Big Day
Remember Cliffside Day on Oct. 8, 2011, was a big success. Old Main Street, from the clock tower to the Post Office, was well populated with excited people and entries in the Old Car & Tractor Show. Here are the shots made by Marilyn Moore Kerr. More will be added when we get them. Anyone care to share their photos of the event?
 Here's Jack Huskey working the grill on RC Day (Oct. 13). It's just one of about three-dozen photos Wayne Millis snapped that day. See them all in our slide show.
It's not as if we're down and out, but please consider making a cash donation to keep this site alive and growing. Donations will be used entirely to defray the considerable cost of maintaining and enlarging Remember Cliffside. If you appreciate and want to support our efforts to make this site the best of its kind (which it is), read on.
If you came from a mill hill, this is more than a magazine, it's a keepsake. Three issues have been published so far, and you ought to own a copy of every one of them.
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 Across the top of the dam at the Cliffside Mill there is a two-foot-high wooden extension
that wears out every 30 years or so, and has to be replaced. From all appearances, it was last replaced about 35 years ago. We found an old document that shows who might have done it in 1970, and for how much.
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For the last couple of years, we've presented columns from the early 1930s in the Forest City Courier written by Francis Clemmer Thompson, known in those days as Skipper. We hope you've enjoyed these columns; there are only a few more to come.
We are sorry to report that Skipper Thompson died recently, at a nursing home in Albemarle, N.C. He was 94 years old, and in his last days had only his thoughts and memories to sustain him, for he was both blind and deaf. (See his obituary.) Although he left our town in the early 1940s, we'd like to believe that, in his mind, he often returned to Cliffside.
There are six new columns for you to enjoy, from March and April of 1935.
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It seems like only yesterday when, on March 31, 2002, we created this thing called Remember Cliffside. Here's how it has grown in scope and popularity.
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They had a special "Cliffside" room at the Blue Moon Gallery of Art and Fine Crafts's grand opening, where we greeted over 200 people and signed their books over the weekend of Aug. 20-21, 2005. We actually ran out of books before it was all over. Not to worry, the Cliffside book is available at the Blue Moon, the Swinging Pig, Fireside Books, Anything Southern, Hardin Drugs, Smith Drugs, and elsewhere (including this Web site). In the photo, from left, Reno Bailey, Joyce Atkinson Hunter and Dub and Terry Orr of Chesnee, S. C.
 The moon wasn't blue Friday night, as predicted, but was a brilliant orange and appeared unusually large as it rose in the east over the old Baptist Church.
Thanks to John and Beth Fisher for letting us intrude on their great opening.
A followup on the Romina Theater in Forest City, which Walter Haynes opened in 1929. Some interesting photos of the remains of the once popular movie house.
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The new Swing home on Old Main Street is taking shape. It's the first new home to be built in Old Cliffside since the 1940s, and part of a grand new plan to repopulate Cliffside.
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Much has been written here and elsewhere about H. Lee Waters, the Lexington, N. C. photographer who made in 1937 and 1940 the "Cliffside movies."
Mr. Waters work has now been immortalized. The Library of Congress, which each year adds 25 significant motion pictures to its National Film Registry, chose one of Mr. Waters' films for its 2004 list. Read what they chose, and why.
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Cliffside Native Writes Novel
 Leonard Jolly, Cliffside native and 1967 Chase graduate, has written a compelling novel based on the life and trials of a boy like himself in the '70's, growing up in a company mill town that's rapidly changing for the worse.
It's titled “Soul of Clay,” and you can read about it here. He's says it's pure fiction, but you might associate a character or two with someone you know. And the fictional town, Mill Creek, might bear some resemblance to some place you used to live.
It was a wonderful event [on October 9, 2009]. Over 100 gathered for talks and stories about Mr. H. C. Beatty, and the presentation of a plaque to the sons of Eugene Lipscomb, for their father's many years of “dedication, commitment and craftsmanship in the physical development of the town of Cliffside.”
Hannibal (not his real name) was one of hundreds who enjoyed the day. With the photos by Marilyn Moore Kerr and Sherry Harris Phelps, we've assembled a dandy slide show. It includes shots from both Friday and Saturday.
They "drew" the pond
in December, in order to repair the gates that control the water flow to the power house. James Harris made a sequence of terrific photos of the area and we chose 30 of them for an animated Flash slideshow with music. (This may not work well for those of you with dial-up Internet service. If DSL or Broadband services are available in your area, we suggest you sign up. We'll be offering more Flash content in the near future, including the 1937 and 1940 Cliffside movies by H. Lee Waters.)
In the interest of clarity we've devised a new archival system, in which the older front-page announcements will be saved. We want to point out that not every new story or section on this site has been or will be promoted on the front page, but every one is listed on the What's New page. So, hereafter, with a few exceptions, the front page will contain only news of the very latest additions. After a couple of months, each item will be moved to the archive section (see the new Archive button directly above this notice). We encourage you to browse through the archive pages and the What's New page from time to time, in case you may have missed any stories or articles.
