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By Ginger Smith, August 22, 2010

Exposed cobblestones and Trolley tracks on Mangum St, in front of City Hall, downtown Durham. Photograph taken 21 August, 2010 and is copyright Ginger R. Smith, 2010

A few weeks ago, I came across this post on the Endangered Durham blog about some cobblestone and trolley tracks that were exposed on Kent Street in Durham during a repaving project. I made plans to drive around until I found them before they were paved over. I never did accomplish this. However, a couple of weeks ago, we were driving through downtown Durham on the motorcycle and my partner pointed out to me the exposed cobblestone and trolley tracks on Mangum Street in front of City Hall. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I told her we definitely had to come back and photograph it before they completed the repaving project.

Yesterday we managed to photograph the exposed cobblestone and trolley tracks. It wasn’t an easy feat because this is actually a heavily traveled road. Luckily my photographer is great with lighting and centering and took a great picture on the first try. I’m not sure what the passerby’s thought of my standing in the middle of the road.

Back to the photo….

Notice how the cobblestones on the left of the picture are laid kind of diagonally but the ones under my feet are laid in a straight line. We were curious to know why this was. Was there originally some kind of aesthetic pattern in the road? Gary actually created a map of the trolley line as it originally went through Durham in the early 1920s here.

I had first heard of this in Raleigh in front of NC State University on Hillsboro Street. There was a big discussion about whether the City was going to rip the tracks up or leave them down and “rebury” them again with the new paving project. They seem to be able to remain intact whilst buried, and I think it’s a very cool sight to see when its uncovered! I’m glad we were able to get a glimpse of this part of Durham’s history!

Exposed cobblestones and Trolley tracks on Mangum St, in front of City Hall, downtown Durham. Photograph taken 21 August, 2010 and is copyright Ginger R. Smith, 2010.

This picture was taken a little further up the block. These cobblestones all seem to be going diagonally. The trolley track is on the left hand side of the picture.

How about in your area? Have you noticed any exposed cobblestones or trolley tracks during your City’s repaving projects?

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By Ginger Smith, June 30, 2010

Back in January at the CIG meeting Nerissa mentioned Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory, Volume 7, for the year 1890 that  has been digitized at Google books as a genealogy gem.

This historical directory is organized alphabetically by county and gives information on the county, names of the towns and post offices, county and town officers and magistrates,  churches, ministers, hotels, lawyers, manufacturers, tradesmen, mines, mills, newspapers, merchants, schools, physicians, farmers, teachers, and so on. It also contains a list of railroads and an index to advertisements found throughout the book.

These books are fully searchable and several have already been digitized by UNC and uploaded to the internet archives website.  Click here to access a list of available titles ranging from 1867 – 1896.

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By Ginger Smith, March 19, 2010

We have recently added a new feature to the “What’s New” Blog part of our website. You can now subscribe to the blog via email in order to receive email updates of new content being published to the blog.

Step 1: Click on this link to subscribe

Step 2: Type your email address into the box and type in the text you see in the text graphic

Step 3: Check your email for a verification message

An email will be sent to your email address whenever new material is published to the blog. You can also subscribe by clicking on the “Subscribe to Durham-Orange Genealogical Society by Email” link on the left hand side of the page.

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By Ginger Smith, March 16, 2010

In case you missed any of the episodes of Faces of America, a four-part series aired by PBS between February 10th and March 3rd, you can now watch episodes 1 and 2 online. Click on the links below:

Episode 1: Our American Stories | Faces of America | PBS

Episode 2: Becoming American | Faces of America | PBS

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By Ginger Smith, December 7, 2009

Submitted by: Richard Ellington

I saw this query posted on the Family Tree Magazine website. I thought it might be interesting to some of our members, in light of last month’s program on Southern cemetery traditions, presented by John Clauser.

Q. I’ve been trying to find more about the low wooden structures built over some graves in mostly (or only?) Southern cemeteries.

A. Grave houses, also called a grave shelters, were common in the South, especially Appalachian areas, to protect loved ones’ graves from the elements and grave robbers. They usually resemble small houses with peaked roofs, and could be made of logs, lumber, stones or brick. Some grave houses were open sided, like the one in this Melungeon cemetery.

Sometimes a single house may have sheltered more than one grave, such as the Airmount Grave Shelter, built in 1853 in the Airmount Cemetery near Thomasville, Ala.

According to Tennessee GenWeb, a grave house is different from a mausoleum: “The grave house is built over an ‘in earth’ interment, while in the mausoleum the bodies are above ground, often being placed in a alcove in the walls.”

You can see photos and get more information at Tennessee GenWeb, on the Redbone Heritage Foundation website and on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum.