Murray's Mill
Murray's
Mill
Catawba, NC
________
Murray's Mill
Murray & Mingus
General Store
Genealogy
Connection
Small Two-Story
House
Winter
Wonderland
Annual
Harvest Folk
Festival
Murray's Mill
Weddings
Movies
Filmed at
Murray's Mill
SOURCES
_______
FAMILY
NAMES
LOFTIN:
Beatty
Corzine
Cranford
Fisher
Givens
Harwell
Kaiser
Lanier
Lomax
McCorkle
Rudisill
Sherrill
Upright
Washington
Work
SETZER:
Aderholdt
Barringer
Bovey
Bushart
Deal
Heavner
Herman
Ikert
Miller
Motz
Rankin
Witherspoon
GOBLE:
Babst/Bobst
Douglas
Faber
Fink
Fulbright
Hefner
Meinhert
Miller
Muller
Pabst/Bobst
Robinson
JOHNSON:
Corzine
Fink
Hamilton
Kaiser
Leslie
Lewis
Moore
Sherrill
Upright
Wilkinson
_______
Additional
Family
SURNAMES
_______
Where
To Find 'Em
_______
The
"ROYAL"
Lineage
_______
Genealogy
HUMOR
PHOTO
LINKS
Murray's Mill, Catawba, NC
Current Mill Constructed: 1913
1489 Murrays Mill Rd
Catawba, NC
Murray's Mill Source: Catawba County Historical Association, Historic Murray's Mill
http://www.catawbahistory.org/historic_murrays_mill.phpThe centerpiece of the historic district of Catawba County is Murray’s Mill, built by John Murray, whose father, William, had operated a mill on the site since 1883. In 1906, William deeded the property to his sons, John and O.D. In 1907, John Murray acquired a 5/6 interest from his brother O.D., who would take over operation of the general store. In 1913, John replaced his father’s mill with the current two-story structure, adding a 22’ overshot waterwheel, in lieu of the former turbine. Making room for the mill’s expansion, the Murrays moved the general store at that time to its present location. In 1938, John’s son, Lloyd, raised the dam six feet and installed the 28’ waterwheel (it’s said that William’s original wooden dam stands beneath the surface of the present pond).
Inside Murray’s Mill, visitors will find William’s original, one-ton French buhr millstones, for grinding corn, as well as Sprout & Waldron roller mills that John installed for grinding wheat into flour. All of the mill’s storage bins, each partitioned by tongue and groove sheathing, have been preserved, too. When the CCHA overtook the mill’s restoration in 1980 the bins still held flour from the day Lloyd Murray shut the doors due to bureaucratic red tape and increasing taxes.
Murray's Mill prior to the 1913 construction to the new mill
In 1980 the Catawba County Historical Association became the custodians of this Catawba County historical site.
A restored Murray's Mill
Murray's Mill - 1996 - prior to construction of new road
[Carolyn Weeks Loftin and her Chihuahua, Simcha]
A view of Murray's Mill in October 2013
Video 1 of Murray's Mill - CLICK HERE (0:51 seconds)
Video 2 of Murray's Mill - CLICK HERE (0:27 seconds)
Video 3 of Murray's Mill - CLICK HERE (0:59 seconds)
Looking toward the mill pond from a nearby harvested corn field
Murray & Mingus General Store Source: Catawba County Historical Association, Historic Murray's Mill
http://www.catawbahistory.org/historic_murrays_mill.phpInside “the mercantile department of O. D. Murray and Company,” the two-story, gable-front general store (later assuming an additional name, Minges, through a marriage), visitors can crack the lid of an antique Coca-Cola refrigerator and grab a drink in the bottle. The store is also stocked with old-fashioned wooden toys, such as yo-yo’s and finger tops, as well as pioneer folk toys. Sweet-tooths will find local honey, Mary Janes, Cow Tails, Striped Coconut, as well as a mix of modern candies. Old-fashioned soaps and salves and Happy Home Flavorings (some popular with fish, according to the fisherman who stop in), are joined by locally made bonnets and aprons, and Murray’s Mill tee-shirts, bags, magnets, and mugs. The store is also a convenient way to pick up one of the CCHA’s many historical publications. Bead-board ceilings and walls are notable architectural elements, as is the ceiling’s octagonal opening, used by Murray to keep an eye on the register while re-stocking the upstairs.
Murray & Mingus General Store - 1996
The store carries candies, crafts, games, postcards, quilts, flour from the mill, and much more
Operating Hours
January & February: Closed
March to December: Thursday - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m; Sunday, 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.Cost
There is no cost to visit the Murray & Mingus General Store and view the outside of the mill.
Tours of the mill cost $3 per person self-guided and $4 per person guided tour (when available).
