Transportation
Fig. 22. Norfolk & Western train schedule. Winson-Salem division, May 29, 1904. Avalon is listed on the route but is misspelled as "Avalan"
The mill was a convenient walking distance from the village and it is doubtless most navigating through Avalon was done on foot. For far away distances the villagers had the Norfolk & Western railway to get them on route. Avalon never became an official stop for passenger trains. However, in 1902 a shelter was erected that served as a train depot. It was a flag stop station where anyone wanting to ride the train had to flag the train down when it came into sight1. At least one villager took regular advantage of the train. Miss Ida Summers told of C.B. Daniels, a photographer and overseer at the mill, who took monthly trips to Roanoke, Virginia to visit his lady friend. While there he purchased new books, which he brought back to Avalon and lent them out for others to read2.
For short trips the train wasn't always convenient. The trains cost money to ride and were on exacting schedules. A quick trip to Mayodan could have meant hours waiting on the next train. The two mile hike down the railroad tracks was a quicker option. The trip could also have been made on horseback, bicycle, or by rowing down the Mayo River on a small boat. Frank Clarvoe, foster son of Reverend Alfred Berkeley, recalled rowing up the river from Mayodan on numerous occasions with Dr. Harrison when medical services were required in Avalon3.
Fig. 23. Frank Matthews(left) and George Meadows Suttenfield on the swinging bridge.
The mill workers who lived in the area of Bentontown had to cross the river to get to and from work. They either used a small boat to maneuver across the water or they crept across a swinging rope bridge which was described as hazardous. One icy morning Mrs. Ada Benton slipped on the bridge and had she not caught a hold of the ropes she would have fallen into the frigid waters below. Marcus Crotts was walking behind her when she slipped and managed to pull her back to safety4. Mr. Eugene Benton, wanting to remedy the bridge situation, envisioned a design for an improved swinging bridge. Marcus Crotts along with his helpers in the mill's machine shop fabricated Mr. Benton's idea. The design featured a wooden basket for occupants wanting to cross the river to sit in. The basket was hung by a pulley on a rope spanning the river. Side ropes ran parallel, one on either side, of the rope the basket hung from. To cross the river with the new swinging bridge a person sat in the basket and pulled himself over the river using the side ropes. Eugene Benton made the first voyage to demonstrate its operation5. The introduction of the new bridge was said to be a significant event for the villagers. A second bridge was built along with enough baskets to ensure there was always at least one basket on either side of the river6. While the efforts these mill workers took to ensure safe passage over the river were both imaginative and commendable, one can't help but wonder why the company didn't just build a proper bridge.
- 1. Foushee, Ola Maie, Avalon: A North Carolina Town of Joy and Tragedy (Chapel Hill, NC: Books, 1977), 8.
- 2. Ibid., 42.
- 3. Ibid., xii.
- 4. Ibid., 60.
- 5. Ibid., 62.
- 6. Ibid., 61.
- Fig 22 - Unknown, Norfolk & Western Train Schedule (unknown), Train Schedule [from The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States Porto Rico Canada Mexico And Cuba (New York: National Railway Publication Company, 1904), 879].
- Fig 23 - Unknown, Rope Bridge (1900-1911), Location, Avalon, NC, Image [from Avalon: A North Carolina Town of Joy and Tragedy (Chapel Hill, NC: Books, 1977), 60].