A lot of folks in Mount Airy were headed to vacation in July 1926.
Mrs. J. B. Jeffries, Miss Sallie Jeffries, and Miss Ruth Saunders were headed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend the “Sesqu Centennial.” Mrs. Virginia Mickey, her children Myrtle and John, and Mrs. M.D. Moore headed to Santa Monica, California.
Daniel E. Hoffman, a quarryman at the granite quarry, drove his wife, Rebecca, and their two daughters to Wrightsville Beach where they would spend a month. They stopped in Winston-Salem to pick up Rebecca’s mother, Nina Glenn.
The museum has a collection of post cards, many from beaches on the Carolina coast. One, sent in 1924 from Alma Webb to her friend Neeta Webb, describes a “big time” at Carolina Beach.
“Dear Neeta, You should be here to go wave jumping. It sure is fine and we are all having a big time. I’m getting so I can jump waves as if I’d been here always. Be good and have a big time. Alma”
Once something only the rich could afford, vacations became more affordable around the turn of the 19th century with better jobs and better access to transportation with trains and cars. Jobs in retail and industry allowed more people to leave subsistence farming in this region for hourly or salary wage work, guaranteed number of hours in a work day and at least one day off a week if not two.
Hot weather vacation shut downs were often built in to the schedules of mills that had no air conditioning and the only ventilation was open windows and doors. Businesses in the first half of the 20th century paid wages that allowed many people in middle class jobs to go away for a week or longer.
Chatham Mills in Elkin printed a newsletter called the ‘Blanketeer.’ In July 1938 they gave their employees some vacation advice, advice that’s still pretty important: Be sure your car is in condition for the road; Take your time, the vacation won’t be a success unless you get there and back safely; and If you’re camping, beware natural hazards such as snakes, insects, poison ivy, “and farm animals, too.”
Newspapers, like the Mount Airy News where the 1926 reports were published, often reported the comings and goings of locals allowing us a glimpse of how they spent their leisure time.
People like Mamie Greenwood, a telephone switch board operator in 1926, were able to head to the beach, the mountains, historic celebrations such as Philadelphia’s 250th anniversary, or Charleston, South Carolina, where the food and club culture were just as alluring then as they are today.
Vacations also gave those seeking entry into coveted retail jobs on Main Street, to get a foot in the door as businesses that didn’t close down like the mills needed to staff stores and offices to take care of customers. Florence Eldridge of State Road, it was reported, worked at the Jackson Bros. Department Store on Main Street as a substitute clerk “during the vacation period.”
Some vacations were for less frivolous reasons but just as important.
Pinkney Lawson Trotter Sr., who owned a pharmacy in Pilot Mountain, brought his family to Mount Airy for “Lawson, Jr.” to have his “tonsils removed at Martin hospital.” The clan stayed with his mother-in-law while here.
Not all summer fun involved long trips.
For those fortunate enough to own or have access to an automobile, a drive through the country was a grand way to spend a hot summer day.
“Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Woltz and Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Woltz motored to Roaring Gap Sunday afternoon,” the News reported on July 8, 1926. Going for a Sunday Drive was, perhaps, the first of many societal changes cars brought to the world.
Chatham employee Glenn Poplin hosted a “watermelon feast” at his home on July 13, 1938, as reported by the ‘Blanketeer.’ “The group was invited for a swim in Poplin’s pond, following which watermelon and cantaloupe were served to the following: Mr. & Mrs. Ivan Martin, Mr. & Mrs. Quince Johnson, Pauline Morrison, Dessie Reeves, Beatrice Burcham, Pauline Masten, Sarah Baptist; Claudia Austin, Red Johnson, Leonard Shepherd, and Abe Crater.”
The guest list hints at an ulterior motive at Poplin’s party. The Chatham workers were a tightknit group. Having several young married couples and several young singles may have been as much about matchmaking within the community as it was about cooling off and having fun.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com