Goldston, Chatham County, North Carolina

My Grandmother Hatch (Ola Mae Marley Hatch) graduated from Goldston High School in 1925. While on our trip through North Carolina, we decided to try to find where the high school was located. We had no idea where it was, just that it was in Goldston. So when we arrived we decided we should probably ask someone for help directions. Goldston is not very big. Population, according to Wikipedia is only 268. The downtown area is quaint but small. We were limited on where to go to seek someone's help.  


We saw a little local diner and figured there might be people there that could help us. We went in and scoped out someone that looked like they might be a local who would know the area. There was a very nice lady sitting there, who looked like she was quite comfortable in the setting, so we walked up to her and asked if she knew the location of the high school. She was so nice and proceeded to tell us that she could give us directions to where the school used to be! What? It wasn't there anymore? Another one of those disappointing moments along the trek we have embarked upon.  The sad thing was, she seemed very disappointed that the school had been torn down.  She said the community was not happy about the teardown, but it was not in good enough shape to leave standing.  

Some of the old buildings in Goldston, NC.

When we arrived at the location she had given us, there was not a trace of the main building.  We had a picture which kind of gave us an idea of the setting and there was a big smokestack in the background that could serve as a landmark, but that was gone too.  

Goldston High School.
Picture from the 1948 Gold-Stone Yearbook. (1)

We drove around the block a couple times before we found the actual site and the way we found it was the rock retaining wall that ran along the road in front of the building, as seen in the picture to the right. We got out and walked around the property.   All we could find was where the cafeteria had been (next to the current fire station) and a path that led to it.  The skeleton of the awning that ran between the school and the cafeteria was still standing, giving us an idea of how it was laid out.  

Original retaining wall in front of
what was the old Goldson High School.

The sidewalk that led to the front of the building was still visible, which is sort of visible in the middle of this picture, above the road, behind the wall.    

At the time of the picture of the school, there were very few trees in the front but the area had grown up a lot.  The location was just outside the downtown area and sat at the crossroads of several towns.  It is a beautiful area.  There wasn't a lot out there either, which made it a great location for a school  

Before the high school was torn down, they converted it from a high school to an elementary school.  

The High School was changed into an elementary school
before being torn down.  You can see the
smokestack is still in the background.

We left Goldston with a slight sadness that the school was no longer there.  We were finding that many things are not as they were in the time our family lived in these small little towns.  But we weren't going to let that deter us. We headed off to find our next landmark, which was Bear Creek Primitive Baptist Cemetery and Harpers Crossroads, home of my Great Grandparents.  What would we find there?

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(1) From the Gold-Stone High School Yearbook of 1948, The Graphic Press, Inc., Raleigh, NC. From the Classmates.com website.

Tombstones and Graveyards and Churches, Oh My! Pt. 2

If you have not been to North Carolina, or if you have, but not to the High Point, Lexington area, treat yourself and go! All of North Carolina is beautiful and I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of it but had never been to this region. It is beautiful! And we were there when it was raining! I can't imagine what it would have been like on a bright, sunny day!

Where better to spend a rainy day than the State Archives. This building is full of treasures for anyone wanting to do their family history. There are several floors, full of books, microfiche, and computers with access to all the major genealogy sites. I could have spent days perusing the Newspapers.com site. I found so many fun articles on several members of my family and know there was much more there to be discovered. I think the Newspapers.com website might be a very worthwhile investment for my research.

The family history book collection, books that were written or contributed by families, containing information on their lineage, had some verbiage on my surnames. Unfortunately, some of it was not what I was hoping to find.

One of my fact finding missions was to find my Great, Great Grandfather's father. Everywhere I have searched, I have come up empty. I found a publication in the Archives that, although fun to find, didn't give me the results I was hoping for. As I mentioned in my previous blog, there is speculation that a Jesse Garrison is the father of my Great Great Grandfather John W. Garrison. However, that has not been proven. One of the books I found, "The Family of Isaac Garrison, 1732-1836, Frontiersman and Soldier of the American Revolution"(1), states that a James Garrison had brothers by the name of Jesse (who was married to Mary Bodenhamer) and possibly an Edmund Garrison. Unfortunately, there is no record of their parentage and it does not indicate the families of either brother. Drats!!!

I was also looking for a paternal Great, Great, Great Grandfather's parentage and came up disappointed there too. In a book by James M. Coffee, Jr., "Marley Families of North Carolina", I was looking for the parents of Nathaniel Green Smith Marley. Mr. Coffee states that "N.G.S. Marley was born about 1818 and his parent have not been identified."(2) Double Drats!!!

