Today, Labor Day 2008, George and I took a short trip up to
Granville County, North Carolina. I've driven through
Granville County on numerous occasions, on I-85 heading to locations north of North Carolina, but I don't recall ever having a reason to stop and explore before. I must say that it's a very pretty county, and I look forward to returning!
I noticed on a North Carolina map that the community of
Hester lies in Granville County, so I had to stop and check it out. My great-great-great-grandmother was a Hester, and who knows, maybe I'm kin to Henry M. Hester, the town's namesake. (According to
The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, he donated the site for the railroad right-of-way and station.)
At the intersection of US 15 and Hester Road, we saw this house for sale.
I decided to ride to the end of Hester Road, and saw that I could get to
Stem or to
Creedmoor from there. (We passed through
Creedmoor on the way up to Hester, but decided not to stop this time.)
This tobacco field was at the end of Hester Road.
Along the way, we saw several signs for horses for sale, so we knew we were in North Carolina horse country when we saw this sign!
Here's one of the horses we saw along the highway.
Once in
Oxford, the county seat, we enjoyed walking around and exploring. We found it easy enough to just park and walk around
Oxford, which added to its charm! This is a shot of the
Granville County Courthouse, which was built in 1838 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Here's George in front of the wooden courthouse doors.
Near the courthouse was this marker commemorating
John Penn, who died in Granville County. He signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of North Carolina. He was a distant relative of
William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania.
We passed by the
Union Bank & Trust in downtown Oxford, and I was charmed by the analog clock in this age of digital clocks.
Other than this sign, I wouldn't have known this was a church on Williamsboro Street.
We asked a mother and son walking downtown where we should have some lunch, since we passed one restaurant that was closed because of the Labor Day holiday. We got a good recommendation for
Milano's on Williamsboro Street, and enjoyed it a lot. I had a veggie wrap that was tasty, and George got a roastbeef sandwich, which he enjoyed. We were both impressed by what was showing on the restaurant's big screen TV: the National Georgraphic Channel.
While in town, we heard about the
2nd Annual Hot Sauce Contest, which will be going on in Oxford next weekend. We just might go back for that!
I was impressed by the
columns on this building, which happens to be the educational building of the
Oxford Baptist Church.
Here's the sanctuary building for the church.
Here's the
Richard H. Thornton Library in Oxford. As I was taking this picture, George asked me who'd be interested in seeing this picture of Oxford's library. Since I work in a library, you can imagine the look I gave him. ;-)
Near the library, someone asked if we were tourists.
Down the road from the library was this statue commemorating the area's Confederate soldiers.
Here's a nearby plaque commemorating the area's Revolutionary War soldiers.
One of the neat little downtown places we spotted was a memorial garden/park for Hugh Currin, who served as mayor of Oxford for 25 years and died in 2000.
I was intrigued by this house, which I believe is on Main Street. It's just the kind of house I'd love to see bought and restored. George said it looks like a haunted house, which may be part of the charm for me. (Now, as I write this, I can say that Halloween is next month!)
For more of my Granville County pictures, click
here.
I noticed on a North Carolina map that the community of Hester lies in Granville County, so I had to stop and check it out. My great-great-great-grandmother was a Hester, and who knows, maybe I'm kin to Henry M. Hester, the town's namesake. (According to The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, he donated the site for the railroad right-of-way and station.)
Near the courthouse was this marker commemorating John Penn, who died in Granville County. He signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of North Carolina. He was a distant relative of William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania.
We asked a mother and son walking downtown where we should have some lunch, since we passed one restaurant that was closed because of the Labor Day holiday. We got a good recommendation for Milano's on Williamsboro Street, and enjoyed it a lot. I had a veggie wrap that was tasty, and George got a roastbeef sandwich, which he enjoyed. We were both impressed by what was showing on the restaurant's big screen TV: the National Georgraphic Channel.
Here's the Richard H. Thornton Library in Oxford. As I was taking this picture, George asked me who'd be interested in seeing this picture of Oxford's library. Since I work in a library, you can imagine the look I gave him. ;-)
One of the neat little downtown places we spotted was a memorial garden/park for Hugh Currin, who served as mayor of Oxford for 25 years and died in 2000.
I was intrigued by this house, which I believe is on Main Street. It's just the kind of house I'd love to see bought and restored. George said it looks like a haunted house, which may be part of the charm for me. (Now, as I write this, I can say that Halloween is next month!)
I drove through Northampton County, a county in northeastern North Carolina, on July 1, and stopped in Jackson first. Jackson seems to be a quaint rural southern town, a quiet place with some jewels to be found. (As of the 2000 census, there were 695 people in Jackson.) I didn't have an agenda in mind when I stopped in Jackson, only to see what I could find. The picture here seems to be a city office.
Since it was the week of July 4th, there were a lot of American flags out.
Jackson's the county seat of Northampton County (formed in 1741 from Bertie County), thanks to its central location in the county, and this picture is of the Northampton County Courthouse. The area was orginally known as Northampton Courthouse; Jackson was incorporated in 1823 and named for Andrew Jackson.
This historic marker stands in front of the county courthouse.
I enjoyed visiting the library there in Jackson. Check out the library's hours at the bottom of the sign! I scanned the genealogy collection (several shelves) for possible treasures, but nothing stood out that might have some of my family history. (It's always worth a look!)
Near the library is the Northampton County Museum, and the scene on the left is painted on the side of the museum. (The museum was closed, so this scene was part of my history lesson on the Northampton County.
Looking through the windows of the country doctor's office, you can see the horse painted on the outside of the county museum.
I enjoyed discovering the Church of the Savior, a local Episcopal church. I could tell from a distance that the church was old, and this sign points out that it's on the National Register of Historic Places. Right up my alley!
Here is a front view of the sanctuary.
I took lots of pictures at the adjoining cemetery. (I love walking through old cemeteries!) This was one of my favorite shots of this very pretty cemetery.
Driving through the town of Conway (pop. 734 in 2000), I got stopped by a train. From where I stopped on the road, I could see this service station on my left. It intrigued me to see the old style gas pumps, with full service on one side and self service on the other.
The flowers on the mimosa tree seemed especially wispy and pretty, so I snapped a closer shot.
