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Thursday, September 15, 2022
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• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Hoyle Historic Homestead near Stanley holds open house By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info
The Hoyle Historic Homestead on Dallas-Stanley Highway held its 29th annual Open House event last Saturday. It was the first “live” gathering in two years because of the pandemic. Despite a somewhat soggy day, a goodly number of folks showed up to tour the vintage house and talk genealogy. In fact, “cousins” came from as far away as Georgia, Florida, and Virginia to dig deeper into their Hoyle ancestry and see the
place it all started. Hoyle Historic Homestead board member Robert Carpenter talked about the importance of preserving the house and its heritage. “History tells the story of this home and family,” he said. ‘The house shows how they lived. If you don’t know your history, then you don’t know who you are.” Here’s the lowdown on the house and the organization devoted to preserving itThe Hoyle Historic Homestead is Gaston County’s oldest home. It dates
back to circa late 1700’s and is located at 1214 DallasStanley Highway about halfway between the two towns. A non-profit educational organization, The Hoyle Historic Homestead, Inc. is in charge of the place and seeks to restore and protect what was originally the home of Peter Hoyle, sometimes spelled Heil, Heyl or Hoyl in old documents. Hoyle was part of the 18th Century settling of the North Carolina Piedmont by German and Scot-Irish immigrants traveling the Great
Hoyle descendants Keith Camburn, Philip Hoyle from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and Jennifer Hoyle Giddens from Dublin, Georgia braved the rain to take part in the Hoyle House event Saturday. Photo by Alan Hodge Philadelphia Wagon Road south through the Shenandoah Valley then into the Carolinas. The home is important
not only for its antiquity, but also for its construction. The house and outbuildings are on the site where Hoyle received a land grant in 1754.
The main house was built during the late 1700’s. It features rare corner post construction and is the only See HOYLE, Page 7
Mother and son teaching together at Holbrook Middle School The new corporate Piedmont Lithium headquarters.
Piedmont Lithium opens HQ in Belmont Edited by Alan Hodge A wide variety of business leaders, dignitaries, employees, and other folks gathered on August 31st to celebrate the grand opening of Piedmont Lithium’s new corporate headquarters at 42 E. Catawba St. in Belmont. The 7,200 sq. ft. building is a beautiful renovation of what was formerly the Belmont Savings and Loan Associa-
tion. U.S. Senator Thom Tillis spoke at the event, demonstrating the importance of a domestic lithium supply chain and the critical role our Carolina Lithium project will play in helping to achieve energy security in America. “We’re sitting on the top of the largest single deposit of high-grade lithium in North America…we need to
lead by example and if we do that, we’ll accelerate our selfdependence and eliminate our reliance on China by decades. That’s why I support this [Carolina Lithium] project,” Tillis said. “We need to come together and recognize the economic value of this project, hundreds of jobs…it has everything to do with See HEADQUARTERS, Page 4
Gaston Schools story/photo Most teachers will tell you that their co-workers feel like family members by the time school starts each year, but in the case of Beth Rhodes and James Parham, they can say it and really mean it. The mother and son are both new teachers at Holbrook Middle School in Lowell this year, which is an unexpected, but welcome, twist in their teaching careers. Rhodes, who teaches eighth grade English and language arts, was hired at Holbrook just a few weeks before the school hired her son, who is a sixth grade social studies and science teacher. For her, it is her third year in the
Beth Rhodes and James Parham classroom, having previously taught at John Chavis Middle School in Cherryville and a private school. This is the first time she’s been able to work alongside her son, James, who is a first-year teacher at Holbrook.
They’re both excited to be at the same school and are fully embracing the challenges and opportunities they know they will face during the new school year. They both echoed the sentiment See HOLBROOK, Page 4
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Western Horseback Riding Lessons, Spring/Summer/ Winter Camps, Onsite Lesson Parties 210 Glenn Drive, Mount Holly, NC 28120 704-913-4710, cell RSVP