Rockingham Magazine Fall/Winter 2022

The only North Carolina health system to be ranked

Top 15 in the country.sible.

What does this national recognition mean? It means Cone Health patients are more likely to go home sooner and less likely to return within 30 days. It also means fewer complications and a lower risk of infection. Most importantly, it means a better patient experience. We are humbled and proud of the accomplishment and thankful to the 13,000 team members who made it possible.

Art Touur

V I E W O N S O C I A L @ T E A M R E I D S V I L L E

“ D o n ’ t W o r r y , B e H a p p y ” i s j u s t o n e o f t h e m a n y i n s p i r a t i o n a l m e s s a g e s y o u ’ l l f i n d a l o n g t h i s u p l i f t i n g a r t t o u r t h r o u g h R e i d s v i l l e , N C .

T h e C i t y h a s m a d e a c o m m i t m e n t t o i t s c i t i z e n s t o i n v e s t i n p u b l i c a r t i n s t a a r e b

G e t i n t h e c a r a n d e n j o y t h i s d r i v i n g a r t t o u r M a k e s u r e y o u r p h o n e s a r e c h a r g e d , a s i t i s p a c k e d f u l l o f I n s t a w o r t h y p i c s D o w n l o a d t h e b r o c h u r e a t R i s e U p R e i d s v i l l e . c o m

SOMETHING SPECIAL BREWING

in Rockingham County

by Lee Vogler photo by Lee Vogler

Five years ago, Rockingham County wasn’t a dry county, but the scene today is quite different. That’s due, in large part, to Rockingham County, now being home to three craft breweries, when there were none just a few short years ago.

It all started in the summer of 2018, when David Peters renovated an old funeral parlor in Madison, NC, to create Rockingham County’s first craft brewery. After opening in October 2019, Hell on Horsecreek (now rebranded as River Club Concern) quickly became a favorite for locals and visitors alike.

“Hell on Horsecreek Brewery was the first in Rockingham County and the biggest attraction to it is the renovation that went into the building,” said Mavis Dillon, Director of the Western Rockingham Chamber of Commerce. “The building had been empty for many years and basically was close to being condemned. [David] Peters spent a lot of hard work and money making the location an inviting and local hangout.”

The introduction of craft breweries didn’t stop in Madison, however. Something was brewing over in Eden and Reidsville, as well. Adam Horne, of Eden, said the reason his family got into the business was because of a hobby his father Thomas “Chip” Reynolds Jr. had for years.

Reynolds worked for years in the tobacco industry, Horne said, and “when he got ready to retire, he always used to brew beer in the garage in 5-gallon buckets.” Combined with the desire for a new eatery in town, Reynolds got involved directly.

“We felt Eden needed [somewhere with] a nice atmosphere to hang out with friends and family,” Horne said. Thus, Reynolds Brewery was born. After some pandemic-related delays, the brewery officially opened in July 2021.

Meanwhile, over in Reidsville, something unique was happening: a brewery co-op, one of only a few in the state, was about to launch. Lucky City, its name is an homage to Reidsville’s tobacco heritage, opened in the summer of 2021. Judy Yarbrough, City Marketer for Reidsville, believes the brewery being a co-op is significant. “That means it has local ties and local people who have invested,”

she said. “Which means they believe in what the brewery can do for our city and downtown.”

These three breweries have quickly made Rockingham County a destination for craft beer lovers. According to Cindy Adams, the Marketing & Special Events Manager for Eden, the breweries’ impact has exceeded expectations. “They all have created these beautiful and unique environments for our citizens and visitors alike to gather,” she said. “These breweries add to our story and help in our efforts to create strong memories of this place we call home.”

Rockingham County might not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about adult beverages, but with three breweries, along with multiple distilleries and wineries in the area, it is making a strong case. There is definitely something special brewing in Rockingham County.

HAUNTED Funeral Parlor?

by Sam Jackson photos by Lee Vogler

The idea of the old-fashioned country store was that it had a bit of everything. Madison Dry Goods has a bit of everything and more, both natural and supernatural.

That wasn’t always the plan, however. “We’d have never known we would have a country store,” says owner Richard Miller. “That wasn’t our intention.”

Things change over the course of 28 years, however. And if Richard and his wife, Kathy Miller, have learned anything, it’s how to adapt.

Had they not, it’s quite possible the pair could literally have been scared right

out of town.

Madison Dry Goods has much of what you’d expect from an old-time country store. It has a bit of everything, from food and coffee to clothing. One thing it also has is a building with a sinister history. One which the Millers weren’t aware of when they took over the property in the early 1990s.

The Millers originally used the building to house a wholesale business, but later changed to a retail model and later still, to the country store.

