On July 3, 1981, Ervin Rouse, composer of “Orange Blossom Special,” the “unofficial anthem of bluegrass,” died. Plagued by alcoholism and mental illness, he was living on the edge of the Everglades and playing local taverns occasionally for tips.
Born in 1917 in Craven County, Rouse left home at the age of 8 to play in vaudeville shows. For a time he and his brother followed an evangelist and used their musical skills to energize audiences.
On July 2, 1829, Raleigh printer Joseph Gales published George Moses Horton’s The Hope of Liberty, the first book by an African American in the South. Horton’s life story, and how he became a published poet while enslaved, is compelling.
Horton was an infant when his owner William Horton moved from Northampton County to Chatham County. By all accounts, and given the fact that he could travel freely, George endured a relatively mild bondage.
On July 3, 1863, 34-year-old Lt. Colonel Isaac E. Avery of the 6th North Carolina State Troops died from mortal wounds he received the previous day. Shot in the neck and partially paralyzed during the Battle of Gettysburg, the Burke County native was unable to speak on his deathbed.
On July 2, 1831, an advertisement appeared promoting gold coins minted by the Bechtlers in Rutherford County.
From about 1803 until California’s gold strikes of 1848, North Carolina led the nation in gold production. Gold was a key industry in the state, and about 50 mines were operating in the western part of the state by the 1830s.
On July 1, 1950, the outdoor drama Unto These Hills premiered to a capacity crowd at the Mountainside Theater in Cherokee.
On July 1, 1909, I. O. Schaub, a North Carolina State University researcher, organized the first Corn Club in Ahoskie. The club was eventually recognized as North Carolina’s first 4-H club.
On July 1, 1939, Linville Caverns, North Carolina’s only show cave, opened to the public. The caverns became an overnight success, as their development coincided with construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway in McDowell and Avery Counties in 1938.
On June 30, 1963, a month of protests known as “Freedom Rallies” began in Williamston.
The seat of Martin County on the Roanoke River was a “hotspot” of the civil rights movement, and Green Memorial Church, a Disciples of Christ church rooted in the Holiness tradition, was the epicenter. Discontent had simmered in the area since the 1957 acquittal of white men charged with the murder of a local black man.