Moore County has a new village and post-office named Allison. It is three miles from Jackson Springs at the present terminus of the Aberdeen and West End Railroad. It manufactures and sells spirits of turpentine.”
CAVINESS CROSSROADS: According to the Moore Gazette, Carthage, NC, Thursday, 31 July 1884 – “Caviness Bros., Crain’s Creek, NC, Feb. 7 – 1y – Heavy and Fancy Groceries: Coffee, Sugar, Syrup, Flour, Bacon; Dry Goods, Clothing, Boots and Shoes; Hardware, Crockery, Glassware and Willow-ware; Tobacco and Cigars.
CHALMERSVILLE: According to the Record of Appointments of Postmasters (1~451856); “Name 2..! Post Office Chalmersville, Name of Postmaster, – Uriah Schermerhorn, Date of Establishment–April 12, 1854.”
VILLANOW: According to Miss Meade Seawell of Carthage, NC, – “Villanow was named by her grandfather, Dr Virgil Newton Seawell for his Villa (or home) now.”
According to the Record of Appointments of Postmasters (18771889): “Name of Post Office Villanow, Name of Postmaster Virgil Newton Seawell Date of establishment April 22 , 1887. (Note): Formerly – Crain’s-Creek. According to the Record of Appointments of Postmasters (1890-1929): “Name of Post Office Villanow, Date Discontinued October 19, 1906.(Note): Mail to Sanford, NC.
GREENWOOD: According to the Record of Appointments of Postmasters (1877-1889): “Name of Post Office Greenwood, Name of Postmaster James M. Cole date of establishment August 13, 1877. Discontinued August 19, 1904. Mail to Gilbert, NC.
KEYSER: According to The Chatham Record, Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC, Thursday. 20 December 1888 – “State News: News and Observer News reached here (Raleigh) yesterday of the destruction by fire on the night before of the railroad warehouse at Keyser, on the R. & A.R.R. The warehouse and freight which was stored in it were totally consumed and also a car load of lumber which was standing close by. The agent who was sleeping in the warehouse came near losing his life in the flames. Most of the property it is stated was covered by insurance.”
VICTOR: According to the Central Express, Sanford, NC, Saturday, 27 April 1889 – “Local Expressions – A post office has been established at the western terminus of the Aberdeen and West End Rail Road. The office is called Victor, for Victor Dockery. We heard that Mr. Frank Page the owner of the road says he will control the politics of the postal clerk on his road. We venture to say that when Harrison and his gang go, the post office name of Victor will go too.”
Moore County NC Genealogical Society 