History of

Alamance & Caswell
Counties, NC

New! 65 Page Illustrated Booklet

Early days in Alamance & Caswell Counties in the piedmont area of North Carolina, are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales and factual data in this new 65-page spiral-bound booklet, comprised of excerpts from several vintage books. These source materials include John Hill Wheeler's Historical Sketches of North Carolina (1851); Sketches of Prominent Living North Carolinians by Jerome Dowd (1888), North Carolina, A Guide to the Old North State (1939), a product of the WPA; A New Geography of North Carolina (1954-65).

The tri-color front cover is printed on 80# card stock and has been protected with a vinyl sheet. The text is printed single-sided on 60# opaque paper, with the print enlarged to fit the 8.5" x 11" paper and improve readability.

Towns mentioned in the booklet include: ALAMANCE -- Graham (county seat), Burlington, Mebane, Altamahaw-Ossipee, Swepsonville, Haw River, Saxapahaw, Elon College, Alamance, Hopedale, Carolina, Bellement, and Glen Raven. CASWELL -- Yanceyville (county seat), Milton, Leasburg, Semora, Providence, Purley, Locust Hill, Prospect Hill, Ridgeville, Hightowers, Pelham, Quick (formerly Kill Quick), Park Springs, Camp Springs, Anderson, Hamer, Estelle, Ashland, Cherry Grove and Caswell.

Among the interesting items in this booklet are documents pertaining to the Regulators and the Battle of Alamance, including an excerpt from the journal of Governor Tryon beginning July 6, 1768, and correspondence between the governor and the Regulators. Wheeler refers to this episode, which involved unlawful taxation, as "the germ of American liberty."

Other topics include: Geological and Physical features, such as the Cane Creek and Stony Creek Mountains and the Haw River; Members of the General Assembly from Alamance County before 1851; Early notables, including Thomas Ruffin, chief justice of the state supreme court, Marmaduke Williams, Bartlett Yancey, Jacob Thompson, Bedford Brown, and Romulus Mitchell Saunders; the Ku Klux Klan and the post-Civil War days; Industry and Agriculture; Religion and Education, including Elon College and Caswell Academy; J. Spencer Love and Burlington Mills; Pyle's Hacking Match; Stories about names -- like Stinking Quarters Creek; Conspirators in the execution of a carpetbag politician; Alamance Plaids, Hardrock Simpson (who could outrun a pony), 50 Stills, a neglected battlefield, an illiterate postmaster, fortunate accidents resulting in "bright tobacco" and Fels-Naptha soap; and other interesting bits of history and trivia.

The Dowd excerpts are biographies of three native sons: Col. Thomas M. Holt, T.H. Cobb, and Rufus Yancey McAden. The WPA section offers a nostalgic glimpse of the area from a 1939 vantage point, offering historical notes and sightseeing possibilities.

Wouldn't this make a unique gift?