Henry River: no trespassing

In my recent travels through Burke County I chanced upon this ghost town, upriver from Brookford.  Henry River mill village was founded in 1904 by the Rudisills and the Aderholdts -- relatives, no doubt, of Orville Frank Aderholdt, police chief of Gastonia in 1929 and a central figure in the Loray Mill strike.

 

From the Past:
Henry River Mill Village

by Mickie Vacca, Executive Director, Historic Burke Foundation

"Voice of the Foothills" Newspaper, February 2003

Sitting on the eastern edge of Burke County is a preserverationist's dream, a diamond in the rough, the Henry River mill village. Built as a planned community, the Henry River mill village was a self-contained complex with its own mill, dam, water and fire-protection systems, and company store. In later years the Henry River village gained amenities such as walkways, terraced green spaces, and fieldstone retaining walls. Today most of the village's original buildings remain sited along a small gorge of the Henry River, west of the Catawba County line, the most intact and unaltered example of an early industrial environment in Burke County.

In 1904 Michael Erastus Rudisill laid out the mill and village on a 1500-acre tract, chosen for its hydropower potential. Rudisill, along with his brother Albert Pinkney Rudisill, built the village and engineered the dam and mill building along with David William Aderholdt, Miles R. Rudisill, and Marcus Lafayette Aderholdt. The mill was incorporated as the Henry River Manufacturing Company. The company manufactured fine cotton yarns. Beginning in 1905, a 30-foot reinforced concrete dam was constructed with a three-story brick mill building. The mill building burned in 1977.

The residential area of the village consisted of approximately 35 small worker's cottages. Twenty-one are standing today. These 1-1/2 story duplex houses were laid out along the steep contours of the river's northern bank. The workers lived in boarding houses or workers' cottages built by the company, which were leased at nominal fees.

Around 1907 the four mill owners, the Rudisills and the Aderholdts, built new homes for themselves just outside the village. Although one burned in 1935, three of the four houses are still standing today.

Since the loss of the main mill building, the centerpiece of the village today is the two-story brick company store building. This building served as a mill office with the upper floor used as a school room and for church services from 1907-1917. In 1912 a steel truss bridge engineered by the Rudisills was built across the Henry River. When built, it was reputed to be the highest bridge in the state. During the 1916 flood, this bridge was one of the few not destroyed. In 1960 a new concrete bridge replaced the steel truss bridge.

The Henry River Mill originally ran on waterpower. In 1914 a steam plant was installed then in 1926, the mill was converted to electric power. The mill was closed for several years and was purchased by Wade K. Shepherd in 1976. Equipment and materials were stored in the mill building when it burned in 1977.

The mill and village are designated to the North Carolina Study List of the National Register of Historic Places. Late in 2002 through the Burke County Partners in Economic Development's Heritage Preservation Committee began efforts to explore development of the historic site for the benefit of all Burke County citizens. Early in 2003 the formation of a Henry River Mill Village Committee has begun looking into working with the property owner to devise ways of preserving the mill village intact.

North Carolina has an established record of preserving important industrial sites. Some other mill villages that have been developed very successfully in North Carolina are Glencoe mill village in Alamance County, the Eden Mill complex in Chowan County, and the cultural arts center being developed near Hendersonville at the Grey Mill Complex. Suggested uses for the Henry River mill village have been as a residential community, as a resotred historic mill site, or as a cultural heritage center showcasing artisans of North Carolina and their crafts.

The presence of the site on the North Carolina Register Study List puts it one step closer to eligibility for North Carolina and federal tax credit programs. The property can be developed for commercial or private uses. Using preservation covenants and following the Secretary of Interiors standards for restoration, buyers can take advantage of either 40% commercial tax credits or 30% private tax credits. The PEG's Heritage Preservation Committee is actively working to encourage interest in this important remnant of the change in American lifestyle from an agrarian to an industrial society. Today the remaining buildings of the Henry River mill village speak eloquently of the industrial heritage of Burke County.

