marywillson, Author at AVLtoday

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January 25, 2021

From the mill to the mountains

We love taking a peek into the past, and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial recently gave us a great glimpse with this image of a 1940s mill worker. DYK that in Aug. 1943, Wolfe’s mother Julia rented the Old Kentucky Home boardinghouse to four young girls from Kannapolis, NC (near Charlotte)?

The girls were employed by Cannon Mills — which was, at the time, the nation’s largest towel producer — and came to the mountains for a vacation. Established in Concord in 1887, Cannon’s plant was built in 1906, and by 1940, Kannapolis was the largest unincorporated town in the country. The mill remained in operation until 2004, when it eventually closed. We wonder if the girls knew how significant the mill was to the state, and what conversations they may have had with Julia Wolfe.

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