Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History

Peacekeepers Perish in Newfoundland Crash, 1985

On December 12, 1985, Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashed during take-off in Gander, Newfoundland. The chartered flight was transporting 248 soldiers from the 101st Airborne back to their base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, ending a six-month peace-keeping mission in Sinai, Egypt.

Their flight was to deliver them home to their families just in time for the Christmas holidays. Thirty years later, the loss of Arrow Air Flight 1285 remains the worst plane crash involving a peace-keeping force in the history of the U.S. military.

George Ladshaw, Accidental Hero to Kayakers

On December 12, 1906, George Ladshaw submitted a survey of the Green River basin in Henderson and Polk counties, proposing dams and hydroelectric power plants along the waterway.

His report on the “Available Power and Cost of Development” would have destroyed the riverbed and natural flow of the Green River, which today is legendary among kayakers for its exciting slides and drops. Other parts of the river are popular for tubing, canoeing and kayaking for beginners.

Food Lion Rooted in Salisbury

On December 12, 1957, the first Food Town—now known as Food Lion—opened in Salisbury. The chain began when brothers Ralph and Clifford Ketner teamed up with family friend Wilson Smith to leave Winn-Dixie and try their own hands in the grocery business.

A House Fire That Led to Historic Preservation

On December 12, 1989, the ca. 1751 Palmer-Marsh house at Historic Bath caught fire, but what could have been a tragedy turned out to be a win for preservationists.

The General Assembly Chartered UNC

On December 11, 1789, the General Assembly passed a bill chartering a state-supported university.

The Duke Endowment: Enriching the Carolinas

On December 11, 1924, James B. Duke established the Duke Endowment with an initial gift of $40 million. The Endowment received an additional $67 million at Duke’s death the following year.

William Miller, Governor During War of 1812

On December 10, 1825, former North Carolina Governor William Miller died in Key West, Florida.

Born around 1783 in Warren County, Miller worked as a private lawyer, the state’s attorney general and a member of the General Assembly before first being elected governor in 1814. He went on to serve three terms in the post, and was the first to occupy the newly completed Governor’s Palace at the south end of Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street.

Until He Be Dead: The End of Stede Bonnet

On December 10, 1718, Stede Bonnet, the “Gentleman Pirate,” was hanged in South Carolina.

Oldest Grave in Salisbury’s Old English Cemetery

On December 10, 1775, Daniel Little died and was laid to rest on land that became the Old English Cemetery in Salisbury.  He was the first of many to be buried on the property, eventually donated to the city by Thomas Frohock and located downtown near the courthouse.

Roots of the John Birch Society

On December 9, 1958, Chowan County native Robert Welch founded the John Birch Society in Indianapolis. Named for a Georgia missionary who was killed by Chinese communists just after the close of World War II, Welch got the society started with a 17-hour speech to a group of 11 businessmen from across the country.