Have you seen?
By Jennifer Smart, Assistant Director
The Wake Forest Historical Museum
One of our favorite museum pastimes is combing the archives of the Old Gold & Black for interesting articles about the way Wake Forest looked, felt, or operated in the past. Typically, printed items about the town are few and far between. The student newspaper focused mainly on campus events. But every now and then a reporter would follow a thread that led to something different, and this article from November 1943 is one of the best.
The original story is titled, “Say, John Frosh! Have You Seen-?” The reporter was Alice Holliday, which is already fascinating as Alice was one of the school’s first coeds. Women began enrolling in 1942 to fill the classrooms while young men went off to war. Alice took her work seriously. An enterprising reporter, she came up with a memorable piece that’s essentially an inventory of local landmarks everyone should visit. The notion is you can’t fully experience Wake Forest without seeing these sites in person. Many of Alice’s best picks are still getting attention—mainly on social media—even today.
The first recommended spot was the Old Mill Wheel, about a mile southeast of town. Recent discussion on the museum’s Facebook page reached a general consensus that the wheel’s ruins still exist in the area between Franklin Street and Heritage Lake Road, very near the bypass. In 1943, the wheel looked quite different. As Alice reported, it was “a serenely beautiful place found in an opening of the woods. The old wheel broke years ago and is now solidly embedded in the sand of the stream. But the mill stream still flows along over the floor of rock. The Old Mill was famous for the parties and suppers held there. Until a few years ago that was where the senior class held its annual supper. Fraternities still have outings there.”
The next location Alice put on her list remains as recognizable today as back in 1943. It’s the charming and simple Forestville Baptist Church on South Main Street. As the article details, “Long ago before the College was started at Wake Forest, Forestville was a thriving little town. The church was the most picturesque spot there. It is an interesting church, beautiful in its simplicity. It had an old pump organ and village choir. Weddings were performed here in all their glory. When people still owned slaves the church had a special gallery for them. It’s like a balcony today, covering three sides of the church.”
The next locale is another winner, important enough to have scored a spot on the 2018 Wake Forest Christmas Historic Home Tour. It’s Crenshaw Hall, now in operation as the Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home. Crenshaw Hall was built in 1824 by Samuel and Eliza Crenshaw, with significant structural changes added in 1834, 1860, and 1915. Outbuildings and the family cemetery are also on the property. Alice Holliday selected Crenshaw Hall as a must-see site largely due to its connection to early Wake Forest College history. “Major Crenshaw, the former master of this beautiful home, was the first Wake Forest student to register at the College. It is said that he walked to school every day to attend his classes. The house once was the Wake Forest post office.”
Finally, rounding out Alice’s top picks of places to see in 1943, is the gorgeous event venue now known as The Sutherland. Once the seat of a substantial plantation, the house has fascinated generations of Wake Foresters with its architecture, artifacts, and even the occasionally reported ghost. Alice’s article gives a throwback version of the story we still tell today about the historic home. “Outside of town there is a dirt road which Wake Foresters refer to as ‘the road around the bend.’ Located on this road is the home of Mrs. Jack Harris. It is an old colonial home with aged box bushes and cedars lining the walk to the front door. Several years ago, some ancient papers were discovered there which proved to be of historical consequence. It had slave quarters away from the house which are being used today for storerooms. Many interesting relics have been discovered there dating back before the Civil War.”
As Wake Forest grows, it’s exciting to realize how many of our town’s important landmarks are still here. These are the places we see, drive by, and occasionally visit even today. The list Alice Holliday made remains relevant for that reason. Just as in 1943, it’s an interesting guide for new arrivals looking for a crash course in local history
(The Wake Forest Historical Museum, 919-556-2911, is at 414 North Main Street, Wake Forest. Admission is free. The museum is open from 10 to 12 and from 1:30 to 4:30 Tuesday through Friday, and from 2 to 5 on Sundays if there are volunteers to staff it.)
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