(Phone) 828-241-4299Loftin Dr. in Catawba County, NC
Road sign near the original home sight of William Alexander Loftin
Callie Elma Loftin Huffman, daughter of Alonzo Lester Loftin and Ida Lillian Setzer - and granddaughter of William Alexander Loftin, recounted to her daughter Loretta how the family would load the horse-drawn wagon with corn & grain and would go to Murray's Mill to have it ground into meal. Elma told Loretta that it would usually take all day.
10 May 2009
William "Billy" Ray Loftin (son of Sam William Loftin and Willie Aleen Goble , and grandson of Alonzo Lester Loftin and Ida Lillian Setzer) married Mattie Diane Self on 23 Dec 1961. The first house that Billy Ray and Diane lived in after their marriage was the small two-story Murray house. The downstairs part of the house contained a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, with a living room on the upper level. After midnight on (Monday) Tuesday morning, 07 Jan 2014, the temperatures in Catawba County, NC, plummeted to 4 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind-chill colder than that. Needless to say, anywhere there was water, it froze. It provided a nice winter display at Murray's Mill, too. Ice on the pond, on the dam and wheel from 08 Jan 2014
The two-day February 12 & 13, 2014, snow storm deposited about 10 inches of snow
Make plans this year to attend the Annual Harvest Folk Festival held annually at Murray's Mill - on the last Saturday and Sunday of September.
Activities in the past have included: Molasses Making, Bee Keeping, Animal Exhibits, Petting Zoo, Gold Panning, Civil War Re-enactors, Apple Cider Making, Quilting, Blacksmith, Steam Engines, Farm Machinery, Corn Shucking & Corn Shelling, Butter & Apple Butter Making, Storytelling, Craftsmen selling their wares, Food & Drink, Catawba Valley Pottery, Catawba Valley Woodcarvers, John Murrray House open for tours, Murray & Minges General Store open, Murray’s Mill in operation and open to tour. Savanna Seese with her mother, Beth Loftin Seese, enjoy the petting zoo at the Murray's Mill Harvest Festival - 28 Sep 2001
Savanna is the granddaughter of Curtis Loftin & Carolyn Weeks Loftin
and the great-granddaughter of Sam Loftin & Willie Goble LoftinHARVEST FESTIVAL 2013
The 2013 Harvest Festival at Murray's Mill was September 28 - 29 (Saturday & Sunday) and tickets were $5 each (children under 10 were free admittance). Advanced tickets were available for purchase the week before the event at the Murray & Mingus Store. The Murray’s Mill Harvest Folk Festival celebrates Catawba County’s agricultural heritage with an array of exhibits, craftsmen, and activities, including petting zoos, antique cars, tractors, farm machinery, and traditional food preparations such as molasses making. Entrance to the Harvest Festival activities
Upon arrival guests were directed where to park
Handicap parking was available - providing closer proximity to the entrance to the Harvest Festival.
Red Wolf Farm provided a pumpkin patch
Activities Included: Molasses Making, Bee Keeping, Animal Exhibits, Petting Zoo, Farrier, Gold Panning, Civil War Re-enactors, Apple Cider Making, Quilting, Blacksmith, Steam Engines, Farm Machinery, Corn Shucking & Corn Shelling, Butter & Apple Butter Making, Storytelling, Craftsmen selling their wares, Food & Drink, Catawba Valley Pottery, Catawba Valley Woodcarvers, John Murrray House open for tours, Murray & Minges General Store open, Murray’s Mill in operation and open to tour. Children and even adults enjoyed the animals in the petting zoo
There was no cost to pet the animals but animal food could be purchased to feed the animals
Horseback riding was available for a fee
Horse-drawn wagon rides were also available
The Antique Car Show
The Antique Car Show was a favorite for most of the men - and a few ladies, too
To take a video look at the Antique Cars - CLICK HERE
The Antique Tractor Show
The brightly-colored tractors were fun to look at and were another favorite among the men
The 1948 Farmall Tractor with Turner Woodsaw - owned by Ben Elmore of Catawba, NC
The 1929 McCormick Deering Farmall Tractor displayed in memory of Emory & Jeanette Huffman
by Kevin and Jordan Isenhour, Claremont, NC
Another McCormick Farmall tractor
Additional old tractors and farm machinery
The Tractor Parade
To see part of the Tractor Parade, CLICK HERE
CRAFTS
Marilyn Gabriel and several other ladies demonstrated how an old-fashioned quilt was made
Weaving Demonstration
Making old-fashioned lace
Civil War Re-Enactment
Preparing weapons at the Confederate camp
Cooking rabbit over an open fire
Hats, pouches, weapons, powder horns and other gear
Confederate troops work on drills
To See a Short VIdeo of the Soldiers - CLICK HERE - and - CLICK HERE The Confederate campsite
Union Camp
Union Troop practice drills
To See Short Video of the Group, CLICK HERE
Carolyn Loftin (Mrs. Curtis Loftin) poses for a photo
Looking for a location for wedding? Numerous weddings have taking place at Murray's Mill through the years. Unknown to most people living in the Catawba County is the fact that parts of several movies have been filmed at Murray's Mill. WILDFLOWER (1991) PG
The 1991 film WILDFLOWER is the coming-of-age story of a deaf girl. One day Sammy Perkins and his younger sister Ellie happen upon a cabin where Alice Guthrie, a young, partially deaf girl with epilepsy, is being kept by her abusive stepfather. The three soon become friends and hope to get Alice an education and help her escape from the torture she undergoes daily. Unfortunately, Alice's stepfather soon finds out about the friendship Alice has struck up with Sammy and Ellie and punishes her brutally.
