(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(bright guitar music) - [Host] Across the Carolinas, the larger cities often get all the attention.

Cities like Charlotte, Columbia, Raleigh, or Charleston only make a part of the Old North State, and Palmetto state stories.

Coming up, we'll venture out to four small Carolina towns taking a deep dive into their individual and unique histories.

From the impact railroads played in the prosperity of towns like Troutman and Sharon, to how the combination of a river, dam, and French aluminum company combined in the creation of Badin.

Then down in Wadesboro, learn how a local historical society offers residents a clear window into the town's past.

All that and more on this episode of "Trail of History."

(bright music) (gentle music) Traveling the road less traveled often rewards us with unique and special experiences.

- [Speaker] Do I love to get lost and go to a small town and see if there's something valuable?

- [Host] Small towns offer an escape from the hustle and bustle of the cities.

Things here move just a little bit slower and across the Carolinas, each community has its own unique history.

Ever wonder how they came up with a name of a town?

It must come from somewhere after all.

In Iredell County, you'll quickly find the origin of one town's name.

Welcome to the Troutman Family Cemetery, where we met Curtis Fortner.

- I am the seventh great-grandson of Johann Jacob Troutman who was the original settler and founder and pioneer of our branch of the Troutman family.

From Germany via Pennsylvania through the Lehigh Valley owned to Piedmont, North Carolina.

- [Host] The Troutman family's 18th century migration to the Carolina back country, mimicked other settlers to the area.

At age 11, young Jacob Troutman family traversed the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania down to North Carolina.

- Born in Pennsylvania, his parents settled a small area.

He grew up very quickly.

His father died when he was young.

- [Host] One might surmise from Jacob Troutman's grave that he possessed an entrepreneurial spirit.

- The granite marker at his grave lists him as a cooper, a school teacher, a realtor, a hat maker, a stockman.

He was very industrious.

He started out at a very young age getting land grants and accumulating acreage.

He started out with a 200 acre grand.

Much of Troutman where we go from the viewpoint in Troutman to this very area.

At one point, he had amassed 3000 acres.

He married Margaret Vesperman and they had eight children, and they subsequently grew up raised in this area.

Some moved away, but that was the beginning of what would become an enormous family for this area and community.

- [Host] As the family grew, so too did their enterprises.

Including farming, iron Works and wagon works.

But it wasn't until the mid-1800s and the arrival of the railroad that the Troutman name was truly put on the map.

- This structure played a big role in that.

In around 1848, 1849, the railroads were looking at a connection from Charlotte to Statesville.

And because so many Troutman were populating the area, workmen who were sent to build this depot in 1857 called it Troutmans with an S. - [Host] After the Civil War, the area continued to grow and was officially incorporated in 1905.

- Troutman was a mill town.

We had a mill village, had a couple of them.

They had a chair factory, which built Troutman chairs, Which is still in business today.

So it was a small mill town.

- [Host] Troutman had everything folks needed according to longtime resident, David Saleeby.

- Troutman had a pharmacy downtown.

My wife's grandfather had a grocery store or a store where they out the front.

He ran groceries and laundry out the back.

He ran moonshot.

There was a five and dime is what we call back then.

there was a post office right in the middle of a hardware store.

- [Host] As a young teen, David moved with his family to Troutman and one interaction kept him here.

- [David] I met my wife in the seventh or eighth grade, and that kinda kept me coming back.

And we've been together ever since now 49 years, - [Host] The Saleebys have now called Troutman Home for nearly five decades.

- We chased our jobs with our cars, not with our houses.

We stayed here, and we're glad we did.

For me, I'm proud to be here.

When I go away, I miss it.

It's not just a place, it's home.

What do you call home is where your heart's at.

That's old cliche, but it's true.

And my heart's here.

(bright music) - [Host] A common theme you'll find in pretty much every small town, everyone knows where to eat.

- We're here at Julia's Talley House in Troutman, North Carolina, and we're known for our fried chicken.

My grandmother, Julia started this back in 1979.

It was actually Dr. Talley's house way back when he was the town doctor, and they turned it into a restaurant.

- [Host] The family legacy and tradition runs deep at Julia's.

- I think my grandmother and dad would be so proud to know that people come from all over to eat the food that they started years ago.

We have a grandson in the kitchen.

He does the cooking, and that's the chicken.

Without Chris, we would not be here.

He has the secret sauce to all the things that brings in so many people from the mac and cheese, the casserole, to homemade desserts.