Not long after the couple took over the space, Miller said, a man came to him with a photo of eight bodies wrapped in

funeral cloth in front of the building he now owned. Miller hadn’t been aware of it when he bought the place, but he had inadvertently stepped into a bit of local infamy.

Blame nobody but I

The building’s infamy dates to Christmas 1929, when Germanton farmer Charlie Lawson, fresh off a hunting expedition with his son, Arthur, shot and bludgeoned his children, ranging in ages from 17 years to four-months old, as well as his wife, leaving only 16-year-old Arthur alive before shooting himself.

When police found Lawson’s body later, a note was left behind that read simply, “Blame nobody but I.”

The murders were so shocking that they made national headlines, including a front-page story in the Winston-Salem Journal, a copy of which survives in the museum.

According to Miller, the T.B. Knight Funeral Home, which had been on the second floor of the building where Madison Dry Goods survives, was the only venue in the area that could handle funeral preparations for eight bodies at once, leading to a procession that allegedly drew a crowd of 5,000 and a legend that lasts to this day.

Later, Lawson’s brother Marion opened the building as a tourist attraction, charging curious visitors 25 cents to look at the site where Lawson and his family were embalmed. Miller has kept that tradition going with the museum, located upstairs above the store—but he and his wife, Kathy, don’t charge onlookers to visit.

Miller, who had also lived in Stokes

County, wasn’t aware of the grisly history behind the building before he bought it.

“I knew about Charlie Lawson, but I never knew they were all embalmed upstairs,” Miller said.

28 years haunted

Over the years, the Millers have done their best to adapt to a changing market and changing community. What began as a wholesale business became a retail shop, which became a niche country store, with character in spades.

It doesn’t hurt that the quaint country store is haunted.

“People are just thrilled with it,” Miller said of the store’s reputation, “and over the years since we’ve been here, we’ve had a lot of paranormal activity.”

Ghosts, you say?

Miller said a lot of groups and paranormal enthusiasts have come out over the years, and they know exactly what to look for—and who to look for.

“There’s a little girl floating around that a lot of people see,” he said, referring possibly to one of the four Lawson children. “There have been a lot of strange experiences, and some people come just for that reason.”

Miller said he’s never seen the little girl, but enough strange things have happened through the years to make him a believer.

The word has also spread over the years. Although the museum (along with questions about the history of the building) is the most frequently asked about portion of the site, Miller said supernatural enthusiasts—a.k.a. “ghost

hunters,” show up consistently, knowing where to find the museum and heading straight there.

“A lot of times, they’ll walk right by us and go straight upstairs,” to see the museum, Miller said.

Madison Dry Goods and the “haunted funeral parlor” are featured in the new Netflix series 28 Days Haunted, in which a camera crew lived on-site at several famous paranormal sites for 28 days to record their findings.

Before the show’s producers reached out, the Millers had already gotten used to outside attention from the building’s history.

“We’ve been involved with six different film productions,” Miller said, so the idea of working with a film crew wasn’t intimidating.

“They came, checked the building out, and talked to us,” he added. “It was a few weeks before Netflix decided to use this place,” Miller said. “But we had everything they were looking for.”

Though Miller couldn’t say much about the production before its release, he said the cast and crew knew something special was in the building.

“They had investigators with them. They could feel the paranormal stuff here,” Miller added.

Find your own niche

Miller said he doesn’t know whether the exposure on 28 Days Haunted will impact the business, but stranger things have happened. A global pandemic, for example.

“COVID really helped us,” he said. “Our

business the last three years is the best we’ve ever had.”

Being a food store when it was hard to come by helped. So did having years of established relationships.

“We have a fairly good amount of food products that are through Rockingham County, but we reach out throughout the United States to complement the local goods,” Miller said. “Most of our customers come from outside Rockingham County… We have our own niche.”

Many customers, of course, show up simply to see the museum, but some find it in everyday business. Either way, it’s just part of the experience.

“We don’t want to charge anyone for the museum,” he said. “It’s the history of the building.”

With so much history and experience over three decades, Miller has gained a lot of experience, which he wants to pass down to future generations and other business owners. One piece of advice he has, for example, is to be patient.

“It took time to do this,” he said. “It didn’t just happen overnight.”

He may run a general store, but Miller cautions against overreaching when starting a business.

“You don’t want to be everything to everybody,” he said. “Just find your own niche.”

And if your store is haunted, adapt to it and make it part of your niche.

Murals of Rockingham County

REIDSVILLE

by Lee Vogler photos by Lee Vogler

It’s no secret: murals make communities beautiful. They add color to walls and streets that would otherwise go unnoticed, which is a treat for locals and tourists alike. Murals also attract new local businesses, help bring customers to pre-existing locations, and boost the economy of an area. The localities in Rockingham County have certainly followed this line of thought, with an abundance of vibrant murals throughout the county. In this first part of our Murals of Rockingham County series, we will focus on the City of Reidsville.