But also in that same book, it speculates that a Joab or James Marley could be the possible parents, so at least those are a couple clues to look into. So, all is not lost. We'll see what we found down that rabbit hole. More to come on that at a later time.

Abbott's Creek, Davidson County, NC

As I mentioned earlier, while at the Archives, I did some newspaper research too.  I had family members that lived in a little town called Orinoco, North Carolina.  I had never heard of it before finding a small blurb on Ancestry about one of my relatives and it listed Orinoco in the article.  So I did a little more research and found that my Great, Great Grandfather on my mother's side lived there. Daniel Martine Hayworth and his wife Dora (Vandora Jane Green Hayworth), along with Dora's parents, Robert and Margaret Green, all lived there.  
So where is Orinoco?  Good question!  Well, it is thought to have been in Davidson County, NC, and possibly in Abbott's Creek Township but I can't find it on any maps.  The articles I found were from 1904, so it was alive and well then.  It was fun to read some of these articles because they listed everything about everyone.  One stated that my Great, Great, Great Grandmother Margaret was sick with typhoid fever and that my Great, Great Grandfather DM Hayworth went to Lexington with a friend.   His wife, Dora, had been sick for two weeks and they wished her a speedy recovery.  The next week it said she was recovering.  I love newspaper articles like these.  There were many others like them too.  They give you a true picture as to what life was really like back in the early 1900's.  Fun stuff!

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(1) "The Family of Isaac Garrison, 1732-1836, Frontiersman and Soldier of the American Revolution", Issac Garrison Family Association, Schoonmakers Publishers, 1980.

(2) "Marley Families of North Carolina", James M. Coffee, Jr., Genealogy Publishing Service, 2001

Tombstones and Graveyards and Churches, Oh My!

At the Family Reunion with cousins Linda 
Garrison Sessoms (l) and Kolby Garrison (r) and
her precious guide dog Amelia.

I had the opportunity, recently, to attend the Garrison Family Reunion, in Wilmington, NC.  This is my mom's side of the family and as I have mentioned in prior blogs, she was one of 12 children, which produced many grand and great grand children.  Unfortunately, only two of the 12 are still with us but both were at the reunion!  What a blessing that was!  There were probably 35 or so relatives there, which is a smaller number than when we had the reunion years ago, but still a great turnout, considering how busy everyone's lives are.

We had the reunion at my cousin's house which had the perfect backyard for such an event.  It was a gorgeous day and everyone had a great time.  We talked about reunions of the past, and special memories of those we have lost.  It was so nice to see everyone. Thanks to my three cousins, Delores, Debi and Gwen, who put it together.

One of the subjects we discussed was our family history, the genealogy we have worked on, and trying to find out who the father of my Great, Great Grandfather John Wesley Garrison really was. Several of us have looked into it and have found no definitive answer, but more on that in a later blog.

Mittie Hayworth Garrison's family home, before it was 
taken down.   The gentleman who owned it was going 
to renovate but must have thought it was too far gone.  

Our first adventure, after the reunion, was to try to find my grandmother's family home near High Point, NC.  We had an address, put it into the GPS and off we went.  Sadly, when we arrived at the address, we realized that they had recently torn it down.  You can't image the sadness when we made that discovery. Thank goodness, my cousin Anne and my Aunt Gladys had visited there not long ago and taken some pictures, so we do have a visual record.  After leaving the location where Grandma's home had been, we started hitting the cemeteries that were close by, where some of my relatives were buried.  

I had always heard tales of Abbott's Creek Primitive Baptist Cemetery and how beautiful the tombstones were.  The way they were intricately carved, showed pride and workmanship by the person who created them.  Unfortunately, many were very old and well covered with moss or lichen, which made them very difficult to read.  Some of the different styles are shown above.  

It was cold and rainy that day and my husband was a real trooper, marching through the graveyards with me, during that week of Halloween. We visited about six cemeteries that day, including two where my Quaker relatives were buried, Deep River Friends Meeting (est. 1754) and Springfield Friends Meeting (est. 1773). The gravesites we visited in these two places went back to the 1700's and 1800's. 

While visiting the Springfield Friends, and looking for Micajah Haworth's gravesite, I met the new Pastor, who had just started weeks before.  He was a very nice man and was very helpful in helping us locate the tombstone. He also gave me the name of someone higher up, should I need further help in the future.  

I couldn't make it to all the cemeteries that day, but I got to a lot of them and enjoyed seeing many of the family plots for myself.  It became obvious, very quickly, that I could spend weeks, trekking around the state, walking through many more burial grounds. But that will have to take place at a different time.  I will share more about this fact finding trip in the next blog.  Needless to say, being this close to where my family members lived, just reignited the fire to find those elusive, long lost relatives!

