We’ve recently partnered with the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum to add items from their collection to DigitalNC. We visited the Museum back in June, and learned about Mr. Freeman and the impact he had on Wilson, NC. Freeman, a local builder and stonemason, incorporated found materials into many of the objects and structures he created. A number of these still exist around town. Among them is the Round House, which is now a museum dedicated to local African American history and culture.
A photographer in Wilson Library’s Digital Production Center shot a number of tools and objects from the Museum. We also scanned photographs of Freeman, his family (including one of Freeman’s bears, Topsy), and his creations.
Another interesting item included in this batch was an 1907 recommendation for Freeman based on his work as a stonemason at The Presidio in San Francisco. In it, Freeman is described as “Reliable and a strictly temperate man who [the recommender, J. K. Dalmas] would employ in Preference to nine tenths of the Mechanics who have worked here.”
The Museum holds a photocopy of a rare issue of an African American newspaper from 1897 – The Wilson Blade. Our friends in Wilson Library’s North Carolina Collection helped us try to find out more details about this paper. We believe it was only published for a few years (perhaps 1897-1900), by S. A. Smith. We also believe this was the same S. A. Smith who was elected principal of the Wilson Colored Graded School in 1896 (The Daily Times, Wilson, NC, 1896-05-29). The issue contains items typical of papers from this time period: state, local, and personal news; advertisements; a train schedule. There’s also an article on a meeting of the Freedman’s Aid Society and Southern Education Society.
Special thanks goes to Wilson County Public Library, whose staff helped facilitate getting these items online. You can view all of the items digitized for the Museum on DigitalNC.
Camp members faithfully recorded their activities, changes in membership, as well as the passing of many of their Camp members. There are also several documents related to the national United Confederate Veterans organization. Especially of interest to genealogists are 11 sheets containing the “Record of Lineal Descendants of Confederate Soldiers,” collected in 1918 by a Wilson chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
You can view all items from Wilson County Public Library here.
Yesterday the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center staff visited the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum in Wilson, N.C. The museum celebrates African American history in Wilson County and honors the memory of Oliver Nestus Freeman, a local stonemason and builder who had a fascinating life and career.
Stone dinosaur created by Oliver Nestus Freeman; Round House Museum in the background. Photo by Kristen Merryman.
Freeman was a Wilson County native, born in 1882. He attended the Tuskegee Normal School where he gained experience in construction and masonry. He returned to Wilson in the 1910s and worked as a mason for decades. He worked on many projects, incorporating a distinctive style using a variety of stones of different shapes and sizes. Many of his projects are still standing in Wilson today.
In addition to his masonry work, Freeman was also known for the animals he kept at his house. The yard was filled with wild birds, rabbits, a goldfish pond, and several small bears. It became a sort of a tourist attraction with residents and visitors stopping by to give peanuts to the bears.
One of Freeman’s most distinctive buildings was the round house he built in the 1940s to rent to veterans returning from World War II. The house had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s when it was chosen by local citizens to serve as a new African American history museum. The house was moved in 2001 to its current location at the intersection of Nash and Hines streets near downtown Wilson. The museum contains photos and documents commemorating African American pioneers and leaders in Wilson and includes a nice display of photos and artifacts from Freeman’s life.
The museum is open for visitors and is well worth a visit next time you’re in or passing through Wilson. There is more information on the their website.
Ten years of yearbooks from Charles H. Darden High School in Wilson, NC are now available on DigitalNC. Covering the time period between 1948 and 1969, the yearbooks show life at the African-American high school. The class of 1970 was Darden High School’s last class. In the years following through 1978 it was a 10th grade only school.
Scrapbooks featuring newspaper clippings of Stanly County and Albemarle men and women in World War II are now available at DigitalNC.org. When families received letters or news of their soldiers, The Stanly Observer helped share the updates with the whole community. The majority of stories discuss promotions, furloughs, and training. Some highlights include news of men from the area in North Africa and reuniting with familiar faces and enjoying free cigarettes courtesy of a public program sponsored by Walter B. Hill Post of the American Legion. These scrapbooks are from the collections of the Stanly County Museum.
Boy Scouts at the Tobacco Festival Parade in the 1940s
Advertisement for Boy Scout Week from the Hoke County News-Journal, February 1943
It’s National Boy Scout Week, and DigitalNC has some great boy scout-related materials from several contributing institutions. Read about boy scouting activities in Raeford, N.C. from the 1940s-1960s in issues of The News-Journal, or check out this photograph of boy scouts from the Wilson County Public Library.
Happy holidays from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center. This photograph, from the Wilson County Public Library, depicts the First National Bank of Wilson, N.C. decked out in holiday finery in the 1930s.
“On Dec 7, 1941, my mother was driving to the old Wilson Country Club when a news bulletin came on the radio announcing the shocking news that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Mother drove directly out on the golf course to find my father to tell him what had happened and told all the golfers that she passed driving down the fairways the grim news.”
“I so well remember December 7, 1941, a Sunday. I went to the movie and around 5:00 pm when I came home, my mother said Pearl Harbor had been attacked and destroyed. She said it meant war with the Japanese. She had tears in her eyes, and I knew what she was thinking.”
The memories in the Wilson County’s Greatest Generation exhibit are shared by the Wilson County Public Library.
At first glance, the children in this photograph of story time at the Wilson County Public Library seem to be paying pretty close attention to their teacher. But on closer inspection, a few of the children look like they might not be enjoying story time that much, or they find the business of being photographed much more interesting…
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.
At first glance, the children in 
