North Carolina

Camp Davis

Recently I was giving a talk to a group and mentioned some of the military bases in North Carolina. One that I mentioned was Camp Davis. Several questions were raised from the audience, "Where in the world was Camp Davis?"

Camp Davis was located in Onslow County. Construction began in 1940 with a construction contract of over $16 million dollars. The camp was to house the Antiaircraft Artillery School, which opened in March 1942. The camp was almost a city within a city; during construction, as many as 21,000 were employed to build the camp. During the three years that the camp was open (closed in the fall of 1944) many different activities took place at the Camp. There was an Officers Candidate School on the base, a detachment of WAAC's (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps), a detachment of WASP's (Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots), and later a camp which housed 500 German POW's.

In all over 20,000 military personnel were trained at Camp Davis. There were over one thousand buildings on the campsite. In the fall of 1944 the buildings were being disassembled and sold at public auction. In early January 1945 the sale of buildings were halted and the camp was reactivated as the Army Air Force Redistribution and Convalescent Center. That venture lasted only six months. In 1946 the U. S. Navy took over camp Davis and Topsail Island as a range for ramjet testing. In late 1947 the Navy abandoned the camp as a test center and Camp Davis was finally dismantled and sold.

Today the campsite is grown over and partly used by the U. S. Marines. In its heyday, Camp Davis was a "Boom Town, North Carolina."

Note: During the summer of 1944 I worked for the Dr. Pepper Bottle Company in Wilmington. I work on the truck that delivered drinks to Camp Davis five days a week. Those soldiers sure did drink a lot of sodas.

Cemetery Art in Stone

From time to time I will be bringing you pictures of cemetery monuments located in cemeteries across North Carolina. We look at these monuments differently than we would monuments that are located in parks. Each one tells a different story, so very sad and some with great human interest. I am putting together a slide program and exhibit that will feature some of these monuments. I call it "Cemetery Art In Stone." I hope to have the pictures on display at the Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex this fall.

This grave site which is located in Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery has a monument that is broken off from the top. You might think it was broken by the weather, some prankster or age. However, the stonecutter broke off this top portion on purpose. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred when you see the top of a monument broken off as in this picture you will find that the grave is that of a young person. This grave is the grave a young man, student at the University of North Carolina and died at the age of twenty-four. What the broken pillow means is that the person buried, "his life was cut short;" Thus, the broken column.

Some years ago I gave a tour of Oakwood Cemetery and in the group was a minister who had conducted hundreds of funerals and seen many stones such as the one shown in today's story. He told me he had never heard this story. There are a great many things about cemeteries that we have yet to learn. I hope to bring you some of these facts in the future.

Carolina's gems

With so many new comers flooding into North Carolina, they can't believe the wonderful history of our state. Neither do they realize that North Carolina's natural resources include gold (first gold discovered in the United States), silver, and most of the precious and semi-precious stones found throughout the world.

Diamonds are found in McDowell County, emeralds in Mitchell, and Alexander counties in the western part of the state.

Ruby, though small with beautiful color, are found in the western counties. From Haywood County come the finest specimens of corundum of blue and red. In Lincoln, Macon, and Haywood Counties are found the amethyst. McDowell has the brown sapphire, and Jackson County the asteriated sapphire.

The hiddenites or Lithia emerald is found in Alexander County. Cleveland, Mitchell and Yancey Counties have yielded beryl in rainbow colors. The Bohemian garnet, as darkly crimson as the heart of a rose, is found in Burke, McDowell, and Alexander Counties. And yes, even pearls have been found in North Carolina.

Political Dueling

On September 5, 1802, North Carolina's first native-born governor was killed in a duel. Richard Dobbs Spaight had an unparalleled political career, serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress, signer of the United States Constitution, and three terms as Governor of the state and serving in Congress.

His successor on Capitol Hill was a fellow native of New Bern, a Federalist named John Stanly.

The two men had bitter and personal arguments about their political differences. When these attacks became public, Stanly challenged Spaight to a duel. Spaight was mortally wounded on the fourth discharge, dying the next day. Criminal charges were brought against Stanly, but the governor pardoned him. As a result of this duel, the North Carolina legislature outlawed dueling. Those found guilty of such offence were denied ever to run for public office, and survivors and their seconds would be sentenced to death.

Thought for the day: If a Parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

J.C. Knowles is a traveling speaker, historian and antique expert. For more interesting North Carolina stories, visit www.heathero.com/ssg.