Search found 137 matches

by Jody Meacham
Sun May 23, 2021, 12:58 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham - Christmas Newsletter 2020
Replies: 2
Views: 3598

Re: Jody Meacham - Christmas Newsletter 2020

Yours was the first one. But you have to remember, wearing that shirt in California is wearing it in a place where nobody cares.
by Jody Meacham
Thu February 20, 2020, 12:46 am
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: 1964 Hamlet Train Wreck
Replies: 2
Views: 4811

Re: 1964 Hamlet Train Wreck

Very interesting. I remember the accident and read the News-Messenger's coverage at the time. But this is the first time I've seen the official accident report.
by Jody Meacham
Wed August 1, 2018, 4:50 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: 1963 Hamlet Items
Replies: 8
Views: 7203

Re: 1963 Hamlet

I was about 12 this year and remember when the little league games were moved from Memorial Stadium, where the high school teams played, to the new ball field on Boyd Lake Road. What ties the first and last pictures together was that as a result of boys walking to the new ball field, some got burned...
by Jody Meacham
Mon January 22, 2018, 11:07 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: CSX CHANGES
Replies: 3
Views: 6984

Re: CSX CHANGES

Trains magazine reported today that CSX is reviewing 8,000 miles of its 21,000-mile system for possible sale. Routes under review include "large sections of the Florence Division in the Carolinas." That includes Hamlet. http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/01/22-csx-reviewing-8000-mil...
by Jody Meacham
Sun December 17, 2017, 4:28 am
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: CSX CHANGES
Replies: 3
Views: 6984

Re: CSX CHANGES

E. Hunter Harrison, the recently hired president and CEO of CSX (last March), who was responsible for the decision about dispatchers as well as the closing of CSX's hump yards in Hamlet and other locations, died Saturday. https://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about-us/media/press-releases/csx-announces-deat...
by Jody Meacham
Thu June 1, 2017, 10:00 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham - Cape Fear Courier
Replies: 2
Views: 5905

Re: Jody Meacham - Cape Fear Courier

Thank you
by Jody Meacham
Wed January 25, 2017, 8:37 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Ideal Farm Dairy 1936
Replies: 3
Views: 5474

Re: Ideal Farm Dairy 1936

I remember those phone numbers. Interesting spelling on the kind of farm that produces cow's milk.
by Jody Meacham
Sat July 16, 2016, 12:18 am
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham Newsletter about Ashton Locklear
Replies: 9
Views: 13139

Re: Jody Meacham Newsletter about Ashton Locklear

Thanks, Tiz. I enjoy doing the things I write about, and then I enjoy writing about them.
by Jody Meacham
Thu July 14, 2016, 12:02 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham Newsletter about Ashton Locklear
Replies: 9
Views: 13139

Re: Jody Meacham Newsletter about Ashton Locklear

The Daily Journal did a story a few weeks ago on Gordon here: http://yourdailyjournal.com/sports/3596 ... 6-olympics. David was in his class, too.
by Jody Meacham
Wed July 6, 2016, 2:42 am
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: CABOOSE
Replies: 5
Views: 8347

Re: CABOOSE

Bruce, I’m sure there are guys here that have a lot more railroad experience than I have, but I can share what I know from working on the Seaboard while I was in college. In the early 1970s most of the freight trains I worked on had four-man crews: a conductor and flagman who rode in the caboose and...
by Jody Meacham
Sun April 10, 2016, 11:14 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: 1957 City Lake Project
Replies: 5
Views: 6427

Re: 1957 City Lake Project

I vaguely remember the lake cleanup project. I was not aware that the lake had caught fire, as Jerry Pait said in his post. But the source of the oil he writes about is consistent with what we know to be the case about the old roundhouse and, indeed, the old railroad yard that it was a part of. It w...
by Jody Meacham
Tue April 5, 2016, 1:35 am
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Airmail 1937
Replies: 2
Views: 4447

Re: Airmail 1937

Bruce, I found your question fascinating. I looked up San Diego history and the date that San Diego Bay was discovered by Europeans was 1542. The first Spanish fort and Catholic mission wasn't built there until 1769, much later than St. Augustine and, to me, surprisingly late for a place with such a...
by Jody Meacham
Tue November 17, 2015, 9:43 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet News Messenger 1941
Replies: 4
Views: 6332

