MEETING ELLIE JEAN con't from p. 30
special needs parent, then reach out because
as a special needs’ mom, we feel alone. I feel
alone every single day of my life. We feel that no
one understands. A community never realizes
how many special needs children there are!
The parents are amazing people who struggle
to find time between going to therapy and
doctor appointments; it’s exhausting. No more
exhausting than normal parenting, but we
have a little bit more to juggle, and a lot of us
feel alone. Invite us places. I understand that
it’s a little more inconvenient to travel with a
daughter in a wheelchair, but there’s nothing
I’m not going to go to because my daughter is
handicap!”
Every mom who goes in for that first
ultrasound is excited as well as terrified! Every
single parent who has a child knows that they
could have been gifted with a special needs
child. Every mom understands this could be my
child. Leslie slows, “There’s nothing negative
about having a special needs child—nothing.
Ellie Jean has changed my life. I wasn’t always
a positive person; I didn’t always find the best
in everything. There is not one day that I wake
up and look at my daughter and say, ‘God, I wish
this wasn’t us today.’ I now find the positive in
everything. My daughter fights every single
day for her life; what do we have to be negative
about? Not a thing. We’re here, we’re walking;
we’re able to run, to see. There’s nothing I would
change about her. She has to cuddle with me
for the rest of her life because she can’t walk. I
choose the positives.”
As a community, let’s rally around the
Ellie Jean Project and choose to help! Support
the project. Leslie smiles, “We’re the best
organization in Moore County. You just gotta
find us!” We have the power to make the
ultimate dream of a brand new park that is
completely handicap accessible come true. Let’s
dream big and get it done one dollar at a time,
one volunteer giving time, and all for one little
girl named Ellie Jean and her entire community
of friends. The Ellie Jean Project, let’s make it
happen.
Leslie & Brandon Clothier with Ellie & Joey.
Before the new courthouse was built, there used
to be a dry cleaners where the auto place is; the
glass shop was another garage. I can remember
when there was one stop light in town. The thrift
shop across from the Chuck Wagon used to be a
tobacco warehouse; you could walk by there and
see piles and piles of tobacco. I can remember
when the Chuck Wagon was across the street
beside Stanley Auto. The original start up was
a small trailer, maybe three people could fit in
there. Out front, Ronnie had the wagon wheels
and the red and white tables with umbrellas.”
Back in the day, Carthage operated a city
pool where parents could pay dues for their
children to swim. Julie continues, “There was a
Mack’s store, and Bingo was the Pharmacist who
had soda fountains and all that. I can remember
when there were just two police officers.
Carthage was a great little town; it still is!”
Still calling Carthage home, Julie loves her
hometown. Favorites include hush puppies and
pulled pork BBQ from the Pik-N-Pig, and she
loves all things arts and crafts from quilting,
to painting, to writing poetry. From Carthage
Elementary to Union Pines, to the nursing
program at SCC, she the pursued a job with the
post office. “It took me nine years and two days
to become a full time rural carrier,” tells Julie.
“This October will be ten years. I love my route
and my customers.”
We met around town one day and decided
to meet over coffee to discuss a favorite pastime
at another favorite—Buggy Town Coffee. Julie
begins, “If you and I were to leave here and
find a side street or a dirt road—we can walk
anywhere and find an arrowhead. It’s a matter of
getting motivated and getting outside; you just
never know what you might find. If you have
permission to look on someone’s farmland,
then that’s the best. If they give you permission,
then don’t wear out your welcome. If you
leave anything behind, it should only be your
footprints.”
Just as others left their mark on Moore
County that formed from Cumberland County
in 1784, the Siouans inhabited Moore from the
6th century until about 400 years ago. They
hunted throughout the area and shared the
Indian trail first used by buffalo during their
annual migration from the Piedmont to the
coastal plains. The earliest report of settlers in
Moore County dates to the 1700s; however in the
1500s, early explorers noted the Indians. Julie
explains, “We have the Occoneechee Boy Scout
camp—the Occoneechee Indians are mainly
from the North Carolina/Virginia line. Other
documented names include the Tuscarora
tribe,the Waterlee, Croatan, Catawba, Siouan,
and the Lumbee Indians who gathered around
the Cape Fear River Basin and Lumber River.”
To pinpoint the tribes who lived here
thousands of years ago is virtually impossible;
however you can date the rocks using carbon
dating. The early inhabitants lived in camps,
hunted buffalo, and gathered plants to sustain
themselves.