It would not be possible without him.

- [Host] There's a bit more going on here at Julia's Talley House restaurant, according to Samantha Johnson, - Several customers that come in that don't have family here.

And so we're able to check on them and we check with each other, "Hey, have you seen so and so?"

It's like a tight-knit community, and I think everyone kinda keeps an eye on each other - [Host] Each day, Julia's provides around 30 box lunches for community members in need.

- They can't get out.

They're not able to travel.

Maybe they don't have family here.

And so we have churches that we partner with and they deliver the meals and we box them up for them.

It's good to know that these people are being taken care of.

- [Host] While the fried chicken recipe at Julia's hasn't changed over the years, the same can't be said for the town itself.

- It's a nice little town.

It's getting busy.

It's growing and everything.

Traffic is a murder up here in the afternoons, but other than that, it's a nice little town.

- [Host] Dean Swaim owns tune's music and his employees, Johnny and John Pinon know just how to drown out the traffic noise.

(lively guitar music) - I hate to see the growth come.

I know it, it has to come.

I mean, you know, it helps business.

- [Host] Located close to Statesville and Lake Norman State Park, Saleeby says Troutman's secret is out.

- Unfortunately, we were the next exit on the interstate.

Look at Atlanta, sprawled out from counties.

Well, if you look here, Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville.

I used to say we were the next virgin exit.

Nobody has touched us, and then they found us.

- [Host] Of course, perspective is everything.

- There's an old town and new town.

The old town hasn't changed.

It still has the same feel, the same quietness like this, even downtown and the new town is what's happening all around us.

And now if you're a pessimist, and everything's always bad, it's terrible.

It's the worst thing that ever happened.

But if you're an optimist and you really embrace life like you should, think, I change.

You've changed.

Troutman has changed.

Through my lenses, I still see Troutman as it was back then.

It's just new stuff.

(bells dinging) (bright music) - [Host] While change often happens, back at the Troutman family cemetery, Jacob Troutman descendants diligently keep their family's history alive, and that includes protecting several historic structures.

- The rock wall was in place to mark off the burial spots for the family, and these enormous rocks were pulled on a wooden sled box harvested from the fields around here.

- [Host] Then there's the original Troutman Railroad Depot.

- [Curtis] It was moved in 1976, placed here.

We're very proud of it.

And according to Raleigh, it is the last all wooden standing railroad depot in the state.

- [Host] Then there's the old schoolhouse where you'll find the Troutman family tree painted on the wall.

It's the perfect setting for a family reunion that goes back more than a century.

- [Curtis] Early 1900s, 1904, there was actually just a birthday gathering through the woods over here at the home place of Henry Martin Troutman.

And so many of the families showed up, and it was such a joyous time that everybody said, "Oh, we need to do this.

We need to continue this."

- [Host] Henry Troutman's old cabin where it all began is currently being restored.

But these days, the epicenter of the Troutman reunion is the old schoolhouse in family Cemetery.

- [Curtis] We have had as many years ago as 600.

One year, we had people from 14 states and two foreign countries.

- [Host] Fortner sums it up best.

- We're nothing special.

This family has never been anything other than a hardworking German-oriented family that settled like so many did.

Not a lot of families have this.

(gentle music) - [Host] From Irondale County.

We head down to South Carolina and find ourselves along Highway 49, about 20 miles west of Rock Hill in the town of Sharon.

- So it's just a little country town and not a stoplight here.

I don't think there's ever been a stoplight in Sharon.

- [Host] For a long time, residents like Herschel Brown, there's just something about living here.

- I love how green our town is, the trees and it's home.

I feel like I'm home when I make that curve coming into town.

- [Host] Even non-residents feel there's something special about Sharon.

- [Nicki] I don't know how to explain it.

It's welcoming.

It's small, it's tiny.

They don't want it to grow big.

I just, I don't know.

I feel comfortable here.

- So comfortable that when things got a little tight at home for Rock Hill resident in Potter, Nicki Degeneffe that she open spinning out pottery studio in Sharon.

- My husband's like, "You gotta get this pottery outta here.

We only have 980 square feet in our house."

My main purpose was to create so I could sell on the weekends, but then it turned into I wanted to teach to pay for the rent and the overhead.

Well, that's become so much more rewarding than I even thought.

I'm teaching kids, I'm teaching adults.

It's really, it's bringing the best people together.

- [Host] Students come to her studio from miles away.

