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16 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY LOCAL. LANDMARK APPLICATION DAVIS FARM COTTON GIN AND PRESS <br /> Another characteristic of rural Orange County from its early years until the twentieth century <br /> brought more and better roads, was the operation of small-scale industries that supported the <br /> needs of area farmers. The most prominent of these were grist mills and sawmills along the <br /> county's numerous waterways. Only a few of these, such as Faucett Mill and Morrow's Mill <br /> survive. The Faucett Mill (OR0301) on the Eno River in Cheeks Township is the most intact. A <br /> grist mill has stood on its site since 1792, but the present large, weatherboarded building may <br /> date from closer to the mid-nineteenth century. Morrow's Mill (OR0879), a large grist mill on <br /> Cane Creek in Bingham Township, was built ca. 1878, but a mill had been on the site since at <br /> least 1787. A sawmill and a cotton gin were also at the site, but they do not survive, although the <br /> large stone dam that served all these industrial concerns does. Morrow's Mill, itself, was <br /> remodeled and converted to a residence some years ago. <br /> There were also smaller-scale corn mills, sawmills, blacksmith shops, cotton gins, and other <br /> industries that supported farmers closer to home. However,these industries and their associated <br /> buildings proved ephemeral over time, and most have disappeared from the landscape. Such was <br /> the case, in part, at Davis Farm, which had a small-scale industrial complex consisting a <br /> blacksmith shop, a corn mill, and a cotton gin and press. The blacksmith shop no longer stands, <br /> and the grinding stones for the corn mill, which occupied the same building as the cotton gin and <br /> press, are long gone. Remarkably, the cotton gin and press survive in good shape, protected by <br /> the building in which they stand. <br /> 9: SETTING AND JUSTIFICATION OF PROPOSED BOUNDARY FOR LANDMARK <br /> DESIGNATION <br /> The proposed boundary shown on the attached aerial photo map was drawn to include the <br /> existing log and frame barn structure, with associated sheds, that house the cotton gin and its <br /> related components, including the press. The location of the barn at the SW corner of that section <br /> of the larger parcel provides ample visual buffers as the land on the neighboring parcels to the <br /> west cannot be built on within several hundred feet of the barn due to the topography and the <br /> position of the access road. This proposed boundary was established in consultation with the <br /> owners, who did not wish to include additional land or buildings within the landmark <br /> designation. <br /> BIBLIOGRAPHY <br /> 1925 Farm Census for North Carolina, <br /> 1935 Farm Survey for North Carolina Townships. <br /> 1946 Farm Census: 1945 Crop Inventory for North Carolina. <br /> Ancestry.com. <br /> Bell, John L. Jr. Hard Times: Beginning of the Great Depression in North Carolina, 1929-1933. <br /> Raleigh: N. C. Division of Archives and History, 1982. <br />'€ 13 <br />