Back in the early 1700s, when thousands of
acres were bought to strip the pine trees for the
LOOKING FOR LEGACY continued
turpentine brings us to our current history of
the Page family introducing the railroad with
their timber business. We meet our Tufts family
and welcome Pinehurst being established in
1895. Realizing our United States of America is a
mere 242 years old staggers the mind.
As generations come and go with so much
early history remaining undocumented, locals
continue to collect the legacy when they get
out, enjoy a walk, and simply take a closer look.
Julie adds, “Whenever I go out, I like to have a
stick in my hand to flip something over and
make sure nothing else is around like a snake,
and then take a look. Plus if you bend over every
time something catches your eye, then you’re
gonna have a sore back. You can’t search on
federal land, but you can find a country road.
Look where the rain has cut through the ground;
my Indian head penny was found in a gully.
Regardless of where their established villages
were, the Indians were hunters continually
gathering food. It was nothing for them to travel
from here to Virginia in four days.”
To pick up the finds or to not pick up the
finds remains a discussion point. To not pick up
means the artifact will either lay there unnoticed
or get destroyed by a mower or maybe tilled
under by a farmer. Are locals hurting history by
gathering these artifacts? Archaeologists differ
on the answer as they desire everything to be
documented. Julie smiles, “I can document
everything. I know exactly where everything
came from. However when someone gives you
permission to look on their property, you don’t
tell people where you go. It’s a respect thing. I’m
so grateful that I have the opportunity to follow
my passion!”
Many artifacts have been discovered near
Morrow Mountain, Town Creek Indian Mound,
and near the Rankin Museum in Ellerbe. The
rock resources originate from those areas with
the chert, Rhyolite, and quartz. Julie points out,
“The banded Rhyolite has the bands going
through it; the ones that look like speckled
snowflakes are called speckled Rhyolite.
Sometimes you can see the aged patina on the
outside with the center black like Obsidian.
Some are detailed; some are really crude. They
all served a purpose. They didn’t have metal or
steel, but they had the next hardest thing—rocks.”
What drives the seekers? Is it the searching
or the find I wonder. Quick to answer, Julie
smiles, “It’s the heart drop! When you see a
top or a bottom sticking out—your heart will
stop because you’re thinking, ‘Is this gonna be
whole?’ You can walk up on it, and it catches
you in the pit of your stomach. Or you just find
it laying there as pretty as ever! Your heart stops!
That’s what makes it addictive!”
As for an unforgettable story? Julie laughs, “I
like to walk after it rains because water moves
dirt. One time on a search, I sunk up to my knees,
lost my shoes, fell backwards into the mud, and
couldn’t get up. My husband couldn’t even get
me out; the mud was like cement!”
Once you give it a try, you’ll be stuck in more
ways than one. Stuck in the intrigue of realizing
the history of Moore County goes back a lot
further than the 1700s. And stuck in trying to
figure out a favorite find amongst many favorites.
Julie loves the Lecroy’s. “I think they’re the
cutest little things. Of course, everybody always
says they want to find the older rocks like the
Hardaways or Daltons, but I like the Lecroy’s.”As
for favorite color rock, Julie informs, “The twotoned
or banded Rhyolite are amazing!”
While you walk along our sandy trails,
between the rows of farmland, or down any
chosen path, looking for legacy means taking
a closer look over, under, and all around. So
bring along a friend for company and a stick
for turning over the earth and brace for the
heart drop because it’s coming along with your
anticipated collection of great finds. As you
walk amongst the long leaf pines, listen to the
whispers guiding generations of footprints in
the sand.
LOOKING FOR LEGACY con't from p. 28
LOOKING FOR LEGACY con't. next column
"In every walk with nature
one receives far more than he seeks."
~ John Muir
Know anything about these pottery mysteries? The salt glaze commemorative stoneware jugs ca.
1902 are signed “Pinehurst N. C. Sept 3_th 1902 along with 2 other words “cur non” a French expression
for "Why Not." Just below Seagrove in Randolph County lives a town named Why Not, and thus we
assume the potter. As for the ring jugs, the mystery deepens. One bears a stamp-impressed mark of
PINEHURST, NC and the other SOUTHERN PINES, NC. Most likely commissioned by the north Moore
County potters hoping to attract some tourist revenue.
Any information is appreciated. Contact the Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society at 336 581-4246
or email sfpcs@rtmc.net. Photo Credits: Billy Hussey • SFPCS • 220 Washington Street, Bennett, NC 27208.
p.32 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 130
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