Masthead from the April 12, 1940 issue of The Pinehurst Outlook
Thanks to funding from the Moore County Genealogical Society a variety of Moore County newspapers dating from 1923-1939 have just been added to DigitalNC. The titles include:
The Pinehurst Outlook is more like a magazine. It almost exclusively covers golf and news from other sports. It’s a handsome paper with custom mastheads and covers and a lot of photos, all reflective of the wealth brought to Pinehurst as a renowned golf destination and resort town. The Pinehurst Daily Press (which continues as the Sandhills News-Press) also heavily features sports news. Articles about PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association) tournaments, a listing of daily golf tee times, and updates on local golfers’ careers are some of the news items frequently included. The Moore County News is a paper covering broader local topics and a lot of syndicated content. There’s agriculture news like the “Annual Dewberry Special” issue. (A dewberry is similar to a blackberry.) Social and business news from Aberdeen, Carthage, and Cameron can be found as well.
One fun find was an article about a Moore County pastor named Rev. Wade C. Smith who created simple comics to illustrate Christian principles to his pupils. Dubbed “Litte Jetts,” the figures in the comics look a lot like Screen Beans, ubiquitous stick figures found in Microsoft clip art from the mid 1990s to around 2014. This article from the March 12, 1931 issue of The Moore County News talks about Smith’s work and its popularity, and includes the comic below.
The Moore County News March 12, 1931
Here’s another comic I could locate, from March 19, 1931. I’ve added a Screen Bean to the right for comparison.
The Moore County News March 19, 1931
To view more Moore County newspapers as well as other materials documenting that area visit the county page.
Moore County Historical Association has contributed 11 high school yearbooks for Pinehurst High School to DigitalNC, dating from 1951-1961. These are the first yearbooks for Pinehurst High School available on DigitalNC.
From the 1951 Southern Pines yearbook, showing the new school building.
A new batch of yearbooks from Southern Pines High School are now available on DigitalNC, courtesy of new partner, the Moore County Historical Association. Included in this collection are over a dozen yearbooks from Southern Pines High School from 1951 to 1969.
These yearbooks give us a glimpse into what the high school experience was like for the students in Southern Pines at that time. These yearbooks feature individual and class portraits, photographs of activities, school clubs, and sports teams from Southern Pines High School, and more.
To see more from the Moore County Historical Association, visit their partner page, or take a look at their website.
Vicky Hardister, Chief Majorette of Aberdeen High School, 1960.
We recently added our first five high school yearbooks from Moore County!
Carthage High School published the cleverly-named Egahtrac up until 1952, when it was renamed The Gauntlet (1952-1954 editions available). We also digitized the 1960 Timekeeper from Aberdeen High School.
One of the delights of the bicentennial edition of The Pilot is that it is full of little tidbits of Moore County history. One blurb celebrates the legacy of Flora Macdonald, the folk hero who helped Charles escape from Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion. After she was imprisoned in the Tower of London and pardoned, she immigrated with her family to North Carolina (hence Flora Macdonald College, now St. Andrews University, in Laurinburg). According to this article, some residents of Moore County can claim her as an ancestor.
From The Pilot, June 27, 1984
Another legendary figure who makes a guest appearance in The Pilot (joke unintentional) is Amelia Earhart. Earhart visited the Moore County airport in 1931 in an autogyro, a precursor to the helicopter. Her visit was part of a long history of aviation in the area, which apparently tended to conflict with another hallmark activity: golf. One resident, hoping to get flights over the course banned, wrote, “I have long felt that the airoplane flying over the golf courses is a nuisance to the players. Today I was scared out of my wits, as well as others with me, when the plane shut off its engine and swooped down to a height of about 25 feet over our heads on the 16th hole, course 3… and coasted to the field amid laughter in the plane at our discomfort.”
Fourteen scrapbooks about Iredell County public schools are now available on DigitalNC, thanks to our partner, the Iredell County Public Library. These scrapbooks document the schools throughout the county from 1970 to 1981, including Mooresville High School, South Iredell High School, North Iredell High School, West Iredell High School, East Iredell High School, Statesville High School Union Grove Elementary School, Troutman Elementary School, and the Board of Education.
One notable topic in these scrapbooks is the planning for and opening of West Iredell High School in 1972. The article below is an announcement of the land for the school being purchased in August 1971.
Another event covered in the scrapbooks is the November 1979 Statesville Christmas Parade. The clipping below shows the North Iredell High School marching band in the parade.
Click here to see all Iredell County schools scrapbooks. To learn more about our partner, the Iredell County Public Library, visit their partner page here or their website here.
Early high school yearbooks from Pasquotank County are now available on DigitalNC. The Pasquotank County Library contributed 29 yearbooks from its local history collections to be digitized. The yearbooks range in date from 1921 to 1963 and represent several different schools, including:
Front Page of “The Sandhill Citizen”, January 7th, 1954
Digital NC now has new issues of The Sandhill Citizen thanks to our partners, the Moore County Library and the Moore County Genealogical Society. Published on Fridays, the newspaper covered news in Southern Pines (1919 – 1925) and Aberdeen (1949 – 1954).
Local stories included stories about small organizations such as events for the March of Dimes, which took on the initiative of helping citizens affected by Polio. In January of 1954, the organization raised $1,000 to help with its initiatives.
To see other issues of The Southern Pines, visit here.
This issue, from March 1, 1897, seems primarily focused on convincing Northern readers to move to Roseland, N.C. The Roseland Land Company, based in Boston, emphasizes the natural beauty of the North Carolina sandhills and its potential for fruit and vegetable growers.
“Among the many advantages of the recent Civil War which the South will reap in all the coming years, and which will eventually compensate her for the enormous losses sustained by the conflict, is the development of her great natural resources—her minerals and fertile lands—by thousands that would never know their value but for the enforced explorations made necessary in the trying days of the sixties,” the front page begins.
Our partner, the Moore County Library, has recently contributed another newspaper title to Digital NC: The Yankee Settler. This issue of the Southern Pines paper from March 23, 1898 has several briefs detailing local happenings as well as world news.
“It is doubtful there is any place in the United States where persons brain-weary and nerve-worn rally or make as rapid progress toward health and vigor. The weather bureau in Washington has observed much warmer than points north and south in winter probably due to the sandy soil, which retains heat and, being a great absorbent of water, prevents evaporation that would otherwise cool the air.”
The resort at Pinehurst officially opened in 1896, making the area a destination for anyone prescribed restfulness and fresh air. Even without the front page news, there’s no doubt that the disease and its treatments were top of mind for residents of Southern Pines, Pinehurst, and the surrounding area.
This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.
