Photographs from Rockingham Community College, recently added to DigitalNC, tell the story of a North Carolina town that is no more.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the mill village of Avalon in Rockingham County was home to more than 450 people. More than half of the population worked at Avalon Mills, which was the community center for the town, providing housing for residents social events. Images in the collection include a photograph of the Avalon baseball team, as well as the first picnic at the Avalon picnic ground.

In June of 1911 a massive fire swept through the mill, destroying it completely. Although there was some hope that the mill might be rebuilt, the village was eventually abandoned. Many of the residents moved to Mayodan, a nearby mill town. Interestingly, they moved not only themselves but their houses as well, by hitching them to horses.

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Greensboro in March 1945 to speak at the Nineteenth Annual Homemaking Institute held at Bennett College. The visit is documented in a scrapbook compiled at Bennett, which has been recently digitized and published on DigitalNC. Mrs. Roosevelt spent her time in Greensboro addressing the Institute as well as Bennett College students and Greensboro area schoolchildren. Her speeches addressed the Institute’s theme of “The Veteran Returns to His Family,” educating citizens on their peacetime responsibilities to their veterans. Mrs. Roosevelt stressed the importance of all citizens becoming familiar with the GI Bill of Rights and assisting their veterans in assimilating into civilian life.

Here on DigitalNC we’ve got some up-to-the-minute stuff in addition to our historic materials – check out this photograph of two antebellum quilts donated to the Davie County Public Library earlier this very week.

And for the quilt enthusiasts, check out the other images of quilts on DigitalNC.org.