A Trip Through Italy, Finale

Our last stop on our Italian journey took us to Sicily. We were so excited about this part of the trip because we had plans to do some research on my husband John's grandparents. Knowing this might be a difficult task, researching in another country, none of us had high expectations, but we did have high hopes. We weren't certain where to start and only had a slight grasp of the language but we had a great deal of enthusiasm for the project. Little did we know what excitement this part of the trip would bring.

John and his son were hoping to find lots of fun tidbits about their family history so we left Naples and headed, by train, to the island of Sicily, birthplace of their grandparents/great-grandparents. But first, how do you take a train to an island that has no railroad bridge or tunnel that takes you across the water? Well, we found out...by boat. The train cars were loaded onto a very large boat with tracks inside.  After that, we were ferried across the water to the seaport of Messina, on Sicily. Then unloaded, hooked to a new engine and off we went. We traveled to the Taormina-Giardini/Naxos stop and walked to our little Miramare Bed & Breakfast. What a delightful place it was! Beautiful views of the water and a walking distance to some of the best parts of the town. The owner, Aldo, was so nice and very helpful! We would highly recommend it if you are in the Taormina area. Click here for more information.

Our views from the Miramare Bed & Breakfast.

Our first full day we headed to the small town of Bronte, which is the birthplace of my husband's grandfather. John and his son, J, were looking for genealogical information and certification on his birth. We figured the building that had the information would be in the center of town, so that is where we headed first. We all thought Bronte was small but were very surprised when we arrived and found it to be a very bustling, good sized town. It is the only place in Italy where they grow and process pistachios. They take great pride in that. We drove right through town, and came out on the other side, without really seeing a place that looked like a government building. So, we decided we would park the car and go around asking where the building might be. There was a government looking building where we parked, so John went in to ask if they knew where it was and as luck would have it, that was the place. So the search was on. 

We found a gentlemen, Nino, who, in very broken English, said he could help us, and took us to the room with all the old books and started pulling them off the shelves. We knew the basic information as to when his grandfather was born and his name, and with that, they pulled the book that had just the information we were looking for. Nino made official certificates of the information that they found in the books and the guys took pictures of the handwritten data, that was all in Italian. 

John and J in Bronte, Sicily, Italy

One of the interesting things about Italy is that they take a siesta each day, usually around 12:00 to around 3:00. We arrived with just an hour to research before that siesta began. Once they found the data, they asked Nino where we could go to eat lunch. He said he had a great place and just to follow him. So we did. Now, this could have turned out real bad. We didn't know this guy and yet we are following him as he goes further and further out of town. He stopped at one point to drop off his wife, at their home, and continued on. However, where he took us turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. We went up a hill to a resort, that overlooked Mt. Etna and the valley just below Bronte. We ended up having a full multi-course Italian meal, which ended with some of the best pistachio gelato I have ever had. 

Pistachio gelato at Feudo Marullo Resort.

Come to find out, the resort is owned by the same people who own the local, large pistachio plant. We headed there after the meal to have a quick tour. Nino was well connected in the town of Bronte which was obvious by the places he was able to get us into. We felt very blessed that we made his acquaintance that day. He helped us with the pertinent family history information we needed and led us to a great place for our meal. I think we may have not seen the last of our new friend Nino.

The next day we headed to Giarre, where Grandma Politi came from. We had no idea where we were going here but once again, the helpful Sicilians came to the rescue. A couple drove us to the building we needed to find the same type of information we found the day before on grandpa. These folks did not speak any English, however. Communication was a little more strained. But a very nice man, who was standing in line behind us, asked if he could help and he translated for us.  He told them we were looking for birth information on Grandma Politi. The man behind the counter said we would have to come back on Monday. We told him we were not going to be able to do that because we would be leaving before that. So he said to come back later that afternoon. When the guys went back, they weren't real hopeful that there would be anything for them, but sure enough, the guy pulled out the same type of books and got them the information that they were looking for. 

One of the stories, that bounced around the family, for years, was that their grandfather didn't come to America at the same time as the rest of the family. The story goes that he had an affair with someone and ended up killing her husband. It shamed the family so they left for America to get away from the shame. However, in there research they found that their grandfather actually did come to America. What they found out this day, was that grandma had been married before their grandfather. Was this the man who actually went to prison for killing the man? A new trail to check into? A new story to be told? The guys left Giarre with another goldmine and were thrilled they had made the trip to find out more about their family. 

