Folklore | Mayors | Business Ventures | School Years | Black History

Church History | Railroad Influence | Childhood

Business Ventures of Early Winfall

Before 1900 such businessmen as N.H. Corey as Blacksmith and fish dealer F.E. Winslow made their living in Winfall. A.J. Bright did work as a millwright. Thomas Perry made a living at laying brick and doing plaster work.

The Winslow family owned and operated a grist mill across from Cedar Grove United Methodist Church. When the water was high people would bring meal to be ground into flour.

Winfall had various stores where merchandise brought in by train could be purchased as well as seasonal items grown locally. Mr. Lang Jessup owned a general store where dry goods such as material and lace could be purchased. A grocery store known as the A. White Store was owned and operated by Mr. Fonz White. It is interesting to note that this store has been in continual operation since the beginning by the White Family, then L.R. Morgan and at the present time by the Chappell's. There was a store where the Winfall Post Office is now with a dry goods counter owned by Mr. Cliff Edwards.

Stores were meeting places as well, a means for people to get together to exchange news and comment on events of the day. These stores were built side by side almost joined together. In front of the stores there were benches under the "Stoop" where the community gathered to visit. The hitching post and rail was just outside the stoop.

Jesse H. Baker operated a general store and ran the post office from 1918 to 1939, first on the corner of Katherine and Main St. then he built a brick store in 1927 which he sold to Fred Winslow, who added a peanut sheller behind the store. The stores all stayed open until midnight on Saturday and until 9:00 on week nights. This practice continued until after World War II.

Just outside the original boundaries of Winfall, yet important to its history, was Major Loomis Mill. It was a big lumber mill at that time and employed more than 150 people from Winfall and Hertford. It was founded in 1894 by Mr. George Major and Mr. Loomis from New Jersey and was the largest lumber company in the county and probably the largest company on the east coast until 1930. It stood near the Perquimans River between Hertford and Winfall. It shipped out 20 train car loads of lumber a week. There were 9 boilers which powered the machinery. Average pay after deductions for a full week's work was $10.00 at the turn of the century. In 1951 it burnt and was never rebuilt.

Ice could be purchased at Charlie Bagley's store for the ice box. For a nickel you could buy a piece to last a couple days and a quarter bought a big block.

The story is told of how Benny Pike and his family came from Frog Island in Pasquotank on a sail boat up the Perquimans River to settle here. He started a grocery store beside the building housing the Winfall Post Office today.

In the early 1920's Eli Felton started a barbershop and soon Lee White and Lang Lane each began a business cutting hair.

A Pickle plant was operated in Winfall by Fred Winslow, and Winfall served the area with 2 taxi cabs (model T's) owned by Mr. Charlie Gregory.

In front of the business known today as Chappel's Grocery, stood a store owned by Joe Ward who then sold his business to Tommy Jessup.

Early School Years

Mattie White Daughtry ran a small family owned private school located one block behind the current location of the post office to serve Winfall before the community organized any educational system for the town.

Winfall's first community school was a small one-room school known affectionately by the students as "Gallberry College" which educated the town's young. It was formerly the Northern Methodist Church. There was originally one room with three others later being added on. The left wing housed the first grade, which for many years was taught by Mrs. Will (Neva Clyde) Morgan. The second grade was in the rear wing. The middle room as a combination of the third, fourth, and fifth. The main room, entered into through the vestibule, had sixth and seventh grades, unless the seventh went to Hertford.

Helen White Winslow was principal there from 1934 until the Perquimans Central Elementary School was built in 1937. Each teacher had the full responsibility of her room. Each afternoon before leaving, kindling wood had to be gathered, a full bucket of coal ready, and the day's waste paper ready to put under the kindling to start the fire. At that time all the teachers walked to school and had to be there early enough to have the fire in the potbellied stove roaring and ready for the children's arrival. The teacher and the children swept, dusted and oiled the floor to keep the dust down. They washed and cleaned the blackboards, and did whatever needed to be done.

