Old Times in
Old Towns
Imagine this ship docling in Made»’» Creek! Thit i» ihc "John W. Gorretl," 265-loot borge which
hauled up to 33 roilwoy freight cart ot
о
time across Albemarle Sound. For a while, the Norfolk and
Southern used smoll car float borges to take cors from Edenton to Mockeys, but they carried only
two cors and it took a lot of trips to ferry one train In 1836, the roilwoy bought this steamer which
continued in ser.ice until the sound wot bridged in 1910— I Photo from the collection of John W.
Darden. I
Roper today is a quiet trade and
residential town, with only a remnant
left of its once great lumber industry.
But it had a long and hustling history.
After the Culpepper Rebellion.
Captain Thomas Blount was one of
those disgusted with bickering in the
Albemarle, and sought asylum on the
south shores of the Sound. He was a
blacksmith and ship’s carpenter, and
when he reached Kendricks (now
Mackey’s) Creek, in 1702 he built the
first mill in that section. Blount died in
1706 and his widow married Thomas
Lee. after which both the mill and the
settlement around it were known as
Lee’s Mill.
It was close to Mackcys Ferry and
thus on the “main line’’ of north-south
travel. The mill’s timber was shipped
by boat to F.denton and other places
and it continued in production until
1921. making it perhaps the longest
operated industry in the state’s history.
It might have been operating yet ex¬
cept for a group of angry farmers. The
mill’s dam was backing water over
their fields, so one night they blew it
up.
And here’s a curious sidelight.
When the mill was destroyed it was in
the estate of the Honorable Thomas
Blount, a prominent Washington
County leader. So far as is known, he
was in no way related to the founder
of the same name.
In 1890 the John L. Roper Com¬
pany was established in the com¬
munity. and the name of the town
was changed to Roper. This was one
of the largest lumber concerns in the
South, and had a tremendous produc¬
tion until the convenient supply of
wood was cut out. During this period
Roper became a thriving community,
with overtones of boomtimes. It ceased
operations in 1920. and Roper has
never recovered from the blow. Many
of the people living there now work in
other places. The town has a retail
section about a block long, two schools,
churches, two sawmills.
Near Roper is Rehoboth Church,
«.aid to contain the desk used by John
Wesley to lay his bible upon while
preaching in this county.
MACKEYS
The quiet settlement of Mackcys un¬
til 1935 was known as Mackeys Ferry.
It was named for Colonel William
Mackey, who settled here on Kend¬
rick’s Creek on land he bought from
Edward Mosley, and established his
ferry in 1734, supplanting an earlier
one operated by a man named Bell.
The colonel died in 1765. but his
ferry went on and on and on. con¬
necting the north and south shores
of Albemarle Sound. Mackeys Ferry
reached its heyday when the Norfolk-
Southern Railway acquired the line
and installed huge boats to carry both
freight and passenger trains across the
water. The railway bridge built in 1910
did away with this, but the old ferry
continued to carry automobiles until
1938 when the new automobile bridge
was opened. It had been in existence
for over 200 years.
Colonel Mackey's will left each of
his two daughters five pounds with
which to buy themselves mourning
rings.
The Williams Lumber Company
opened its new lumber mill between
the Norfolk and Southern Railroad
and Highway 64 at Mackcys in Sep¬
tember. 1960. Perhaps it is a sign of
the times that although the mill is lo¬
cated near Kendricks Creek, no plans
are being made at this time to trans¬
port logs and lumber by water. The
mill, a subsidiary of the Williams Lum¬
ber Company of Wilson and Rocky
Mount, is one of the biggest and most
modern mills in the Southeast. Cypress,
juniper, white and red oak. tupelo
gum, maple, ash. beech and sycamore
logs are used in the manufacture of
band sawn hardwood lumber and the
mill employs between eighty and one
hundred men.
CRESWKLL
Crcswcll is a village on the edge of
Scuppernong Swamp, serving a pros¬
perous farming community. It was
founded in 1874 by William Atkin¬
son, and named for John A. J. Crcs-
wcll. U. S. postmaster general. It once
was known as Cool Springs,
It is a trading center, with several
stores, churches, school, residential
sections and population of 425. In old
days, the section was known as Scup¬
pernong.
A mile from Crcswcll is Spruill’s
Bridge across the Scuppernong River,
once an important shipping point for
farm commodities, with warehouses
and docking facilities. Until the auto¬
mobiles put them out of business,
steamboats once came this far.
The bridge is a draw, and formerly
allowed light-draft vessels to pass on
up to Cherry Landing,
About a mile from Creswell is his¬
toric St. David’s Church, built in 1803
by Rev. Charles Pettigrew at his own
expense to serve his plantation "Bel¬
grade.” First known as Pettigrew
Chapel, the name was changed in
1X58 when it was enlarged. The plan
is cruciform, with a slave platform.
Between here and the lake is the
farming village of Cherry, near the
head of Scuppernong River, with a
couple of stores and churches.
THE STATE. Octooer 29. I960
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