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Once Thriving Village
Now a Ghost Town

from The News Herald, Morganton, NC -- March 27, 2005

by Lauren Williamson

Driving through the old Henry River Mill Village today reveals no similarities between the once thriving community that existed.

Long ago, Henry River was well known for its water power and Lincoln County native Michael Erastus Rudisill wanted to build upon it.

He traveled to Henry River early in the 1900s with the hopes of building a cotton mill along the river. His brother, Albert Pinkney Rudisill, ventured to the site and engineered the building of the Henry River Dam.

Several others, including Gus Quickie, Monroe Houser, Miles R. Rudisill, David William Aderholdt, and Marcus Lafayette Aderholdt, came to Henry River about the same time. The group formed a corporation known as Henry River Manufacturing Company.

Construction of Henry River Mills was complete in 1905, and thus the cotton manufacturing began.

In its early years, the mill operated 4,000 yarn-making spindles. By the time it shut down in the late 1960s, the mill had 12,000 spindles and produced fine combed yarn for lace.

The village consisted of not only the mill and company store but a boarding house and 35 clapboard structures that housed the mills' workers and their families.

Local native Frank Eckard grew up on the south side of the river and fondly remembers his days growing up around the mill village.

"When I was a kid, I used to go with my grandparents and uncles over into the village," he said. "They had a farm and sold their milk and vegetables over in the village.

Eckard said he always looked forward to traveling around the village whenever his family went to sell their produce.

"Most everyone there worked at the mill," Eckard said. "They bought most of the stuff they needed at the store. It was its own thriving community."

The booming village, however, began to vanish after the mill was closed in 1973. Wade K. Shepherd bought it in 1976, but never got to open for business because of a fire in 1977 that destroyed the entire mill.

In 2002, The News Herald published an article by correspondent Don Benfield about the village's disintegration.

In the article, Bud Rudisill described the vivacity of the old village and its residents. For 82 of his 88 years, Rudisill resided in the village, having been born in one of the 21 remaining workers' houses and raising his five children for 52 years in a house opposite the old store building, the article said.

Before his father died in 1930, Rudisill had to quit school at the age of 14 and start working in the mill in order to help out his family.

"I had to quit school when I was partway through the fifth grade," he said.

Twelve-hour shifts filled with backbreaking labor took up a good part of the workers' days, with an hour taken out for lunch, but that time rarely taken in reality. The mill had to be run nonstop for the entire 12 hours.

In the hours when mill workers weren't working, they either tended to gardens and livestock, or found ways to entertain themselves, such as square dancing, playing baseball or just going over to a neighbor's place and chewing the fat. Others took a different approach, Rudisill remembers.

"Used to be a lot of drinkin' goin' on around here, he said. "A lot of it. But back then there wasn't much that you had to do..."

The days of the thriving village are long gone now. Instead of the busy mill town, the area is more of a ghost town.

After the mill burned, the community seemed to die out along with it. Workers moved on to new jobs and new communities. Weeds have overtaken the homes' yards and the houses themselves are rundown and falling apart at a steady rate.

When driving through the village today, it is hard to imagine the scores of children playing by the river or the men and women hanging out after working hours.

Eckard and his wife, Diane, have spent numerous hours around the old village, making maps and notes and interviewing folks who either lived in the village or who had relatives who did.

Preservations advocates, government representatives and tourism officials are considering ideas for redeveloping the crumbling village along the Henry River in eastern Burke County.

The group wants to reactivate an application to add the village to the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that could mean tax credits for rehabilitation work.

The Historic Burke Foundation is currently working on the application to have the site placed on the National Register of Historic Places and hopes to have it completed by summer, said Mickie Vacca, director.

"I remember when it was a boom town," Eckard said. "It's sad now, it really is."

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photos by Kim Church

additional photos by Diane Fields at Abandoned: Mill Village.