- Most of my students are coming from Rock Hill, but I've got Lake Wylie, I've got Clover, I've got Buffalo, South Carolina.

I'd never heard of that before.

- [Host] While today, the Pottery Studio attracts people to the town, back in the 1880s, it was a new railroad that put Sharon on the map and lease for a moment.

- [Nicole] Originally, when the railroad started, John Rainey had actually donated land for the depot to be put here.

- [Host] With the railroad, opportunity followed.

- [Nicole] We had two cotton gins, it was the rainy cotton gin.

And then when the heels moved in, they had a heel cotton gin.

- [Host] One of the old gins still stands.

Its equipment left idle now for decades.

Across the street from the gin and standing tall now for more than a century, the iconic Hill Mercantile store.

- The Hill Mercantile was the Walmart store of the early '20s.

And I mean, you could buy anything there.

Hardware, clothing.

They had a military shop.

They made hats.

You know, it was amazing.

- [Host] In the early 1900s, Lawrence Hill built the massive building as a statement piece.

- Mr. Hill had his hands in a lot of things.

- [Host] But the good times though didn't last.

The railroad pulled out of Sharon and the growth stagnated.

- Everything started more going towards York and actually, Rock Hill.

So it kinda took us off the map a little bit.

- [Host] The tracks that brought so much possibility to Sharon are long gone, but for many, the town still invokes fond memories.

Meet Doris Thomas.

- My first trip to town was in a one-horse wagon.

My dad was in the wagon with a mule, come to hill store to the corn mill.

- [Host] As an adult, she even worked at the Hill Mercantile - Floods of memories.

So many nice people, good customers.

- [Rebecca] The town of Sharon means to me, roots to my family.

- Raised in Charlotte, Rebecca Boone spent many weekends visiting her grandparents in Sharon.

- Wonderful memories.

Back in the '60s, I was the only grandchild and my grandfather who was retired from the bank, he spoiled me rotten and he would always take me to the hill store.

I always left the new pair of shoes and a dress and gloves and just a fun time, lots of memories.

- [Host] Mayor Nicole Perkins and her husband moved back to Sharon in 2013 to take on a rather large project.

- My husband and I, we bought the rainy house that we've been restoring since 2013 and it's a act of love and a work in progress.

We've practically done everything to it.

We started by actually tearing out the inside walls and taken out the life and plaster because there was a lot of damage and it just needed a lot of work.

So we've taken all the walls out, put new windows in, put new walls up.

We had the flooring redone.

It's some beautiful wood floors that we redid.

They look wonderful.

And now we're in the process of redoing the front porch.

- [Host] More than a century since Sharon incorporated, progress, once again, might lie on the horizon.

- I would like for us to stay with the small town field.

I know that people are coming.

I just hope that we're able to continue to be a small town community where everyone knows their neighbors, everyone you know, respects each other and loves each other and takes care of each other.

- [Host] Back at spinning around Pottery Studio, a newcomer herself, she has a bit of advice for folks coming to Sharon.

- Stop and look around.

Get out and explore and talk to people.

I think that's fantastic.

That's what I like to do.

I love to get lost and go to a small town and see if there's something valuable and there's valuable things in Sharon.

(bright music) - [Host] Have you ever heard of a company town?

Popular in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, these towns were built by corporations to support a factory, mill, or mine.

They often included a general store, schools, housing and churches.

Everything a worker and their families might need.

Badin, the Stanley County town with the French name is a prime example of a company town.

- [Speaker] Badin had its heyday.

In fact, it was so busy in Badin that people in Albemarle would take a bus to come to Badin.

Right now it's probably the opposite, right?

- [Host] At Badin Coffee.

- White chocolate, dirty chai.

Any food today, guys?

- [Host] James Wahab serves up some sweet treats.

- Strawberry Danish it is.

We have a winner - [Host] And brew a variety of beverages.

- This is Bella.

This machine produces a lot of great espresso for the town of Badin.

It's nice to have a small town coffee shop.

- [Host] James and his wife set up shop along Historic Falls Road, Badin's defacto Main Street.

- Originally, this was Badin Hardware.

Badin is one of those small towns that got caught in history.

It's outside of major city limits and it's kind of one of those towns that time forgot.

- [Host] Since opening their little shop, words gotten out and once again, folks like John Jenkins from Albemarle make the trip to Badin.

- I came off of some sweets and as you see, I've had three different desserts and a caramel latte and just really just hanging out.

It's a great place to hang out.