Re: Hamlet News Messenger 1941

Bruce, The Rockingham Railroad was really a subsidiary of the ACL. A lot of big railroads back then had short branch lines that had different names but were really part of the bigger company. They often got hand-me-down equipment and rolling stock from the big railroad, and the steam engine that Roc...
by Jody Meacham
Mon August 17, 2015, 12:53 am
Forum: Railroad items
Topic: Hamlet Depot
Replies: 9
Views: 12874

Re: Hamlet Depot

Really like this collection. Some I had never seen and they show clearly that, in its earlier years, the station was not the white that I remember it being my whole life.
by Jody Meacham
Tue August 11, 2015, 2:32 am
Forum: Hamlet Pictures
Topic: Earl Bradshaw's 100th Birthday Party
Replies: 5
Views: 9087

Re: Earl Bradshaw's 100th Birthday Party

Amen to Freddie Hassler's memory
by Jody Meacham
Mon April 27, 2015, 1:47 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: HAMLET SIREN'50-60'S
Replies: 5
Views: 8447

Re: HAMLET SIREN'50-60'S

I remember the siren at noon on Saturdays and people taking Wednesday afternoon off. I think a lot of people worked half a day Saturday then, too.
by Jody Meacham
Sat February 28, 2015, 1:06 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Coach Mike Caskey
Replies: 11
Views: 13191

Re: Coach Mike Caskey

I remember helping the Caskey family pack up their stuff at their house on Hylan Avenue when they were moving out of town, and I vaguely remember kids, but I have no idea of the answer to your question.
by Jody Meacham
Thu October 16, 2014, 1:16 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Re: Hamlet gymnast

Nice to see her getting some recognition: http://yourdailyjournal.com/news/home_top-localnews1/150188425/Gymnast-returns-from-China . It hasn't been written about locally, but I believe the Charlotte Observer story about Ashton said that her spinal fractures have hampered her progress on the balance...
by Jody Meacham
Thu October 9, 2014, 1:49 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Re: Hamlet gymnast

TR4, you can look at the scores that judges from around the world have given Ashton Locklear and you can look at her performances on YouTube and see that she has earned her place in the gymnastics world.
by Jody Meacham
Thu October 9, 2014, 1:18 am
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Re: Hamlet gymnast

The United States won this year's women's world gymnastics team championships held in China with Ashton Locklear playing a key role, scoring second highest of 24 gymnasts on the uneven bars (China's Huidan Huang barely outscored Ashton, 15.133-15.100). Good to see the Daily Journal and Pee Dee Post ...
by Jody Meacham
Mon October 6, 2014, 1:53 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Re: Hamlet gymnast

I see the Daily Journal did a piece on Locklear last Friday http://yourdailyjournal.com/news/sports ... mpic-glory
by Jody Meacham
Mon October 6, 2014, 1:36 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: W. D. James rentals 1959
Replies: 3
Views: 5169

Re: W. D. James rentals 1959

I believe in 1959 those rental costs were probably per month. My first apartment in Asheville when I went to work after college in 1973 was $67.50 a month furnished. It was half of a round structure on stilts on the side of a mountain with kitchenette and bathroom at one end of the semicircle. My ne...
by Jody Meacham
Mon September 22, 2014, 5:38 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet Hospital Nurse's Home
Replies: 5
Views: 6499

Re: Hamlet Hospital Nurse's Home

Was this at the corner of Vance and Rice streets beside the hospital building?
by Jody Meacham
Tue September 9, 2014, 2:31 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet Phone book 1950
Replies: 6
Views: 8590

Re: Hamlet Phone book 1950

It took only 12 pages to list every phone in town, a fact that reveals the relative newness and rarity of telephones, not necessarily a smaller population.
by Jody Meacham
Sat August 23, 2014, 1:32 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Re: Hamlet gymnast

Thanks, Wayne. One of the reasons I posted about her here is because I thought very few people might be aware of her even though, based on her performance, she's probably a strong candidate for the U.S. Olympic Team for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. That's her goal. If you're an Olympic-level athlete from...
by Jody Meacham
Fri August 22, 2014, 12:35 am
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Hamlet gymnast
Replies: 7
Views: 11883

Hamlet gymnast

Ashton Locklear had a victory this month in a major national gymnastics meet in Chicago. She popped up in my Google search, which looks for any news that includes "Hamlet, N.C." Ashton, who was born in Lumberton but now lists her home as Hamlet, won the uneven bars and finished 11th overal...
by Jody Meacham
Tue August 12, 2014, 4:02 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Telephones 1965
Replies: 7
Views: 8533

