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 | Inside the House |
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News Black Creek: The first one hundred years Wilson County is
It is time to renew your dues The P.L. Woodard House was featured in "Our State" North Carolina Magazine August 2003 issue page 110. A great piece on Wilson County. Please check it out.
The P.L. Woodard House is open to the public every second Sunday in each month. It is FREE, come by and see some of the history around Black Creek.
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Members List:
Links Section
President:
Elton Franks
Vice President:
Clyde Shafer
Secretary:
Janie Aycock
Treasurer:
Annette Franks
Board Member:
Ernest Collier
Ann Baker
Donald Smith
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Welcome to our web site....
The Black Creek Historical Society was form on July 19, 1983
Our goal is to restore and preserve the history of the Town of Black Creek, North Carolina.
One of recent projects was the restoration of the P.L. Woodard House
This was the family home of Paul Lee Woodard from whom Lee Woodard School was named. He was born May 27, 1869 on his father's farm. This house was built around 1873 and was moved from his father's farm into town before 1918.
Mr. Lee Woodard attended local schools and graduated from the University of N.C. in Chapel Hill in 1890. He taught for a while in a private school for boys in Wilson. As a result, he developed a life-long interest in the public school system.
In 1920 he gave eight acres for the site of the first Black Creek High School (grades 1 through 12) and also left a farm for the school. In appreciation of his interest in education, the school was named after him in 1939.
The Black Creek Historical Society decided the restoration of this house would be a good project for them and after several years of work by many volunteers and workers, we presented this house to the Town of Black Creek in the spring of 2000.
In those days, buildings that had to be moved a short distance were sometimes rolled along on logs. But this distance was about five miles! They took it apart, piece by piece, and numbered each piece with Roman numerals so they could put it back together in town. They probably loaded the pieces onto wagons which were pulled by horses or mules into town.
When the restoration work was started, some of the rotted floor framing had to be replaced. The workers saw these Roman numerals on the framing of the house while they were working. All the bricks for the foundation and the two chimneys and the walkways came from the old Lee Woodard School building that was torn down to build the present school.
The P.L. Woodard Home in Black Creek is open for public viewing on the second Sunday of each month from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
VISITORS ARE WELCOME
The restoration of the P.L. Woodard Home is a project of the Black Creek Historical Society
New members of the Society are always welcomed.
If you have any information on the history of Black Creek,N.C. or if you have anything you want to share about the history of Black Creek. Please let us know.
Contact Elton Franks, President,
(252) 243-5878 email at elton.franks@embarqmail.com
or inquire at the Town Hall in Black Creek, North Carolina (252) 243-6439
You can now get your copy of the Second Printing of this book in hard copy. There will be copies at town hall and when the P.L. Woodard house will be open. We will also have copies of Heritage Day Event October 22, 2005. The book is 20.00 and we only made 100 copies, so come by and get yours today while supplies last.
This book has also been transferred to a CD form in Word format. You can purchase this CD through BCHS at a cost of $15.00 ea. You can pick it up at the P.L. Woodard House when it is open, or send check or money order to BCHS, PO Box 204,Black Creek,NC 27813. Please add 3.00 for shipping.
The composing of this work has given the group genuine pleasure. It has been the intent of the authors to record the beginning of the town and township of Black Creek. The members of Marshall Daniel's class (Wilson County Technical Institute) who are compilers of this history are: Marshall Daniel, Wilson, instructor; Ruby P. Shackleford, past president of the Black Creek Historical Society; Groves Privette, president of the Black Creek Historical Society; Albert Bass, Betty Jay Daniel, James Daniel, Faye Evans, Effie Holloman, Phillip Jackson, Cecil Lamm, Cenie Lamm, Irene Privette, Leona Boswell Smith, and Elmer Yelverton.
We Hope that readers will enjoy our research and will be proud of the tradition that we honor as our inheritance.
Several statements have been made concerning the early history of Black Creek. Statements such as its early history goes back to 1779, and that Britain Simms "gave" 300 acres for the town, and that Britain Simms made provision in his will for the land for the town. In records in the North Carolina Department of Archives and History the four-volume set of ledgers of the firm of Barnes and Bardin.
