03/29/2024
Thoughts While Shaving
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A Bladen County legend was laid to rest yesterday.  Dr. Robert L. Summerlin, Jr.  was a hero to many.  He practiced medicine for many, many years in Dublin…at the office and at his home.  His utensils were apparently with him most of the time.  He is the last of the Doc’s that never said no….regardless of the time of day or night.
I woke up during the night thinking about some of the wonderful folks I worked with for 25 years, all across the state. Ever do that????  Doesn’t have to be across the state, could be a much smaller area… Nice Dream..
And for some reason, I thought about growing up as a youngster and how certain towns were known for a particular reason….
Fairmont, Chadbourn, Tabor City, and Clarkton…all small towns that featured huge warehouses where tobacco was auctioned off…The Clarkton warehouses were usually used for storing crops during the “off season” for tobacco.  It was also a great place for the old “tobacco festival.”  That may not have been the proper name…but close. In fact, the festival rotated in Elizabethtown and if my memory is correct, in Bladenboro…In the later years of the festival, all were held in Clarkton… I do confess, my memory is “fuzzy” at best.  I think the festivals ended in the early to mid 90’s.  It was always a huge event…parade, beauty queens, music, displays of farm related crops and equipment…One of the few times folks from all over the county had a reason to meet and greet.
I know there were other towns with tobacco warehouses…Lumberton, Clinton, Fayetteville and more…but for smaller towns it seem to mean so much more.
One more town that I did not visit until I was an adult…Bennettsville, SC.  There were local folks who bought, sold and traded horses and mules…but, Bennettsville was the place many would visit to transact that type business… In my narrow mind, Bennettsville was the horse/mule town.
Retail stores and everyday folks depended on the opening of the tobacco markets to “spur” the economy.  It was not uncommon for the Governor and NC Secretary of Agriculture Jim Graham to be in attendance.
Oh, precious memories…Sorry, mind lost in yesteryear….
A few common sense one liners
He who slings mud looses ground.
History repeats itself, but each time the price goes up.
Hot heads and cold hearts never solve anything.
robert g hester

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