Re: Telephones 1965

Our number was 1734 before dial phones were introduced. When the switch to dial phones was made, Southern National Bank sponsored a time of day service at 582-2601.
by Jody Meacham
Thu July 31, 2014, 11:48 am
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Nurses Home House Mothe:
Replies: 6
Views: 8481

Re: Nurses Home House Mothe:

By the time I was going to the Hub it was not off-limits to girls -- I don't know any my age who weren't out there since that's where the hamburgers, beer and boys were -- but there was an unwritten rule that only boys could get out of the car and stand around or go inside.
by Jody Meacham
Thu July 31, 2014, 11:45 am
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Trains
Replies: 16
Views: 17357

Re: Trains

Sometimes finding yourself in the middle of a railroad conversation is like waking up and discovering you're in the middle of France.
by Jody Meacham
Thu July 31, 2014, 11:44 am
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Who Was He And what Happened ???
Replies: 4
Views: 6971

Re: Who Was He And what Happened ???

I remember that Roger Simmons, who once was the editor of the News Messenger, fell off a ladder that he had climbed to get a picture and broke his ankle or leg. I don't remember what he was trying to shoot, so I'll guess the Christmas parade. It always reminded me of the story of Zacchaeus climbing ...
by Jody Meacham
Wed July 30, 2014, 7:55 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Fairview Heights 1954
Replies: 5
Views: 7000

Re: Fairview Heights 1954

When I started first grade at Fairview Heights, it had grades 1-8. But by the time I got to the sixth grade, the seventh and eighth grade classes had been moved to Hamlet Avenue/Hamlet High. So I did six years at Fairview Heights and six at Hamlet Avenue.
by Jody Meacham
Fri July 25, 2014, 3:09 am
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: "Crystal Ball"
Replies: 10
Views: 11994

Re: "Crystal Ball"

Kirk Kirkley
by Jody Meacham
Tue July 22, 2014, 2:01 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Trains
Replies: 16
Views: 17357

Re: Trains

That's a sad story. I remember those pits from working on the yard. The necessity for the pits was eliminated by the change from journal bearings on freight car axles, which required replenishment of the oil and rags that lubricated the bearing, to roller bearings that are almost universal today. Mo...
by Jody Meacham
Thu July 10, 2014, 1:31 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Pender Store in Hamlet
Replies: 6
Views: 9647

Re: Pender Store in Hamlet

I remember both Colonial Stores. What I remember about the newer one was that it had a great new invention, an exit door that opened as you approached it so that if you were carrying a bunch of groceries, you didn't have to fiddle with a door knob or pushing on the door. Loved standing on the pad th...
by Jody Meacham
Sun July 6, 2014, 6:02 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Railroad Crossing:
Replies: 8
Views: 9802

Re: Railroad Crossing:

In answer to Bruce's question, my guess is that there was a cotton gin around there somewhere that perhaps predates his time. When I grew up, the closest cotton I remember seeing was in Scotland County. But Bruce posted a newspaper story here http://ourhamlet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8101 ...
by Jody Meacham
Sun July 6, 2014, 5:58 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Railroad Crossing:
Replies: 8
Views: 9802

Re: Railroad Crossing:

Ernie Morrison, who was in my class, lived on a farm between 177 and the SAL tracks and just south of that railroad crossing. On Google maps it shows up as Airport Road.
by Jody Meacham
Sun July 6, 2014, 4:02 pm
Forum: Hamlet Trivia
Topic: Railroad Crossing:
Replies: 8
Views: 9802

Re: Railroad Crossing:

I remember the Rockingham Railroad growing up and the bridge on 177 that went over the line. It was a great treat to be going over the bridge when a train happened to be going under because the railroad was the only nontourist railroad, such as Tweetsie, that I knew of that still used a steam engine...
by Jody Meacham
Sat April 12, 2014, 7:44 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: RTI 1964
Replies: 12
Views: 14038

Re: RTI 1964

Owning property in the way of state-operated bulldozers is a traditional profit maker.
by Jody Meacham
Thu April 10, 2014, 2:09 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: RTI 1964
Replies: 12
Views: 14038

