Johnston County

Johnston County
Author: Todd Johnson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1997-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738568812

Photographs can bring history to life and help us to make connections between the past and our daily lives. With Johnston County, authors Todd Johnson and Durwood Barbour have created a work that truly teaches us and guides us from the past of this area into the new millennium. In this exciting new work, every one of the county's seventeen townships has been covered, with rare images dating primarily from the turn of the century to 1945. Mostly candid shots of people who have influenced Johnston's social, cultural, and economic development, these images bring us to a time when the pace of life was slower. Other, more well-known citizens we meet include film star Ava Gardner and Lunsford Richardson, inventor of Vick's VapoRub. Also featured in this book are images of important events, like the highly publicized, catastrophic munitions truck explosion near Selma in 1942.

Road Sides

Road Sides
Author: Emily Wallace
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1477316566

An illustrated glovebox essential, Road Sides explores the fundamentals of a well-fed road trip through the American South, from A to Z. There are detours and destinations, accompanied by detailed histories and more than one hundred original illustrations that document how we get where we’re going and what to eat and do along the way. Learn the backstory of food-shaped buildings, including the folks behind Hills of Snow, a giant snow cone stand in Smithfield, North Carolina, that resembles the icy treats it sells. Find out how kudzu was used to support a burgeoning highway system, and get to know Edith Edwards—the self-proclaimed Kudzu Queen—who turns the obnoxious vine into delicious teas and jellies. Discover the roots of kitschy roadside attractions, and have lunch with the state-employed mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida. Road Sides is for everyone—the driver in search of supper or superlatives (the biggest, best, and even worst), the person who cannot resist a local plaque or snack and pulls over for every historical marker and road stand, and the kid who just wants to gawk at a peach-shaped water tower.

Johnston County Revisited

Johnston County Revisited
Author: K. Todd Johnson and Windy Thompson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467123625

Created in 1746, Johnston County is located along the fall line between North Carolina's Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. Smithfield, on the Neuse River, has been the county seat since 1771. In 1856, Johnston County became part of the Fertile Crescent along the east-west North Carolina Railroad, which spawned the thriving towns of Princeton, Pine Level, Selma, and Clayton. In the 1880s, a north-south rail line, eventually known as the Atlantic Coastline, brought Kenly, Micro, Four Oaks, and Benson into existence. Johnston County boasts film legend Ava Gardner, bootleg kingpin Percy Flowers, Vicks VapoRub, and other local claims to fame. It is still a farming county, although recent growth from the Research Triangle region has brought marked changes to the rural landscape. In recent years, Wilson's Mills and Archer Lodge have gained corporate status. These historical images tell a story not only of the extraordinary people who have called Johnston County home but also of the ordinary, everyday individuals who have left their mark.