We ran across this nice compliment on the site of the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office (of the Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History):
Remember Cliffside. Cliffside, established in 1899 by Raleigh Rutherford Haynes on a bluff above the Second Broad River in southeastern Rutherford County, is one of North Carolina's most striking textile mill towns. This remarkable web site, "dedicated to preserving the memories and lore of the little mill town we once knew," is nothing short of amazing, beautifully designed with hundreds of photographs, stories, memorabilia, and news of current events. [Emphasis added.]
Couldn't have put it better ourselves.
Things are rapidly changing in our little village, as you saw if you attended Cliffside Day, on Saturday, Oct. 14 (2006). Did you know that most of Old Main Street has recently been repaved? And there are now several new houses going up along or near the street.
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The owners of the old mill are now generating hydro power, using pond water to turn the turbines, and the low water level affords us a different view of the dam site.
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May 14 is Mother's Day in Cliffside, as well as Memorial Day. In honor of all our mothers, we've put in the Documents section a very special newsletter from the Baptist church, called The Cliffside Baptist Booster. It was published in May 1924.
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There are big doin's in Cliffside on Saturday May 13. From 9:00am to 6:00pm on Old Main Street, from the Clock Tower to the Blue Moon Gallery, there will be artisans, artists and performers. Live bluegrass music will emanate from the porch of the newly-arrived Haynes cabin. Meet the people whose works of art are featured at the Blue Moon, and many others. See them at work; buy their wares. And drop by the tent of the Cliffside Historical Society and get a copy of our latest newsletter, and, in case you need one or more, autographed copies of the “Cliffside book” will be available, as will the author. Find out all about the event by reading its official flyer.
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For the third time in over 150 years, the old cabin that was R. R. Hayne's birthplace has been moved, this time from the side yard of Janice and Marc Swing's former home in Cliffside Estates to the back yard of their future home on Main Street.
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Cliffside, North Carolina: The First Half Century covers in great detail the history of Cliffside from its earliest beginnings in 1899 through 1959. In more than five years of research, author Don Bailey examined essentially every public record available that touched on Cliffside.
Among those records were the many Rutherford County newspapers in the libraries of Isothermal Community College and the Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County, the Criminal Dockets of Rutherford County, the minutes of the Rutherford County Board of Education, copies of The Southern Textile Bulletin in the collection of the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University and the Cone Corporation Records 1858-1997, housed at the Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina.
The goal of the book is to give the definitive history of Cliffside up to the year 1960.
Copies are available from the author. The cost is $25 plus $4.00 for mailing. Email Don at eladon@morrisbb.net.
Copies are also available for purchase at the Haynes Library in Henrietta, thanks to librarian Debra Womack.
There aren't all that many, but James Harris correctly deemed them worthy of being photographed. It makes us nostalgic for those old signs of yesteryear: Mills Drug Store, Hawkins Hardware, Miller Furniture, Biggerstaff's Barber Shop.
Although the Baptist church had its centennial this year, the building is actually 104 years old. In its first four years it was a Methodist church. Don Bailey has written a history of the church and its people and an account of the celebration and homecoming held one Sunday this past August. The articles are accompanied by a collection of new and old photos.
 Our program to attract members is in full swing, and we need your help. Our membership is currently at a little over 100, and we're looking for hundreds more to join and get involved.
We've recently published and mailed the May-Jun 2007 edition of our newsletter, to members. Anyone can enjoy a free on-line preview of Volume I, the Sep-Oct 2006 issue.
Check out the new Society Front Page, where all new entries pertaining to the CHS will be posted.
The demolition project at the old mill is in its final stage, and things are progressing nicely. See an album of 40 exclusive photos of the current state of the mill site.
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They called it A May Zing, and it was— another fine day on old Main Street.
There was a May pole near the clock tower, pickers and singers, and lots of artists and artisans. Long-lost friends (and some not so long-lost) hugged, reminisced, and found new friends among the many visitors to Cliffside.
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It could be an historic moment. On September 8, 2005 there was a ground breaking for the first new home in Old Cliffside in many years.
Janice and Marc Swing have taken the first step toward rebuilding the town. You may be surprised at the design and location of this first of several new homes to come.
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We wrote an article to complement our new Old Mill picture gallery. In it we try to describe what we saw, how the mill had changed over the years, and what feelings the old place evoked.
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 After six months on the bookshelves, we have a rough idea how well Cliffside: Portrait of a Carolina Milltown has sold. Although breaking no records, it has done rather well.
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Who knew? There are groups of people out there who come together to do all sorts of extraordinary things. The common interest of one particular group we've recently heard about is to photograph trains. Not just any trains, but selected engines at specific locations on a predetermined date—and at great effort and expense. This group chose an old engine that once rode the rails in Cliffside, restored its colors and name, and spent a joyous day taking pictures. How did they choose this engine? What lengths did they go to? Where did they come from? Read on.
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