Re: RTI 1964

Got no clue. But we know from what was posted that RTI was originally planned to be built in Rockingham. It wasn't. So the story of the why and how of the change is obviously important local history.
by Jody Meacham
Thu April 10, 2014, 1:55 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: RTI 1964
Replies: 12
Views: 14038

Re: RTI 1964

I hope you're able to post stuff documenting how the switch was made from R.W. Goodman's property, which was the location selected for RTI in the first newspaper stories, to where the community college was actually built in Hamlet.
by Jody Meacham
Tue April 1, 2014, 3:37 pm
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham UNC Newsletter 3-30-2014
Replies: 6
Views: 9613

Re: Jody Meacham UNC Newsletter 3-30-2014

Freddie, I would never deny that being a cheerleader is good duty, especially if you like to see some high-level sports from the field (or court) of play. I was a cheerleader my junior ('71-'72) and senior ('72-'73) years and got to make some good trips. There was usually a limit on the number of ch...
by Jody Meacham
Tue April 1, 2014, 12:21 am
Forum: Hamlet Happenings
Topic: Jody Meacham UNC Newsletter 3-30-2014
Replies: 6
Views: 9613

Re: Jody Meacham UNC Newsletter 3-30-2014

No problem with people who want to pull for Duke or any other school, Linda, but the Blue Devils are out of the tournament. They lost to DePaul in Durham in their second game.

There's always next year.
by Jody Meacham
Mon March 10, 2014, 4:25 pm
Forum: Railroad items
Topic: Trains and death
Replies: 0
Views: 4398

Trains and death

I just finished a book called Train by Tom Zoellner, which is about the societal impact of the development of railroads around the world, and part of it reminded me of a series of posts last year in this section by Bruce Osburn. Bruce's posts were about the frequency and severity of train wrecks inv...
by Jody Meacham
Fri February 28, 2014, 9:29 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Film of baldhead Island and Hamlet-1916
Replies: 3
Views: 5071

Re: Film of baldhead Island and Hamlet-1916

As an addition to what I just posted, I googled Thomas Franklin Boyd and found the New Hanover County Library document describing his family papers, which were donated to the library by his granddaughter, Margaret Grace Boyd of Tennessee, in 2005. Quite a collection of papers, photographs and family...
by Jody Meacham
Fri February 28, 2014, 8:50 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Film of baldhead Island and Hamlet-1916
Replies: 3
Views: 5071

Re: Film of baldhead Island and Hamlet-1916

This a very interesting film because of what it shows about Hamlet before probably every visitor to Our Hamlet was alive. But the film's existence has been known for at least nine years. A documentary video was made by the N.C. Department of Transportation of the Hamlet Depot restoration project, wh...
by Jody Meacham
Thu February 27, 2014, 4:33 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet Christmas Parade - early 70's
Replies: 3
Views: 5474

Re: Hamlet Christmas Parade

Anybody recognize the rider on the black horse in picture 10? Looks like a possible Fetner sighting although I can imagine it being several other people.
by Jody Meacham
Wed February 26, 2014, 9:17 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet Christmas Parade - early 70's
Replies: 3
Views: 5474

Re: Hamlet Christmas Parade

I believe every horse in Richmond County got into that year's parade.
by Jody Meacham
Mon February 24, 2014, 1:43 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Jody Meacham 1968
Replies: 3
Views: 4648

Re: Jody Meacham 1968

Freddie, I did not get the scholarship. My parents and I paid my college expenses. I worked for the Seaboard two summers and one Christmas break, the state highway commission one summer planting grass and cleaning up highways and rest stops, and one summer as a surveyor's helper for some federal age...
by Jody Meacham
Fri February 14, 2014, 6:51 pm
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Aerial Hamlet pictures by Jim Barbour
Replies: 18
Views: 17854

Re: Aerial Hamlet pictures by Jim Barbour

I did the gym thing. Apparently the double doors didn't lock, so they were chained together but there was enough slack in the chain that both doors would partially swing outward. All you had to do was get to the top of those doors and there was room to drop down between them and the door frame. Also...
by Jody Meacham
Fri February 7, 2014, 3:05 am
Forum: Old Hamlet Stuff
Topic: Hamlet Football 1968
Replies: 10
Views: 10487

Re: Hamlet Football 1968

Freddie, I remember my freshman year when practice started in August, there was a big pile of used shoes in the middle of the dressing room underneath the gym. Everybody tried to find a pair that fit. Mine didn't, and in the first morning practice I got huge bleeding blisters on the backs of my heel...