The specific desserts are, you can't get them anywhere.

They make them fresh.

They are unique.

- Our apple turnovers are a little legendary.

And we got these macarons we just started.

Those are homemade and that is not easy.

Those are tricky little cookies.

- [Host] Tricky little French cookies seem fitting in this small North Carolina town with a French connection.

Drive the streets of Badin and you might notice distinct four-unit townhouses and old stone limestone drains.

It's effectively a planned community.

A planned started in the spring of 1913 by the French company, L'Aluminum Francais, named after the company president, Adrien Badin.

- [Dale] Why they came here was to make aluminum.

The key to make aluminum is not ore itself, it's to power.

- [Host] To feed the power devouring aluminum smelter, the French company started building a hydroelectric dam on the Yadkin River.

- And seeing how they could harness the narrow gorge out here on the Yadkin River.

That was the key.

- [Host] But best laid plans don't always work out.

In 1914, World War I broke out across Europe and as a result, financing for the project dried up for the French and American investors took advantage of the abrupt French exit.

Eventually, the Pennsylvania-based aluminum company of America, also known as Alcoa, took over to finish construction of the dam, the aluminum plant, and town.

- I grew up in town Bay and I'm a third generation Alcoa.

My grandfather, he worked in the plant.

My father worked in the plant.

I was fortunate.

I gotta work there towards the end before the shut down.

- [Host] Dale Ward says one of the biggest impacts Alcoa made in the community was education.

- Alcoa realized a lot when they come here as a company town.

They wanna take care of the people.

So in the early days, they wanted people to read and write.

They built two nice schoolhouses on each side of town.

They brought the teachers in, they paid for the teachers and all of this before we had a county school system, - [Host] Badin might have been a company town, but according to Martha Ingram, it was also a community.

- I grew up in Badin.

Grew up in the '50s and it was a wonderful place.

We had three, four, five grocery stores.

We had the hospital, we had the pharmacy, shoe shop, jewelry store, furniture store, men's store, ladies store.

You had everything you needed right here, - [Host] Including a large theater, which is long gone but not forgotten.

The hospital building still stands, which today serves as a conference center.

- There's so many memories because growing up here, you know, you felt like you knew everybody and then as a kid, you know you couldn't get away with anything because somebody was gonna know you and tell your parents if you did something that you shouldn't have done.

- [Host] Today, both Dale and Martha volunteer at the Badin Museum.

- We want to preserve the history of Badin.

In the original building, we have the early history of Badin, starting from when the French were here and then Alcoa taking over.

We had the archeological dig by the University of North Carolina and they found and dated it back to 10 to 12,000 years ago, which is before the pyramids.

It is way back there.

This building is called the Firehouse Museum because it houses our first fire truck that Alcoa bought a 1937 Ford and it still runs.

But also in here are many, many pictures that Alcoa gave us.

- [Host] Besides Alcoa's deep history, there's displays on the old theater, hometown celebrities like jazz musician, Lou Donaldson and PGA golfer, Johnny Palmer, all in the fire station building.

- [Martha] Then the third building is our quadruplex that is actually built in 1913 by the French.

Has original flooring in most of the apartment, as we call them today, and has the layout of the 1913 housing.

- [Host] After nearly a century in operation, the Alcoa plant produced its last aluminum in 2010.

In recent years, other industries have moved to the site.

- There is a small recycling unit over there now that they try to recycle electronics.

There's an outfit coming in, consolidated alloys.

They invested coming in here to build pipe fittings for the Navy.

- [Host] More than a century, since its founding, Badin now finds itself in transition.

- We are like a unique retirement community.

We got very limited business, but we have people coming to Badin and retiring.

If you grew up in a small town, Badin's still got that atmosphere - [Host] Laid back, but still with a lot to offer according to Martha, - [Martha] The big thing is the lake and having the boat access, a lot of fishing.

That's the big thing.

We have lots of tournaments here.

The other thing is Mar Mountain State Park is very close.

- [Host] Back at the coffee shop, James sums up the energy of Badin.

- To meet lots of nice people.

It has a nice small hometown feel that people are really looking for.

I think some of them are trying to escape the city and find a nice small town where they can feel at home and welcomed and everybody comes through that front door is welcome.

- [Host] While Badin got its start in the 20th century, down in Anson County, the town of Wadesboro dates back to Colonial America and to learn more, we meet up with Steve Bailey at the Anson County Historical Society.

