began buying out other farmers. However, as
time progressed, the tobacco industry dried
up; it’s been at least ten or 12 years since the
decline.”
Once again both the local farmers and
the Vuncannon’s found themselves having to
discover new ventures. From cotton, to tobacco,
to now chickens! Chicken houses replaced the
tobacco industry bringing different needs for
seed and feed. Jeff adds, “Currently, there’s not
a lot of crop farming; people are experimenting
with hemp, although it’s not a viable option yet.”
In 1983, the family invested in a new facility
in Moore County and purchased Aberdeen
Supply from Dick Odom. Continuing the family
heritage, Everette, Sr.’s other son Cecil Bradley,
known as Bradley, became the lineage for the
new location.
Growing up in Ellerbe, Bradley left the
family farm as a young man to attend Wake
Forest University. After teaching for a couple
of years, Bradley served in the Army during
WWII. Returning home after service, Bradley
had a fulfilling career as Postmaster in Ellerbe
for 28 years while he raised his children with
his wife Susan Gentry from Greensboro. Of
the children, Donna Sue, Cecil Bradley, Jr., and
James Mitchell, Cecil known as Pete followed in
his father’s footsteps.
Pete remembers a funny story in regards
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Named for the patriarch of the family Edward
Everette, E.E.Vuncannon, Inc, continues strong
with the 4th generation of Vuncannon men
running the business. Born on Feb. 23, 1832, in
Farmer, NC, Everette was one of nine children.
In 1911, Everette migrated from Randolph
County to Richmond County with a horse and
a wagon carrying a sawmill as the virgin pines
drew him to Ellerbe. While establishing work
with the Snow Lumber Company in Asheboro,
Everette also began building his life and married
Daisy Mae Williams of Mt. Gilead on December
24, 1913, when he was 33 years old. Everette and
Daisy welcomed 5 children, only 4 survived—2
girls and 2 boys. In time, the two boys Cecil
Bradley (1918) and Edward Everette, Jr. (1928)
would continue the Vuncannon heritage.
Although grounded with longevity in
the marketplace, the journey plows through
the ever-changing landscape of small town
America. When the Longleaf pines industry
slowed in 1918, Everette purchased the Ellerbe
Telephone Company but soon enough sold it
in 1919 to start E.E. Vuncannon’s. Purchasing
an old cotton gin that included a corn and flour
mill in the business storefront, Everette got to
work ginning cotton and grinding corn and flour
for the local farmers. Since money was scarce as
America endured the Great Depression, Everette
received a toll for his work rather than receiving
money. Bagging up the cornmeal into ten and
twenty-five pound bags, Everette sold his goods
to other retail shops. Operating upon the same
barter system, Everette ginned over 2,000 bales
of cotton and traded the local cotton for feed
and fertilizer. Of the three businesses in town,
E.E. Vuncannon’s was the only one to survive the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
When the cotton gin burned in 1947, Everette
recognized that cotton was on the way out and
tobacco was on the way in. As tobacco became
the new economy in town, he reinvented his
business to accommodate the tobacco farmers
and began to concentrate on selling seed, feed,
and fertilizer.
In 1952, when E. E. Vuncannon, Jr., the
youngest of the four children, came back from
serving in the Korean War, he joined his father
in the family business. Everette, Jr. married
Elga Mae Henderson, and before long, they
welcomed two sons, Edward Everette, III, and
Jeffrey born in 1960. The business grew along
with the family, as Jeffrey, known to all as Jeff,
now runs E.E. Vuncannon’s along with his son
Luke who enjoys playing his guitar in the Long
Gone Bluegrass band. Jeff’s other son Jake,
employed at the local Carolina Farm Credit
which is a bank for farmers, enjoys being a race
car driver. Upon restoring Everette, Sr.’s home,
Jake lives there with his wife and three children.
Jeff remembers back to when tobacco fueled
the local economy, “When I graduated from
college in 1982, and came to work with my dad,
there would be a line of pickups waiting to get
fertilizer. Within maybe five or six years, people
to his name. He tells, “When my grandfather
Everette came to visit when I was born, he called
me 'Pete,' and it stuck! My name is Cecil Bradley,
Jr, but everyone calls me Pete, and it was
really confusing during all of my school years,
especially in college.” Loved by all, Pete built
the business from the ground up at Aberdeen
Supply. “Pete was the first one there, and the last
one to leave every single day,” tells Jeff.
With consistent growth and exceptional
customer service, Aberdeen Supply has become
the bigger of the two Vuncannon locations. Jeff
says, “In terms of business, it’s like night and day
between Richmond County and Moore County.”
As Vuncannon’s focuses on fertilizer and farm
chemicals for crops, Aberdeen Supply’s primary
customer remains the horse people. Feed is
a top seller along with the top quality hay
imported from Michigan, Idaho and NY for the
horses in the Sandhills. From the pig farmers
to the chicken farmers, landscapers, backyard
gardeners, and dog and cat lovers, Pete tells, “If
you need any animal or garden supplies, then
we carry them!”
Growing up in the business, Jason Vuncannon
Pete’s nephew now manages Aberdeen Supply
alongside of Collin Hobson who is like family.
Jason, came to Aberdeen Supply in 2001, when
Pete called to say, “Come and join us!”
Loading hay, stocking shelves, and learning
product lines, Jason has worked his way up from
the bottom. In learning the family business,
Jason shares, “The best way to do it is to work
your way up! At Aberdeen Supply, we’ve got great
people. We seek to offer a great product and
keep our customers happy.”As Jason manages
Aberdeen Supply, his third cousin Luke manages
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Jeff and Luke Vuncannon, E.E.Vuncannon, Inc
Aberdeen Supply Co. est. 1983, in Aberdeen.
Jason and Pete, Aberdeen Supply Co.
E.E. Vuncannon, Inc. est. 1919, in Ellerbe.
p.36 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 135