We spent the last day touring around the beautiful town of Taormina. It sits up on a hill, overlooking the coast and has some gorgeous views.  We hated to leave this beautiful island but the next day we had to head back to Rome, to catch our plane home, the following day.  

Pictures of Taormina but these were taken on our last trip there.
They were better.

The amphitheater in Taormina.   

We had to do the ferry ride again, and had a long train ride back to Rome but the scenery was great and the trip very relaxing.  The plane trip home the next day would not be near as interesting and a whole lot longer.  But it was worth it for all the fun and adventures we had during our stay in the wonderful country of Italia!

This is the ferry we took from Sicily back to the
mainland of Italy.

A Trip Through Italy, Part 4

The next leg of our Italian vacation took us to Naples. Now if you are like me, you have heard many a story of how bad Naples is...dirty, lots of pickpocketing, etc. But I have to say it was not like that for us. Yes, there is graffiti everywhere but I will tell you, Rome was worse. I don't think I would want to live there but it was nice visiting. Never once did we feel in danger of having our purses or wallets stolen. That is not to say that it doesn't happen. We all knew it could, because on our last trip to Italy, one of us was pickpocketed in Rome. It happened on the subway with the typical diversion tactic. It made us all very aware of our surroundings for the rest of the trip.  We carried that awareness into Naples.

Naples has it's own kind of charm. It is supposed to be the birthplace of pizza but repeatedly we found that you couldn't get a pizza until after 7:00 p.m. We never found out the reason for that. Speculation was that they didn't fire up the pizza ovens till later in the day.  

One of the days we were in Naples, we took the ferry and went out to the Isle of Capri. It was so beautiful there. When you arrive on the island you take a funicular to the top and the views were magnificent. It really is a pretty island. The downtown area was very touristy with lots of high end shops and gelato stores. A great place to take in a little respite and enjoy a glass of wine or beer.

We decided to go even further up to Villa Jovis, the palace where Emperor Tiberius lived, that was built in the first century, B.C. It was quite a hike to the Villa but it was worth it. The walkway up was lined with beautiful homes and gardens. Lots of photo ops! The palace itself, was fascinating and a lot of it is still standing, which is remarkable considering how long ago it was built. Even a mosaic marble walkway is still visible. Rumor had it that if Tiberius didn't like someone, he would take them to this one area, affectionately called Tiberius' Leap, and they would be pushed off the cliff.

Entrance to someone's home, through the garden.

Part of the mosiac marble walkway.

One of the sheer cliffs at Villa Jovis.  Tiberius would
     throw people off these cliffs, if he didn't like them.          

We went the next day on a guided tour of Pompeii.  What a great tour it was!  We had a fun tour guide, who was well versed on the history of the volcano and the town of Pompeii.  He made the tour very interesting, adding humor to the facts.  We took a tour in the afternoon of Mt. Vesuvius and quite frankly, it was disappointing.  It was pretty much self guided with no help from the guide (different than the morning).  The best part of that tour was the pizza lunch they provided for us.  

Here are some of our Pompeii pictures.  

This face was once a fountain from the aqueducts of long ago.

Mt. Vesuvius as seen from Pompeii.

First Pizza oven in Italy?

There are lots of things to do in the Naples area.  We only touched the surface.  Guess we'll just have to make return trip.

A Trip Through Italy, Part 3

A view of the town of Vernazza from the
 top of the castle tower.

We continued our Italy trip by leaving Rome behind and heading for Cinque Terre, (The Five Lands), which I think was my favorite part of the trip. I have a lot of wonderful memories from this vacation, some from each stop, but most come from our three days visiting these five towns.

Each of the towns,  Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, have their own unique characteristics. They even have there own dialects. But one thing they have in common is beautiful scenery and great food! They are known for their white wines, which I must say were delightful!

We spent some time in each town but we stayed in Monterosso al Mare, which has a beautiful beach area.  The beach was always crowded but you could hardly see the people for all the colorful umbrellas.  They made for pretty pictures.

The beach on Monterosso al Mare.

We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast at the top of the hill on Monterosso. We walked with our bags to the top, and thought we were going to have a stroke.  But it was so worth it.  (We took a cab down the day we left!) Hotel Villa Steno had a big patio that overlooked the town and the water. We loved sitting out there as the sun set, watching the stuff going on down the hill but not hearing the noise.  This B&B had a garden full of fruit trees, flowers and herbs.  Most of the town is one building after another, attached together with very little green space. It was a nice little garden to walk through and we could see it from the patio where we ate breakfast.

Lots of umbrellas!!

