Raleigh’s Snowpocalypse 2014 – Take Two! (or How I Jumped the Gun on Titling My Last Post!)

Snowpocalypse.

It seems to be a word being used a lot this season, and I followed suit last week when we got our 5 inches of snow. I mean, it hardly ever snows in this part of North Carolina, so surely this was THE big snow of the year for us. Little did I know that I was jumping the gun on using this fresh-coined term. 🙂

Yesterday, it started snowing early in the day, and within three hours, we had five inches of snow on the ground again. Then, the snow tapered off as it all turned to sleet. Add another inch on top of the snow, but this time, all ice pellets. Reports were coming in via the news that it was pure gridlock in Raleigh as people tried to leave work to head home. The only thing that kept this from being a repeat of what had happened in Atlanta two weeks earlier was the fact that all the surrounding counties had closed school for the day, so the kids were all home safe and sound.

 

 

 

 

 

Last night, the sleet turned into a gentle rain that gave us a nice coating of ice over the whole shebang. Luckily, besides a few flickers during the night, we’ve managed to keep power on.

Today, around lunchtime, I took the camera out and took a few pictures of the beauty and the damage. I think you’ll agree that there’s a certain amount of beauty to the destructive force.

Luckily, schools are cancelled again today (and probably will be tomorrow as well), and we’re all home safe and sound. I’ll be making bread again tonight, and we’ll all enjoy a couple of movies or TV shows on Netflix today. Life goes on. 🙂

Historic Photos of My Home Town, Fuquay Varina, NC

Old Fuquay Springs postcard. This would have been facing south on Main Street.
Fuquay Springs, NC

The Story of Fuquay-Varina
Fuquay-Varina, first known as “Piney Woods,” acquired her unusual names from the fates of history.  Among the early land grant families were the Burts, Joneses and Rowlands, but it was a French veteran of the Revolutionary War named William Fuquay who moved his family to the exact site, purchasing 1000 acres of Jones Land in 1805.

While plowing a field, circa 1858, William’s son Stephen or grandson David Crockett uncovered a mineral spring.  “Taking the waters” became an attraction for people with all types of physical ailments, leading to the annual celebrations at the spring on Easter Monday and the Fourth of July.  Conveniently, the early timber rail provided a ready means of transportation while hotels, catering to long term visitors, surrounded the spring.

During the “War for Southern Independence,” a young soldier named Ballentine, born just south of the spring, received morale-boosting letters signed with the pen name “Varina.”  He later looked up the Fayetteville lady, married her and brought her to live at his homeplace. Continuing to call her Varina, he named his post office and mercantile establishment across from the mineral spring for her.  When two timber rail lines crossed nearby, “Varina Station” was born.

In the early 1900’s tobacco farmers, fleeing the Granville wilt devastating their crops, began migrating into Southern Wake County.  Their “golden weed” fostered a large commercial tobacco market.  Railroads flourished and traffic flowed along Main Street in Fuquay Springs and around the Broad Street station, now known simply as Varina.

Fuquay Springs, incorporated in 1909, joined the neighboring community of Varina in 1964 as one municipality.

Below are some of the pictures of early Fuquay Varina that I’ve collected over the years. Most were collected during the years that I owned Lazy Lion Used Books on South Main Street.

If you have any pictures of either early Fuquay Springs or early Varina that you would like to share, please feel free to email me at m.gregoryhill@gmail.com. 

Fuquay Springs, NC – Early 1900’s

Fuquay Springs Postcard – 1920’s

Downtown Varina, NC – 1920’s

Sharecropper’s Children – 1935

Elliot’s Pharmacy Over The Years

Johnson’s Drugstore – South Main Street

Looking North on Main Street

Old Fuquay Theatre on South Main Street

Bank of Fuquay in the 1940’s

Waiting For the Parade

Parade on South Main Street – 1950’s

There will be more photos coming. Just keep checking back. There is a link in the menu at the top right of the blog that will house these photos as I add them.

Enjoy. 🙂