The Boplitl Home for the Aged of Hamilton.
Towns in Marlin
They l»;isk attractively on plain anil
in forest.
Down in Willjamston, ihc people arc
confident. like most of their neigh¬
bors, that east Carolina is bound to
grow and develop economically. But
they long ago decided not to wait for
the inevitable.
Perhaps as a result of this decision
- and subsequent actions — William-
Mon is one of the fastest growing and
most bouyant towns in North Caro¬
lina. In the past decade, for example,
it grew over 38.2 per cent while Mar¬
tin County as a whole was losing popu¬
lation.
The community once was known as
Skewarky. also the name of a Primi¬
tive Baptist Church in the vicinity - -
still standing, by the way.
In 1779, the General Assembly au¬
thorized the establishment of a town
on the land of Thomas Hunter. Buy¬
ers of lots were required to erect build¬
ings on them within five years. The
place may have been named in honor
of "Dick" Williams, an Irish weaver,
and prospered as a shipping port for
naval stores, shingles and lumber. Or
for William Williams, who was instru¬
mental in laying out the town.
During the Civil War, Williamston
was occupied by troops of General
Foster's army, though most of the resi¬
dents had fled.
After the war. lumbering sparked
economic revival. In August 1882. the
first train of the Coast Line arrived
from Tarboro. and Williamston found
«self in a delightful situation. It was
the terminus of the railway coming
jfrom the west, and the terminus of
boats coming from the cast. Seven
years later, the railway was extended
to Plymouth, but in the meantime, Wil¬
liamston was a busy transhipment
point, receiving and dispatching mail
and freight from daily boats to points
far in the interior. Boat service con¬
tinued into the 30's, and barges still
serve the town, which among other
things is a petroleum terminal.
Williamston has had some setbacks,
including disastrous fires. One in 1883
wiped out the business section. But
every decade has seen it make strong,
sometimes spectacular, gains. A signifi¬
cant milestone was bridging of the
W.ll-jmoo
modcr.. Ci»« H«U — fKoto* b,
«Orel. I
Roanoke, with a long causeway over
the swampy Bertie side.
Пт
construc¬
tion, in 1922. made Williamston a
highway center, in addition to its rail
and water pre-eminence. U.S. high¬
ways 13, 17 and 64 and N.C. highway
125 funnel shoppers into the town, and
make it a market for cotton, tobacco,
grain and peanuts. In the decade fol¬
lowing the building of the bridge, Wil-
liamston’s population grew by 54 per
cent. As late as 1930. the population
was 2.731. Today it is nearly 7,000.
and community leaders think the 1970
population will top 10.000.
Enterprises now include tobacco and
peanut processing, grain mills, a ply-
wood plant, fertilizer and insecticide
plants, lumber mill, textiles, packing
plant, sweet potato plant. The tobacco
market annually handles around 11,-
000,000 pounds of tobacco. The
town is North Carolina headquarters
for the Virginia Electric & Power Com¬
pany. which serves most of northeast¬
ern North Carolina. Twelve manufac¬
turing plants employ nearly 1,000.
Williamston is well equipped with
community services. They include a
hospital, country club, two banks, sav¬
ings and loan, newspaper, radio sta¬
tion. armory, swimming pool, library,
26 churches and a very active cham¬
ber of commerce. In recent years, it
has developed as a travel center, with
six motels and some good restaurants.
It has rail and truck terminals.
ROBFRSONV1LLE
Robersonvillc is crawling with Rob¬
ersons — they're everywhere and into
everything. The first of record were
George and Henry, brothers.
I he town of 1 .684 population looks
like it might be three or four limes
larger. The retail section, about two
blocks by two, has a wide variety of
enterprises, and this seems to be typi-
15
HE STATE. MARCH 2. 1963
