Sawmills

Transcribed from Caldwell County Heritage Book. Information from Lenoir News-Topic

Sawmills, the small community in the southern portion of the county, has changed little since it's beginnings in the 1800's.

Two of the communities oldest residents, Mrs Cassie Annas, widow of the late Obie Annas, and Mrs Alber (Princess) Barker, reminisced about the town's past.

Mrs Barker, born in Sawmills in 1896, said of her first memories, "I can remember when I was 6 years old and Mama had the first Post Office."

She and her husband were married in September 1913, when she was 17. Mrs Annas arrived in Sawmills permanently when she married in 1919. Before that time, she had visited her cousin, Mrs Walter Annas, and it was on one of these visits she met her husband at the Post Office.

Jule Icard owned most of the land that is now Sawmills, although Jeremiah Annas, Mrs Annas's great-grandfather-in-law, owned a large portion also. "Mr Jule had a sawmill and the railroad was here, on this side of town. The name came from Mrs Jule's sawmill," Mrs Barker explained.

Below the sawmill, which employed many of the area men during the winter months when they could not farm, was a tinboiler in which molasses was made.

Mrs Annas, proclaiming to have a sweet tooth, recalled this as one of her first memories. The boiler ran on an engine owned by Gideon Annas, her great uncle-in-law.

When asked why everyone was known as uncle, Mrs Barker replaied, "we just call everybody aunt and uncle; all of us were kin."

They recalled the "Farmer's Market, a big store there right in the middle of Sawmills." Also, they commented on a Winfield Drum who ran a store and hardware store and with whom Mr Barker was associated. "Albert worked there when we got married," Mrs Barker said, "Then he sold out when they wanted to go to Granite."

The churches in the area have interesting backgrounds. Mrs Barker, a member of Mt Zion Baptist Church, the oldest church in Sawmills, said that it began in a brush arbor, then organized into a one-room building, eventually growing to the two buildings they presently have.

Mrs Annas's church, The Church of God of Phophecy, also started in a brush arbor, but instead of moving into a building, it progressed into a tent.

According to Mrs Anna, Gracen Annas and his wife, Ollie, donated the land for the church after Mr Annas said he couldn't walk all the way to Hudson any longer to attend services there. So, he built the brush arbor to worship in. In 1938, the church got its first preacher, Vard Hagger, who was appointed the first pastor.

The ladies said when it came to social life, "we didn't have any." They did, however organize the Good Neighbors Club, a group that visited in the homes.

Other events included school activities. "We used to have cake walks," chuckled Mrs Barker, "I made a cake and it brought the most (money) ever."

They recollected about quilting days when they "could quilt two in a day." They put a cat in the middle of a finished quilt and whoever it jumped out at was supposed to be the next to get married.

Corn shuckings used to be big affairs. Everyone near by would attend and chicken and dumplings were standard fare. "We had to make them in a washtub," remembered Mrs Barker, "because so many people were there."

And as for the proposed changes in Sawmills, the ladies both agreed, "We don't want no incorporation."