Reidsville has had an affinity for murals for many years, with an early example

being the Mural Park on Scales Street, painted by artist Mark McInnis in the early 1990s. The mural depicts some scenes from Reidsville’s history, including Governor David Settle Reid’s house, the Civil War Monument that once stood at the intersection of Morehead and Scales streets, the railroad, and the American Tobacco Company. In 2006, after more than a decade of slow deterioration, the City wanted to ensure the mural’s survival. Tate Construction restored the structural integrity of the walls the mural was painted on, while Rockingham County muralist Kitty Williams repainted it. Today, Mural Park is a focal point of the downtown, serving as a centerpiece

for holiday festivities and local merchant activities.

The mural movement in Reidsville really took off, however, in the last decade with the creation of Project DREAM (Downtown Reidsville Empowering Art Movement). “Project Dream was started through the Reidsville Downtown Corporation several years ago and was expanded to cover the entire city,” according to City Marketer Judy Yarbrough. “The City Council sees the benefit of art in our community. It can bring people together. It stirs conversations. It brings in tourists and it

Over the last few years, Project DREAM has helped bring several exciting murals to Reidsville, including the Greetings From Reidsville mural. This welcoming mural, by artist Mary ED Ryan, represents a vintage “Greetings from Reidsville” postcard design. The mural showcases a number of Reidsville’s most iconic landmarks and has already attracted visitors from all over the region. This was the first public art project organized by Project DREAM.

Also gaining a lot of attention is The Block Mural, which is devoted to the Block. The Block was the Black Business district in downtown for many years and is no longer in existence. This mural helps tell that story, so the legacy carries on.

One of the latest mural additions to Reidsville is the Salt House mural project in the city’s west end community. This mural (featured on our cover) by artist Gina Franco took a barren wall from a city public works facility and turned it into a vibrant piece of art.

That transformation is emblematic of what murals can do for a community. “Art initiatives, like murals, help to beautify empty spaces and blighted areas, transform downtowns, and create destinations within a community,” according to Rockingham County Tourism Manager Lindsay Pegg. “Murals make a community more welcoming, increasing foot traffic, and driving residents and visitors to various places they may otherwise miss. Most importantly, murals can excite, educate, engage, and help to tell a story.”

The stories of various communities within Reidsville are being told by these newest murals. “Three of our newest murals tell stories of the community they are located in,” said Yarbrough. “And in one case (The Block Mural) it tells a story that had been looked over and needed to be in the light.”

Even with over a dozen murals in the city, Reidsville isn’t letting up yet. More murals are on the way and, with them, more stories will be told.

These new murals, along with the existing ones, will be available on the Art Tour, which you can access at RiseupReidsville.com

tells some of our history.”

ACROSS 1 Sport’s official 4 Bridge 8 Worry 12 Estimated time of arrival 13 European monetary unit 14 Made higher 16 Concise 18 Egged on 20 Layers 21 Identical sibling 23 Wing 24 Highest trump in some loo 25 Women’s undergarment 26 Furrow 27 Deer 29 A sedimentary rock 32 Canoe propeller 33 Unite 34 Peewee 38 Creative products 40 Woman’s hair product 41 Acts to impress 42 Vivacity

43 Seafood 44 Difficulty 46 Zero 47 Drift 50 Fairy 51 Headed 52 Grow older 53 Member of an Arizona Indian tribe 55 From Asia 58 Sulky 60 Fence of pales 63 Excuse 64 Leave now! 65 Ball holder 66 Connect 67 Spot 68 Abort DOWN 1 Repose 2 Decorative needle case 3 Eyes, ears, nose (2wds.) 4 Tremor 5 Play on words 6 Circle part 7 False (2 wds.)

8 Apple type 9 On 10 Hotel 11 Litter 15 Restaurant 17 Cliff 19 Digital audio tape 22 Candle element 25 Lay in the sun 26 Lotion brand 27 Lather 28 Tropical edible root 29 Donkey 30 Muslim’s religion 31 Other 33 Roman iv 35 Make bright 36 Feeling 37 Guilty or not 39 Bawled 40 Musical treble 42 Kind of circular shape 45 TV lawyer Matlock 46 Loch monster 47 Been 48 Water (Sp.) 49 Short for fellow 51 Common people

53 Asian humped ox 54 Piece 56 A cozy room

(2 wds.) 57 Want 59 Liberal (abbr.)

61 American Cancer Society (abbr.) 62 Lick

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