Towns . . .
Most of Jones' towns are old. and
they retain their function as agricul¬
tural trading communities. None of
them has a highly developed retail cen¬
ter, and people travel to nearby New
Bern. Kinston or Jacksonville to do
their serious shopping. Young folks
who want to see a movie also have to
cross the county line, for there is not
a single theater in Jones County. This
could be looked upon as a liability
or an asset, depending on your point
of view. Pollocksvillc and Maysville
offer accommodations to the traveler,
and each of them has a sawmill. A
pulpwood buying station in Maysville
provides a convenient market for lo¬
cal farmers.
Pollocksvillc originally was named
Trent Bridge, but was renamed for
George Pollocks, land owner. Mays¬
ville was named for the Mays family
which settled in the area.
Some confusion surrounds the pleas¬
ant name of Comfort. There is a tale
that the village was called Misery be¬
fore the paving of route 41. but none
of the local people verify it. School Su¬
perintendent W. B. Moore tells a story
which probably explains the rumor.
There was at one time a principal at
the Comfort school, who because of
certain eccentricities was not invited to
return after a year of service. At the
June commencement ceremony, the
offended principal arose and, instead
of delivering the usual inspirational ad¬
dress, let loose a volley of abuse at the
school board and community. He
wound up by saying. “You all call this
place Comfort, but as far as I'm con¬
cerned, it’s been sheer Misery!"
Trenton
Trenton always comes as a surprise.
Coming up route 58 from its junction
with U.S. 17. the traveler tops a gentle
rise just like all the others, and all of a
sudden, there it is: a long and prime-
vally beautiful mill pond, pierced and
surrounded by moss-adorned cypress,
and around it and to the west of it.
the small seat of Jones County.
Mapped as a part of Crooked Run,
which heads up in the White Oak
Pocosin. the oblong expanse of dark
water narrows once again to disappear
into the Trent on the northern edge of
town. If it’s a Saturday or a Sunday,
the pond will be alive with boats and
THE STATE. April 14. 1962
Jones Union School if a gratifying control! to the one* teacher schoolf of the old dots.
. . . Small and Comfortable
water skiers. The Brock sisters who
own the pond, as did their father Fur-
nifold before them, have always al¬
lowed the local people to use it for
recreation. Time was when the pond
bore different burdens from motor
boats. Mrs. J. K. Brock. Sr., remembers
driving across the pond with a mule
and wagon one winter. Nowadays it
rarely freezes over enough to skate on.
The little corn mill has been in
operation for almost 200 years, and
once provided electrical power for the
whole town. Original residents built
their homes around the pond, and
other early builders settled between
there and the bank of the Trent River.
Some historians say that Trenton
was named for the town in New
Jersey, but the story that early settlers
called the site on-thc-Trcnt, or Trent
Town sounds just as logical. The river
itself was named for the Trent family
and river in England. The town was
established by bill of General As¬
sembly in 1784. At that time, the old
stage road from Wilmington to New
Bern ran through Trenton, and it was
Jones, like other costern Corolino counties hos
become interested in livestock. Photo shows Eddie
West exhibiting of the Kinston livestock show.
visited by many prominent personages.
George Washington stopped there on
April 22. 1791, and dined at the
Shingle House, long since vanished. A
marker ten miles up the road to Com¬
fort states that the president spent the
night at the Shine place, also no longer
standing. The two main streets of
Trenton converge at ihe courthouse, a
good looking brick structure built in
1939. This is one of the few court¬
houses in North Carolina to rent of¬
fice space to local lawyers, and is kept
up unusually well. It was preceded by
a wooden structure built in 1868,
which replaced the original 18th cen¬
tury building, burned by Federal
troops during the war. Directly across
the street from the courthouse is the
county's agricultural building, housing
the offices of farm agent James R.
Franc, the Farmer's Home Administra¬
tion. and home demonstrators. Round¬
ing the corner, there is a single block
of small trade enterprises. The re¬
mainder of the oak-lined street is
fronted by substantial old homes. On
the block behind the courthouse is lo¬
cated the town cemetery. The dates
on many tombstones indicated that it
has been there for a long time. One of
the smallest churches in the world
stands across the way. To see that
little grey frame Episcopal church is
in itself worth a trip to Trenton.
The local fire department has spon¬
sored a park on the other side of the
river, and the citizens of Trenton and
the surrounding area make wide use
of its picnic and playground facilities.
The population of Trenton is around
400. Most of the people work in town
or on surrounding farms, but a few are
employed at Camp Lejcune, Cherry
Point. Du Pont, Jacksonville, and other
places in the neighboring counties. The
folks we met were working hard, and
scented to be enjoying it, but there
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