The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-07-12
UPPER CAPE FEAR HISTORY.
Notable Places Which
Recall IlluStriOuS PeO-
Pile and Stirring Events
For The Messenger:

For The Messenger:
Two or three afternoons since 1 stop
ped for n moment on Eccles bridge,
IN Green street, not two hundred yards
from the business centre OF Fayette-
Vile. and which spans the beautiful
winding stream h a divides the north
ern residence section from the trade
district. The view there is beautiful.
the handsome dwellings on Anderson
street overlooks Eccles Park. a little
verdant oasis set k an emerald gem
in the very heart of a beautiful city.
This is really one OF the most remark
able spots in this old town. indeed. m
the whole upper Cape Fear section.
historically as well as geographically.
The great merchant mills of Captain
J. D. McNeill. which today creak and
boom. and whirr with their improved
machinery, turning out all its finished
products of wheat, corn and other
grain. as we'll as giving great quaint
ties of cotton, are but the successors
of the same industry thriving there for
generations. Mills have been utilizing
that water power for 40 years; in fact,
here was ~throbbing the heart OF the H.
tie industrial community about the
middle OF the eighteenth Gentry.
Some time prior to 1850 came Robert
Cochran an energetic, money-making
Pennsylvania, who built a mill and
established a general store on the banks
of the creek. and about his as a trade
centre there speedily grew up a thrifty
hamlet-but not without heart burning.
This new-iedged prosperity was enjoy
ed at the expense of the older neighbor.
Campbellton, on the n of the Cane
Fear river, named in honor of Far.
guard Campbell. who won his place in
North Carolina history, of which l shah
have more to say hereafter.
1t was a coincidence that on the af-
ternoon mentioned, as I stood on Eccles
bridge, n recalled the settlement III
this primitive country of Robert Coch-
ran, the sturdy citizen of the keystone
State, a huge wagon, drawn by two
powerful horses, and loaded with fruit
and truck, Numbered over the bridge, ;
coming from the extensive Myrtle
Hill" farms, the property of another :
benefactor of this section of the same
name, Mrs. w. E. Cochran, of New !
York. whose broad acres, under the
efficient management of Mr.. S. II. (!
Strange, grow immense quantities Of
fruit and vegetables for the home and
northern markets, give employment TO
hundreds of men, women n children, !
and bring a great deal of ready money
into the community. BY just turning ,
my head, too, / could see, farther up
Green street, the handsome front of the
Cochran Annex Of the beautiful
Highsmith hospital, the gracious char
ity of this noble northern woman for F.,
the needy and afflicted negro. The
good which this annex has accomplish .
ed, the suffering which it is now al
leviating, and will alleviate in the flu
ture, are ~incalculable. Here charity,
tender and womanly. but regal, COM
mands the erviceS of medical and sur !
gical science; and, standing at the
open door. asks only if the suppliant
be sick, or hath, or blind. In as
much as We have done it unto the least
of these, we have done it unto me- |
Perhaps seventy-fve or one hundred
yards from where l stood, tradition has
xed on as the abode O. Flora 49,
Donald. If even the door-stone had
been left by time, it could be seen by
the pasSer-by on Green street. 1t Is
said that even within the borders of
North Carolina there are skeptics as to
the authenticity of the Meckienbu-s
Declaration of Independence, on the
10th of May, a775; but they whisper
their doubts with bated breath, and
are absolutely dumb inside the gates OF
Charlotte. So it has been declared that
even in Fayetteville there are doubt
ing Thomases" as TO the residence OF
Flora Mcdonald on Cross Creek, but
those confine the expression of their in
fidelity to the shrug Of the shoulder
and the lifting of the inscrutable eye
~anc4n - 10,,ht fhCf L
she lived-how long is uncertain--
where Fayetteville people love to pic,
ture her as presiding over a Scotch
typical in its comfort n quaint
ness: but, on the other hand, it appears
to be a piece of well-estabiished local
history that Allan Macdonald purchase
ed quite a large body of land at CAM
eron HILL" many miles west of this
The past has shed its soft CLAM
about the story, which is a pretty
one. even without its romance; n to
ne Flora Macdonald is a more inter-
esting figure, a middle-aged woman,
full of sorrows and acquainted WITH
grief. beset with sordid cares of the
humDle household on Cross Creek, than
as the enthusiastic Scotch girl with
flushed cheeks and flushing eyes, whol
rescued Prince Charles Edward from
the mighty men who went about with
swords to slay him" Her admirers
have been adding to the list of her
charms for well-nigh a hundred years
now. until, she stands before us %anotE-
eosized into a paragon of grace and
love mess. 1t is said that she was al
daring horsewoman an6 a fine shotI
with a rifle; that she had a marvellous
ly sweet voice, and at even-tide was
want to sit on the door-stoop. and sing
verses full of loyalty to the house OF
Stuart: |
WHAT'S a the steer, Kimmer, whats
a the steer?
jamie ha' cam hame, and soon he will
be here!
Busk your plaid, my pretty hinny,
Bush your plaid, and dress your hair.
jamie ha' cam hame, and soon will 20
here"
Some even invested Flora Macdonald
with the gift of curing rheumatism.
Kings evil and other diseases by the
laying on of hands, n within my