Topics Related to Historical Markers

Location: NC 73 west of Lake NormanCounty: LincolnOriginal Date Cast: 1964This large rectangular marker, with map inset, was researched and erected concurrent with the construction in the early 1960s of the Cowan’s Ford dam and the creation of Lake Norman. The extended text reads as follows:

On Oct. 5, 1780, about 1400 militia, including many riflemen, camped 1 mi. S. at Alexander’s Ford and there turned toward Kings Mountain.

Devastated western N.C. and western Piedmont; destroyed homes, crops, mills, bridges. Ten lives lost, July 16, in washout of trestle 1 mile south.

Granite monolith. Site acquired by Lucius Morse in 1902. Developed into tourist attraction. State park, 2007. One mi. S.

A strike in 1929 at the Loray Mill, 200 yards S., left two dead and spurred opposition to labor unions statewide.

Manufacturer of horse-drawn wooden wagons. At peak capacity produced 1000 per month. Operated from 1880 to 1940s 1/10 mile north.

Pioneer orthopedic surgeon; founded hospitals for crippled children; chief surgeon of Warm Springs (Ga.) Foundation. Birthplace 80 yds. east.

State institution for disabled children, 1921-1979. R. B. Babington was its first president; O. L. Miller, founding surgeon.

Landmark on Cherokee boundary, negotiated by Gov. William Tryon and Cherokee chiefs, 1767. Elevation 3,231 feet.

Engineer and inventor. Pioneered advances in textile mill air conditioning. Home 3 mi. SW.