CAST
***Beau Bridges: Jack Perkins **Patricia Arquette: Alice Guthrie William McNamara: Sammy Perkins *Reese Witherspoon: Ellie Perkins Susan Blakely: Ada Guthrie Robert Priester: David Butler Randy Williams: Cletus * Reese Witherspoon is best known from her work in the films "Walk the Line" (2005) as June Carter, "Legally Blonde 1 & 2" (2001 & 2003) as Elle Woods, and in "Sweet Home Alabama" (2002). ** Patricia Arguette is best known for her role as Allison Dubois in the TV Series "Medium" (2012-11) playing Allison DuBois, as well as her guest starring roles in "Law & Order: SVU" (2012) and "thirtysomething" (1990). ** Beau Bridges is best known for his roles in TV Series such as "Franklin & Bash" (2012) as Leonard Franklin, "White Collar" (2011/12) as Agent Kramer, "Brothers & Sisters" (2011) as Nick Brody, "My Name is Earl" (2007/08) as Carl Hickey, "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis" (2005-07) as Major General Hank Landry - as well as guest roles in older TV series like "Bonanza", "The Fugitive", "Gunsmoke", "Branded", "The F.B.I.", "My Three Sons", "Combat", "Dr. Kildare", "Rawhide" "Ben Casey", and "Wagon Train". Beau also had a recurring role in "Sea Hunt" (1960-61). Beau was the son of "Sea Hunt" star, Lloyd Bridges. Scenes in the movie depict the dam in the background, the 3 young stars sitting on a metal walkway above the mill wheel, and an evening dance at the mill toward the end of the movie. THE LOTTERY (1996) PG-13
On his deathbed in the hospital, Jason Smith's father asks that his ashes be spread over the top of his wife's grave in the family home town. Jason, who came to the city with his father as a boy, remembers little of the town or his mother, but he undertakes the charge. It is an idyllic place, but gradually snips of memory return, until he remembers the significance of the fact that most of the tombstones in the town cemetery, including his mothers, bear the same day and month, one death each year.
CAST
Dan Cortese: Jason Smith *Keri Russell: Felice Dunbar Veronica Cartwright: Maggie Stephen Root: Graham Dunbar **Sean Murray: Henry Watkins William Daniels: Rev. Hutchinson Morgan Sheppard: Mayor Warner * Keri Russell is perhaps best known for her role in the 1998 TV series "Felicity" playing the lead character, Felicity Porter. She has also had guest roles in other TV series such as: "Boy Meets World" (1993), "Married With Children" (1995), "Malibu Shores" (1996), "7th Heaven" (1997), "Roar" (1997), the mini-series "Into the West" (2005), "Scrubs" (2007), and most recently has a starring role in the TV Series "The Americans" (2013). Her other film credits include: "Dark Skies" (2013) and "Mission Impossible III" (2006). ** Sean Murray is best known for his role as Special Agent Timothy McGee on the TV Series "NCIS". Other prominent roles for Sean include "JAG" (1998-2001) playing Ensign Terry Guitry as well as the role of Thackery in the Disney film "Hocus Pocus" (1993). Scenes from the movie depict characters Jason & Felice picnicking beside the lake, and his car being set on fire in front of the barn. Also, the front of the Murray & Mingus Store is transformed into a gas station with a Post Office to the left side of the store and a fake garage to the right side of the store. Both films, WILDFLOWER and THE LOTTERY, can be found on Netflix.com and Ancestry.com. Catawba County Historical Association, Historic Murray's Mill
http://www.catawbahistory.org/historic_murrays_mill.phpThanks to Paul Loftin and Matthew Brotherton for the use of some of their photos for this page
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