We walked through all the little alleys of the town and couldn't believe how they twisted and turned. At each junction, you had another beautiful building and many had flowers or decorations of some sort.

My friend Kathy and I, walked down to the end of the beach and stuck our feet in the water.  It was so nice and warm. There was a private, gated club there, too, but I don't think it could have been any nicer than where we stayed, at Hotel Villa Steno.  And the staff was as nice as they could be. Click the link above to see some of the views from the hotel.  If you go to Cinque Terre, I would highly recommend you check them out.

There are trails between each of the towns that you can walk, if they have not had bad rains that wash them out.  We came in right after one of those rains, so the main trail was closed but the alternate route was open.  Out of Corniglia, it took you up one mountain, through the small town of Volastra and then down to Manarola.  It took us about 4 hours to do it but we did stop in Volastra for a snack (wine, beer, meat and cheese).  They have train service between the towns so we decided to take it back to our town.

View of Vernazza, from the little restaurant on the hill.

The next day we were going to walk from Vernazza over to Corniglia but decided we had enough fun the day before hiking, so we just went up the trail high enough to get some good pictures of Vernazza.  There was a cute little restaurant up there that we sat at and enjoyed the view for awhile. The picture at the top of the blog was taken from the castle out on the point, in this picture of Vernazza.  This town is the only one of the five that had a natural harbor.

Cinque Terre is a unique, beautiful area of Italy to visit.  If you haven't been there, make sure to check it out on your next trip over the pond!

Other views of Cinque Terre!

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy

Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy

The coastline as seen from Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy.

A Trip Through Italy, Part 2

A window box with beautiful flowers in
Piazza Navona, one of my favorite squares in Rome.

If you have never been to Rome, I would recommend you add it to your bucket list. We were blessed to spend three days there, this trip, and it was great! We were there several years ago and wanted to see all the sites, but it rained and made it very difficult. One of my strongest memories is standing in the rain, holding an umbrella, looking at the Forum and trying to figure out what was what.  Without someone there to explain it, it was really difficult to discern exactly what we were seeing.  So we made a promise to ourselves that if we ever got back, we would hire a guide to walk us through the many ancient ruins, so we would know what they were, and we would pray that it didn't rain.

 

 Views of the Forum from on top of Palatine Hill.  From
 the top  of this hill you could see most of Rome. 

Well, we did just that.  We had beautiful weather this time around and our little guide was fantastic.  She had a great knowledge of the history of Rome and all that it entailed.  She took us to the Coliseum and explained the history there, then down to the Forum to walk through the ruins in that area.  What a fascinating tour!  I remember going to Boston one year, and really enjoying the walking tour, hearing about how things were so old...over 200 years old.  In Rome, there are things that date back hundreds of years; in some cases over a thousand years.  It is amazing to see the many structures the Romans built, all those years ago, and how many of them are still standing.  Their craftsmanship and attention to detail were amazing.

                

We had an afternoon tour of the Pantheon, Spanish Steps and a few other locations, but they paled in comparison to our morning sites.  We did have a gelato stop in the afternoon that was the highlight of the tour.  (We tasted gelato in every town we toured.)  The best was in a little place, on a small street, in downtown Rome.  I loved the way they looked when they first opened the stores, before anyone has placed an order.  They were beautiful colors and they always had so many different flavors.  Decisions, decisions! My favorite combination was the peach along with the plain cream. Yum!

Each day we walked almost everywhere we went.  We wore our Fitbits and put lots of steps on them during the trip.  I think you get a much more intimate look at a city when you walk through it.  I always try to remember to look up too, because there is so much beautiful architecture there and a lot of it is up high.

We went to the catacombs on of the days we were there and I found them very interesting, but if pressed for time in Rome, would probably skip them.  We rode the train to a certain stop, then got on a bus that took us to the outskirts of town, where the catacombs are located.  I never realized how many there were.  Just in the one we toured, there were thousands of little cubicles, cut out of the rock, where they laid the dead.  Once again, the way they built them was very interesting. They started high and as they finished a level, they would dig down, lower the walkways and continue on another level.  At one time, there were Popes buried there, too, but they have since been moved to another location.

Rome is beautiful at night, too.  If you ever get there, make sure you take a ride through the town after dark.  All the big monuments and major ruins are lit up and it is so pretty.  

One of my favorite things to do, in Rome, is go to the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately, right now, it is closed for renovation. They say if you throw a coin into the fountain, it will ensure you a future trip to Rome.  With it closed off, we couldn't do that, but I feel certain we will find a way to get back to this romantic, exciting city, at some point in our future.  Caio, for now!