The Deep River Heritage Coalition is developing plans to create a heritage corridor along the Deep River that would interpret the rich human and natural history along the river from its source near the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Guilford County through Randolph, Moore, Chatham and Lee counties.
While the Deep River features many important natural heritage sites that include Native American and early European settlements, recent events have caused the coalition to focus on the early textile industry that was developed by the Quakers.
An important textile mill, the Columbia Mill in Ramseur, is being torn down for the salvage value of its materials.
“The Columbia is far more important than the sum of its salvaged parts,” said Franklinville Mayor Mac Whatley, the primary advocate for the heritage corridor. “The Columbia was the third or fourth oldest textile mill (circa 1848) still standing in the state and was largely untouched in that the mill had not been modernized over the years as so many other mills had been. That makes the preservation of the Franklinville Mill (circa 1838) all the more important.”
According to Whatley, the Franklinville Mill is the second oldest textile mill in the state and is the oldest water-powered textile mill in the state.
“The mill was a social statement by the Quakers against the agrarian economy that was based on slave labor more than an effort at economic development,” Whatley said.
An emergency effort is now under way to raise funds to secure as much of the salvaged materials as possible for use in the restoration of the Franklinville Mill, which would benefit from the more original materials that are being salvaged.
The Yadkin-Pee Dee Lakes Project, a regional sustainable development nonprofit that is working to create “North Carolina’s Central Park,” is taking the lead in raising funds for this purpose. North Carolina Zoo Director David Jones serves as chairman of the Project and has been the guiding force in development of the “Central Park” concept.
Bill Medlin, executive director of the Yadkin-Pee Dee Lakes Project, said the Deep River Heritage Corridor is an important economic development strategy for the Piedmont region because of its capacity to produce significant well-paying jobs that cannot be exported because they are based on the history of a particular place and people.
“Imagine traveling from Greensboro via automobile on a scenic drive along the Deep River through small rural mill towns, each with their own character and story, stopping at a restaurant overlooking the river or staying at a Bed and Breakfast or Inn in one of the restored mills,” Medlin said. “That is part of our vision for the Deep River Heritage Corridor.”
Combine that with walking paths, a planned canoe and kayak blueway along the river and interpretation of its history, Medlin said, and one can ponder questions relative to the nation and society as a whole.
“You begin to fathom the importance of this project and this resource,” he said.
Medlin said the economic potential for the Central Park was confirmed by studies commissioned by his organization. These studies estimated the potential for the seven-county area to add 33,000 jobs and more than $3 billion in annual revenue by the year 2025 if the Central Park Strategy is implemented.
The summary of those studies is available at http://www.lakesproject.org/publications.htm.
Whatley encourages anyone who is interested in furthering this project to contact the Yadkin-Pee Dee Lakes Project at info@lakesproject.org or 704.422.3215. Whatley can be contacted directly at (336) 824-2604 or (336)318-1484.
Tax-deductible donations to the emergency salvage fund can be made in care of the Yadkin-Pee Dee Lakes Project, P.O. Box 338, Badin, N.C., 28009.