- The town itself started down at the PD River in 1749 or earlier.

Population grew and grew and grew where that by the 1780s, they were looking for higher ground to move up to.

- [Host] Built in the 1790s, the Boggan-Hammond House offers visitors a glimpse into life in early Wadesboro.

It's one of four historic buildings owned by the society.

- Built by by Patrick Boggan in 1796 when his daughter Eleanor married William Hammond.

It was to be her house.

And then we have next door, the Alexander Little House built in 1839 and we have our Ashe-Covington Medical Museum built by Dr. Edmund Ashe in 1890.

And then on the other side of town is our Leavitt House Museum, which was built in 1832 by Norfleet Boggan.

It was his home residence until he passed away in 1854 and his wife died in the 1860s.

And then the Knight Family purchased the house and then it became like a mercantile store in the early 1900s and a boarding house - [Host] Beyond the historic buildings, the society owns a large collection of records for genealogy research.

Several years ago, the society recognized the difficulties facing many African Americans when exploring their family's genealogy.

- Most of these file cabinets that are sitting here to my left, basically, of all the African Americans within the county that some are still alive and some are actually passed on.

- So it helped me find out some history and then find out where my mom family name come from.

It came from the slave owner and he gave us their name and it grew up from there.

And that happened right here in Anson County.

- [Host] Anson County Historical Society Board members, Cynthia Williams, Frederick Allen, and Tony Autry reminisced about the good old days as they flipped through one of the yearbooks - To go and look back at myself in the yearbook when I was in the ninth grade.

So that was very interesting to see myself.

- [Host] And Autry says there was a downside though, to growing up in such a small town, - Everybody knew everybody.

Once upon time, I thought my parents was following me around but it comes to find out they knew everybody.

(laughs) And everybody knew who I was.

And so that was one good thing about small towns.

Yeah, they may tell your business, but sometimes telling your business will keep you out of trouble.

- [Host] A few blocks away from the historical Society's offices, the main business district of Wadesboro continues to evolve.

Williams in Autry recalled all that's happened since their childhoods.

- They had the Belk's Department Store here, which was huge.

They had the Five-and-ten store, which only people my age will remember.

So they had a lot going on here in Wadesboro.

It was the place to be on the weekend.

- Saturday was an adventure for us 'cause we would load up and we would come to Wadesboro to go to the grocery store.

B. C. Moore's a big shopping store back then, where we got our clothes from.

- Some years ago, they used to have this thing called the bass along, which it was old Jew joint actually.

So many people went there.

- [Host] For much of the 20th century, textiles fueled the economy in Wadesboro, but when the American textile industry declined, - The textile business went overseas.

That kinda hurt Wadesboro overall from a economic standpoint.

- [Host] Wadesboro's once vibrant business district suffered.

- [Tony] It's a little slower than it was then.

- Sometimes a little different, a little more conservative.

It's a little more quieter.

A lot of like the big belt stores, you know, they're no longer there.

They did have to move theater too back then, and it was up and running real well.

So now they have it back.

So they're doing plays instead of showing movies.

- [Host] The live plays happening at the Ansonia Theater are just one of the signs that Wadesboro's downtown is seeing renewed investment.

- My name is Monica Schultz.

I am the owner and executive chef for the Ansonia Soup Company.

And we feature fresh, made soups, salads, paninis, homemade breads, scratch-made European desserts every single day.

- [Host] Schultz took a risk in starting her restaurant.

- I believe Wadesboro is in the very beginning of a renaissance.

There are businesses that are coming in, there are new ideas for businesses that are out there.

This is brand new.

Wadesboro has never seen anything like what we do - [Host] Originally from Pennsylvania.

Schultz only recently adopted Wadesboro as her new hometown.

- I have lived in big cities.

I've been in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and I would trade it all just to be here.

The big city is not all as cracked up to be granted.

There is accessibility for ingredients.

There's accessibility for, you know, fine restaurants and entertainment.

There's all of the things that are luxuries, but I wouldn't want to go back to that because of so many people, because of the crime, because of the expense, because you don't even get to know your neighbor that much anymore.

Here, we all know each other - [Host] While the buildings and streets make up the infrastructure of the towns we visited, if you take a moment to explore, you'll likely realize that ultimately, it's the people and their diverse histories that truly make up these towns and communities.

So perhaps seek the road less traveled, seek out new experiences as you never know what you might find around the bend.

We thank you for watching this episode of "Trail of History."

(bright music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.