Recent deaths: Guy Hamrick, April 9; Walter Lee (Buzz) Moss, April 20.
We need new members, and we need you to keep your membership up to date.
How can you join or check your annual expiration date? Go to the Membership panel on the Society page.
A Look Back...
...but not too far back. We've assembled the work of six photographers during the 2005 demolition of the old Cliffside Mill. It's a six-minute movie on YouTube's Remember Cliffside channel.
House Moving
In 1955 Duke Village ceased to exist. Several houses were purchased by their occupants, who moved them to their own land nearby. See the Observer story by our own Hannah Miller about the "moving" experience of Mrs. T. M. Bishop.
Updated with another story.
Firebugs
In the '60s, as the mill houses became vacant (and eyesores), some were intentionally burned by the Cliffside Fire Department. Sounds wasteful but these old dwellings were not worth the gas it took to burn them down.
Avondale Map & Aerial Photo
In 1975, Avondale historian Irene Roach Delpino, drawing on the memories of fellow residents, drew a very detailed map of her town as it was around the year 1950.
Also, there's an aerial photo of the Haynes Mill, and many of the homes in that village.
They're in The County section (under History), on the Places and Photos pages.
The Old Dry Cleaners
It was built in the 1910's as a silent movie theater. In 1926 it was converted to a dry cleaning plant that remained in operation for about 50 years.
Family Stories
The oldest graves in Cliffside Cemetery hold four descendents of one Robert Haney, a Revolutionary War veteran and, after 1783, resident of the High Shoals area. It is thought that Haney or his children once owned the land on which Cliffside was later founded.
Who lived where in Cliffside? If you're interested in 1964, we've found an old county cross-reference directory that lists 667 individuals on the streets and roads in and around Cliffside.
Landscapes & Bridges
Cliffside was in turmoil in the late 1960's when a large swath of its streets were carved away for a bypass, a new bridge was built and two were demolished. It changed forever the character of the Cliffside we had known. Here are 32 photos from the Roy Lee Harris collection.
“A Little Hill To Climb”
 W. T. Tate was born near Cliffside before the town existed. As a small boy he went to the Simmons school on Ferry Road. He worked in the mills at Henrietta and Cliffside. He was destined to become a preacher, and he did, after graduating from Wake Forest in 1916. Then he wrote this compelling memoir, "A Little Hill To Climb," about the first three decades of his life. Another valuable find by Don Bailey.
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The 1940 Federal Census
It's been released! After being "sequestered" for 72 years, the data is now public. There are about 90 handwritten pages listing people in Cliffside and the lower High Shoals Township area.
 Would you be interested in helping us transcribe and prepare the information for this Web site? Here's how you can help.
New Feature
Travel along any road or street and you'll something of interest. A patch of flowers, an abandoned building, there's likely to be a story behind it.
Dam Builder
The Cliffside dam was built around 1900-02 by a renowned architect from Spartanburg, George E. Ladshaw.
Landmarks
Few people have visited it. Most are unaware it exists. It's the Haynes Grove Cemetery, located only a half mile or so behind Cliffside School. Don Bailey has researched the site and reveals a lot about the people buried there.
Duke Plant Modernization
The Steam Station we remember from years past is dwarfed behind the stack of the new modern unit 6. Duke Energy released this series of photos to fill us in on the goings on just over our horizon.
Look! Up in the sky!
The skies were abuzz over Rutherford County soon after the Great War. These little planes did stunts, delivered newspapers and even transported Santa Claus.
Project Complete
Our clock face restoration is finished and you can follow the months-long effort with over 100 photos (in three galleries) and two Courier stories. You can also find a list of all 93 of the clock fund contributors who made it all possible.
Movie Tycoon
Of all the boys in Cliffside who grew up to become movie producers and owners of their own studio, this one definitely stands out. From only a few of the many news stories about him published over the span of four decades, you'll get an inside glimpse at the background, personality and talents of the inimitable Earl Owensby.
Service Rules
“We want clerks that can say 'TATERS' when the customer says 'TATERS'...” demanded the manager of the Cliffside Mills Store about 1918.
This old document laid out the rules the staff was to follow when answering the phone, greeting customers, etc., all of which would be pertinent today. The customer was always right!
Decorate Your Vehicle
We've devised a neat five-inch car magnet that looks great on any vehicle! Show your pride in Cliffside: Get one for each of your cars and for your boat, RV, airplane, tractor, go-cart and hot-air balloon!
Order them here.
Cliffside Sketches
The latest: stories of a true pioneer of Cliffside, James Edward Atkinson (1857-1954), the author's grandfather.
Good Man Gone
In April 1935, Ciffside School's principal was killed in an auto wreck. The entire town was stunned. The Purple Cloud, the school paper, devoted its entire May issue to the man and the incident.
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Photo of the Month — May
It's so difficult to imagine what life was like long ago. What were people's ambitions and expectations? Were they content with their lives? Could they foresee—and did they hope for—a day when conditions would make them happier and more comfortable? Another old photo to make us wonder.
Melrose Dover
The cover story of a recent issue of Rutherford Woman magazine was on Cliffside's Melrose Dover, a familiar face to those who frequent the Country Plaza. Great story and photos. Our thanks to the magazine for allowing us to republish them.
The Twin Reporters
We've added over 30 "new" columns from the Twin Reporters, all from 1937. Read what Grandma 'n 'em were doing back then.
Learn what happened to your old friends since they left Cliffside. Click on a photo.
“I am so happy to review the Cliffside memories. My teachers also included Miss Dickerson; Mr Huff [Huss], math teacher; Mr. Beatty, principal. I listened to the presidents speech on the radio in class the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor...”
— Ruby Ward Cervino
Poems of Cliffside
“Listen, I’ve got to tell you—
Cannot keep it longer or be still—
Walked down the street one day last week
And got a job in the Cliffside Mill.”
That's just a taste of the poetic offerings you'll find in this section.
From The Rutherford County Sun, dozens of articles and columns from the late 1920s, describing events both tragic and humorous; changes to the town; advertising by Cliffside stores and businesses; and community, school and church news.
Latest addition: In 1919 came news of progress on the new mill in Avondale, Cliffside's support of the recent war, the company's benevolence during the great flu epidemic in the past few months.
Did you ever wonder how it all started? In our Documents section we've added the Articles of Incorporation for Cliffside Mills, dated February 4, 1901. It's the agreement between R. R. Haynes and his other partners to start a business that would prosper for over 100 years.
Remember those old two, three and four digit phone numbers? Find the number of everyone in town in the Rutherford County Phone Directory for 1944.
Browse through these and many other old Cliffside papers. This is history, folks.
Visit The Archives
The snippets on this page appear for only a few months and then, alas, in order to make room for new features, they vanish into thin air.
Or do they?
Actually they don't vanish at all, but take up residence on one of our archives pages. Browse through them occasionally. You may find an item you missed when it was first published.
Note: None of the pages on this site is ever archived, all remain wherever they were first stored, in History, Memories, etc. Only these front-page teasers are moved to the archive section.
Were you aware?
There is a list of all the dozens of Photos of the Month we've selected since Remember Cliffside began in 2002. On the Galleries home page you can go through the list and revisit all those outstanding photos.
 Find the house where you lived and the streets where you walked and played, on this map drawn in 1942.
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