Children brought their lunches in pails or were free to go to the stores to purchase their dinner. Cheese, crackers and pickles on a stick (sweet or sour) were favorites. Drinking water came from the pump in the yard. Each child had his own folding tin cup.

The outhouses were on the ground at the side of and behind the schoolhouse. Since toilet tissue was not in prevalent use then, even in homes, catalogs or corncobs served their purpose.

Originally there were six months in a school year but was later extended to eight months to pass a grade. Often children (especially boys) had to stay out of school until the harvest season was over.

No county funds were available for supplies, so that was each teachers responsibility. There was a tuition paid by the parents of children attending school; less than one dollar per year. Books were handed down from one to another and were usually well-worn. The price parents paid for their child's book was determined by the condition of the book and by how many years it had been used.

The playground was the small area around the building and under the big old oak towering beside the school. There was a short recess in the morning and another just after lunch had been eaten.

Unless they were natives of Winfall, teachers boarded in homes, usually close enough that they could walk to school.

Even though the sky and roof could be seen through the belfry, and the back of the classrooms sometimes never got to forty degrees on the coldest days, the children kept on their wraps and survived. Now in passing the old red barn behind Walter Humphlett's home, memories of those bygone days linger and the vision of the old school, badly in need of paint come to mind.

"Gallberry College" served its purpose.

Black History

Mr. Daniel Jones is said to be the first black man to buy a lot and build a house in Winfall. Later his four sons and a daughter bought and built in the same locality. There is a community in Winfall today referred to as Jonestown as the area where the Jones family first lived.

Some remember Mr. Augustus White who was the first black magistrate of Winfall who could try cases and also married several couples. There were also black men to serve on the grand jury.

Winfall has produced more than thirty native born black ministers and a great number of school teachers. Among the first was Mr. J.A. Rogerson, Sr., a graduate of Hampton University and a classmate of Booker T. Washington.

Winfall also has produced painters, brickmasons, plumbers and carpenters among the black people, and have had a few small enterprises such as a filling station, a barber shop and a sandwich shop. There are many thrifty, progressive, and respected black citizens in Winfall now in religious as well as civic enterprises.

Church History

The first church built within the original boundaries of Winfall was the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd which was built in 1895 followed by Ellis Temple which was built by the Black Baptists in 1897. Epworth Methodist Church was established in 1903.

At the turn of the century Preacher Towe was the circuit rider who came through Winfall. He kept a pump organ in his buggy for playing at each service. Epworth League was an activity which included many town teens as well as the Willing Worker's society of Children. The Bright Jewels were a group of young people who also attended Epworth Methodist Church.

Influence of the Railroad

The first railroad to serve Winfall was the Elizabeth City and Norfolk that was connected to Winfall in 1881. At that time, a station was erected that served both passenger and freight traffic. In January 1883 the name of the railroad was changed to Norfolk Southern.

One train was referred to as the "fast train". It did not stop from Elizabeth City to Edenton. This train carried the mail. In order for the train to pick up the mail without stopping, a crane was built near the railroad track and from it a mail bag was hung. When the train came by, an iron arm was extended from the baggage coach and would grab the mail bag.

The depot had two rooms, an office and a freight room. At 11:00 am the train would go by headed south. At 3:00 pm a train would be passing by headed north.

Mercer Thomas was very committed to his position of Constable for Winfall. It is said that to enforce the law that all vehicles must have 2 lights on them, he flagged down a steam engine and told the engineer not to bring it back to Winfall until it had TWO headlights!

To fill the hours of a day after chores were done was a creative time. There were no easy entertainments of television or expensive toys. A young girl could make dolls from scraps of cloth or if the family were fortunate enough, there might be a victrola in the home to listen to. Church programs were always well attended by the community as it was an excellent way of sharing a friendly afternoon with neighbors and friends as well as worshipping with the Lord.

Taking an egg to Mr. Fonz White's store would get you a few pieces of candy, or one might enjoy a game of marbles. Baseball was popular in the early years of this century as well as leap frog and hide and seek. Youngsters played follow the leader and pop the whip. A creative child could make a slingshot or a spinning top. An older youth good with a knife might even whittle a homemade whistle.