These ledgers list the purchases of the credit customers of the firm. Volume I, marked "LA" carries the notation "Ledger Commenced 27th November, 1839". Ledger "D" starts on June 13, 1843. The several hundred names listed in these volumes must constitute a veritable census of the area within a buggy-ride of the store.
A search of the Wayne County Court Minutes starting in 1823, did not uncover any reference in the license reports for the firm of Barnes and Bardin or either Barnes or Bardin until August Court 1838. In the minutes of that court, there is an entry of $4.00 paid by Arthur Bardin for a store tax.
Arthur Bardin having sold a right-of-way to the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad Company knew not only that the line would be laid but where. He, therefore, opened a business along the right-of-way near where a road would cross the railroad. At the ridge between Black Creek and Contentnea Creek. This location has not been pinpointed, but it is believed to be at the southern end of the present town of Black Creek.
Arthur Bardin, according to the minutes, opened the business alone. He opened it at the time construction of the line was in progress to benefit from sales to the working force. After the first year, he took a Mr. Hays as a partner. The year after that Mr. J. Barnes was part of the firm replacing Mr. Hays. It is believed that J. Barnes was James Barnes.
In November 1840, the United States Post Office Department established a post office at Bardin's Depot and appointed Bunyan Barnes as postmaster. While Barnes and Bardin had a short life, it was undoubtedly the beginning of the Town of Black Creek.
On January 3, 1834, the North Carolina General Assembly passed into law an act incorporating the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad. This law became Chapter LXXVII of the Laws of North Carolina. The stated purpose of the railroad was "to effect a communication by railroad, from some point with the town of Wilmington, or in the immediate neighborhood of the said town to the city of Raleigh, or in the immediate neighborhood of the said city, the route of which shall be determined on by the company hereby incorporated"
By the time of the March 4, 1836, meeting of the stockholders it was known that there would not be sufficient support for the railroad to be built in Raleigh. Therefore, the North Carolina General Assembly was petitioned for and the autority granted to build the line to Weldon to connect with the Petersburg line. According to the reports of the Board of Internal Improvement, the plan to build to Raleigh was not abandoned.
A look at a map will indicate that the line from Wilmington to Faison is a compromise between the Weldon route and the Raleigh route. Reports published in the Tarboro Free Press show that there were two routes under consideration to connect Faison with Weldon, One proposed route passed through Tarboro and the other through what is now Black Creek and Wilson. The engineer expressed preference for the western route. That route was built.
An examintion of the records in the Register of Deeds Office for Wayne County show that agreements between landowners and the railroad for passage of the railroad through the present Black Creek Township were signed as early as May 28, 1836. Major Gwynne, in a construction report of August 15, 1836, stated that the surveys were completed.
Work was begun on October 25, 1836, on the north bank of Smith Creek at Wilmington, the first spade of earth being turned by Governor Dudley. The last spade was driven on March 7, 1840, just north of the Tar River at Rocky Mount. Thus completing what was then, at 161 miles, the longest railroad in the world. Two days later two trains, one northbound and one southbound, made their first end-of-line run.
The first train to run through Black Creek was in the fall of 1839.
Black Creek Train Station
Thanks to the Town of Black Creek. They have purchased 25 bricks with the names of past mayors and dates they served. They have been put into the walkway. Please go by and take a look at them. If you would like to put a brick in Honor or in Memory of someone. Please pick up and form and turn in at Black Creek Town Hall.
The walkway in the Historical Square was made up of clay bricks from the old Lee Woodard School. Some of the bricks are falling apart. Black Creek Historical Society and the Town of Black Creek will be kicking off a program at Heritage Day Nov 13, 2004.
They will be offering bricks you can place in memory of someone or in honor of someone.
The new lettered brick will be put in the place of a broken brick in the Historical Square.
This would be a great opportunity to honor your family or friends past and present.
When in Black Creek please pick up and fill out a form for the brick project or you can goto BCHS Brick Project on the left side of this page and print a form and mail it in.
Dues are $10.00 per year.
Mail to:
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
Name:____________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________
Town:_________________________,State:________Zip:__________
Telephone#:(___)_________________
email:___________________________
Board of Directors meet 4 times a year.
Members meet second Sunday in June Semi-annual Meeting
and second Sunday in November Annual Meeting
Be a part of our Black Creek history.
Black Creek Historical Society
PO Box 204
Black Creek,NC 27813
