Photo of The Month – Sep 2010

Hallowed Ground

Picture contributor: Jim VanOrsdel

A curb, sidewalk, wall and steps overgrown with weeds, which once fronted Hamrick's Super Market. Vegetation and hard freezes have taken their toll on the concrete, which is cracked and crumbling. — Hallowed Ground

As the years grind on, the places we knew look less and less familiar. This spot, directly across from the old Memorial Building site, is showing decades of neglect, disuse and the ravages of nature. Those used to be the steps up to Hamrick’s Grocery. Before that, it was Hawkins’ Grocery, and long before that—prior to 1920—it was Cliffside’s first library.

On those walls sat generations of workmen, waiting for their shift. In another generation or two the steps and walls will have crumbled to rubble, and, should anyone happen by, all they’ll see will be shards of old concrete half-buried in an overgrown dirt bank. And they’ll wonder, What used to be here?

The photo above was taken in the summer of 2010. The one below—same area, different angle—was shot seven years earlier, during the last days of Cone Mills’ ownership. It doesn’t take long for nature to have its way.

The same location as the previous photo, but the area looks trim and well-kept.