They are destroying Some of Sherry’s past!

We don’t always keep up with what is going on here in Belmont. My cousin in Las Vegas many times calls or e-mails to let us know something about our family in NC. Sherry has a cousin in Georgia that keeps her up on her family and doing here. A few days ago he told her they were tearing the old Imperial Mill down. Sherry spent many years on the Imperial Mill Hill because her Mom, Dad, and brothers worked there.

So we decided to drive over and see for ourselves. I planned to get a brick from the old mill and fix it up for Sherry. I did get one. Yep. There she goes. The mill has been dormant now for years although it was very active during the years 1907-1995.

(This was taken in front of Sherry’s house on the Imperial. The mill houses you see are gone, Yeah that is my girl on the right)

(The new neighborhood is called Hawthorne, This is in the area of Sherry’s house. you can see the mill on the nest hill in the background)

The mill houses are torn down and Very Upscale houses and Condos built there. As we stood there she pointed out where her mother worked. One of her sisters would take the baby, little Johnny over to the mill for her to nurse him, then take him back home. Also she knew where her dad worked of course.

Her dad is on this picture of the employees when he was about 12 years old. No one considered it cruel, during those years every penny earned counted to feed a family.

Me, I just learned about the mill after meeting a pretty girl. She wore her hair with bangs and a long brunette pony’s tail. She also had a knock-out smile. Her dresses were down to her ankles with several crinolines underneath. Oh she had bobby socks and penny loafers I think.

She sat in front of me in French Class. I knew I didn’t have much of a chance with her because she was a grade ahead of me.

BUT she did and we started going steady (do people do that anymore?). I lost my driver’s license due to a little driving mishap, so I walked to her house, and floated back to mine late for a few weeks. I went down the hill from her house and back up by the Imperial. I jumped the rail road tracks and floated on home, dreaming about that Girl’s kisses. WOW. So yes, I remember the Imperial too.

Sherry wanted a picture of me (floating) running up the hill from her house. The road used to go strait behind me and up to her house.

Nothing stays the same, and time continues to move on. Progress they call it. But the 20+ mills in this town supplied many a job for working folk. They were called cotton tops, lint heads and mill workers, but as a whole they were hard working honest folk.

So Goodbye to the Imperial, thanks for my girl.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

  A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.