John Graves Heap: Union Operative?

John Graves Heap: Union Operative?

John Graves Heap and his business partner Elisha Bogue Clapp are credited with bringing large-scale mica mining operations to the Toe River Valley. They came here with their families in 1870 and within a few years owned and managed over a dozen mines that employed...

Sam Whitson

Samuel Whitson was born April 30,1865 on Whitson Branch in the Red Hill community of Mitchell Count/y, the son of Matilda Garland Whitson.  Matilda’s husband John had died in 1862; Samuel’s father was Sam McInturff, who was killed by Union raiders before his son’s...
Spanning The Toe

Spanning The Toe

This downtown landmark, labeled the “bottleneck bridge”, was built in 1922. At that time, it was the intersection of NC 226 and US 19E, as the Minpro bypass had not yet been built. Traffic congestion was a nightmare at times, not only because of the large number of...
The Rev. George Washington Martin

The Rev. George Washington Martin

The Rev. George Washington Martin The Bakersville United Methodist Church had its beginnings as “The Bakersville Methodist Society” in 1871. Early in the history of Methodism, John Wesley encouraged itinerant preachers he commissioned to establish Methodist societies...