Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History

On August 2, 1958, the Saturday Evening Post profiled Percy Flowers of Johnston County, labeling him the “King of the Moonshiners.” Throughout his career, Flowers managed to stay just out of reach of the law and developed a reputation as a local Robin Hood.Born in 1903, Flowers grew corn and tobacco on his nearly 5,000 acres, like many others in region did. Unlike most others, he began to use some of his corn for making illegal liquor, concealing the stills and spirits in his tobacco barns.

On August 2, 1953, Gov. William B. Umstead appointed James Larkin Pearson of Wilkes County the state’s second Poet Laureate after Arthur Talmage Abernethy.

On August 2, 1781, British forces clashed with the North Carolina Militia near Wilmington in a skirmish now known as the Battle of Rockfish.In the months following his January 1781 capture of Wilmington, British Major James Craig issued a proclamation threatening the loss of life and property to all who would not swear loyalty to English King George III. When the period for taking the oath expired largely unheeded, Craig began to devastate the territory around Wilmington.

On August 1, 1952, Lowe’s Home Improvement was incorporated.The chain can trace its roots to 1921 when I. S. Lowe founded a hardware store in North Wilkesboro. His son, Jim Lowe, and son-in-law, Carl Buchan, took over the store after his death, but the two disagreed on whether or not to expand the business, and Buchan ultimately bought out Lowe.

On August 1, 1776, Cornelius Harnett read what would become known as the Declaration of Independence to a crowd in Halifax. It was the first public reading of the document in North Carolina.

On August 1, 1828, more than 200 people gathered at the home of William Albright in what is now Alamance County to respond to UNC President Joseph Caldwell’s pleas for a state-supported railroad.  The meeting led to increased public interest in internal improvements, which in turn created more interest in the Industrial Revolution and progress of the state as a whole.

On August 1, 1880, the first patient enrolled at what is now Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro. The hospital was set up to serve North Carolina’s black population.

On July 31, 1924, noted academic Daniel Harvey Hill, Jr. died. Born in Davidson in January 1859, Hill earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Davidson College and spent time teaching at Georgia Military College before joining the first faculty at what’s now N.C. State University as an English professor in 1889. He would stay on at the Raleigh university for 29 years.

On July 31, 1949, Depression-era governor John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus, died.Born in Elizabeth City in 1882, Ehringhaus represented Pasquotank County in the General Assembly and served as the modern-day equivalent of a district attorney before becoming governor.

On July 31, 1970, Slow Poke the Possum was granted executive clemency by Governor Bob Scott in a ceremony at the State Capitol.