YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1978 w w w. j a m e s t o w n n e w s . c o m
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JUne 18-24, 2025 vol 47 No 25 | 1 Section | 6 Pages
city lake Park turns 90
By CaROL BROOks FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com The City of High Point will celebrate 90 years of High Point City Lake Park Saturday, June 28, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Enjoy craft vendors, food trucks, entertainment, giveaways and more. Live bands will perform in the evening. Best of all, the event is free, however pool and amusement passes must be purchased. The event is sponsored by the Parks & Recreation Department of the City of High Point. City Lake Park is located at 602 W. Main St. in Jamestown. Lake buried much Jamestown history One of the biggest things
in Jamestown isn’t in Jamestown at all … or is it? The High Point City Lake Park has the Jamestown address of 602 W. Main St., but once you turn off Main Street into the park, you are within High Point city limits. Coming from High Point, you cross Jamestown town limits at Penny Road, but later pass the big sign announcing the park across the street from the Mendenhall Homeplace. To compound the problem, the park is on land that was part of the original “old” Jamestown, before the downtown moved farther east. The main entrance to the park is the original Union Street of the old town. When you’re in Jamestown and say you’re going
90th anniversary logo to “the park,” is it City Lake Park or Jamestown Park where the golf course is located? Confusing, isn’t it? History George C. Mendenhall was the original owner of the land where the park is situated. He is the man who laid out the streets and lots of what is now “old” Jamestown. According to the late historian Mary Browning, in her book, “Historical Places in Jamestown,
Scenes from Fiber Arts Day June 7 at Mendenhall Homeplace
1946 postcard showing the pool at High Point City Lake. N.C.,” Mendenhall’s 1860 will left the land to “the Commissioners of the Corporation of Jamestown.” It was to be a common ground for everyone’s use. In other words, a park. At that time, Jamestown
was not incorporated and, according to Browning, lost its charter. The land then reverted to the Mendenhall heirs. Eventually and was eventually sold to the City of High Point (CHP). Mendenhall never
guessed his bequest would cause much of his family history to be under water. A large part of Jamestown history was lost in the 1920s when the area see PaRk, PAGe 2
documentary about Hawley’s cancer recovery to be shown at HPU By nORMa B. dennIs FreeLANCe WrIter ndworddesign@gmail.com On Aug. 27, 2023, Sam Hawley, who lived in Wilmington, N.C., at the time, suffered a massive seizure while talking to his father Faison on the phone. He had told his father he felt weird before the conversation ended abruptly. Realizing something was dreadfully wrong, his mother Lisa, owner of Southern Roots in Jamestown, immediately called Sam’s friends and told them to check on him as quickly as possible. His parents headed to Wilmington and went straight to the hospital. They learned he had been diagnosed with a stage-four glioblastoma brain tumor, one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. Five days later, he was at Duke University Hospital where the tumor was removed and his journey to recovery began. The Feagin Leadership Program at Duke University Medical Center has produced a 43-minute documentary detailing Sam’s experience. “The Power of Purpose: The Sam Hawley Story” will be shown June 22 at 4 p.m. at High Point University at Congdon School of Health Sciences, Callicutt Life Skills Theater. Admission is free. Parking is available in the parking deck directly behind Congdon Hall. The best way to access the parking deck is through the entrance at N. Centennial Street and Qubein Avenue. Officers will be available to direct
Photos by Carol Brooks
Clockwise starting above: Quilts; Looms; Crochet; yarn with lanolin (right) and without (left); and embroiderers
By CaROL BROOks FreeLANCe WrIter cab1hp@gmail.com Whether or not a piece of property that appears to be in Greensboro but is actually in Jamestown’s extra-territorial jurisdiction becomes part of the town is the main topic of business at the Jamestown Town Council’s June 24 meeting during two public hearings. The request by True Homes is for 5125 R1 Atwater Dr., a wooded, 18.02acre parcel of land located between the Fox Hollow subdivision along Adams Farm Parkway and the new D.R. Horton development along Mackay Road.
The site is currently zoned Agricultural (AG) but True Homes requests the change to Conditional Zoning-Single Family Residential (CS-SFR) to construct 73 detached homes, the maximum allowed by Jamestown. That equates to approximately 4.1 homes per acre, with a minimum of 10 feet between buildings. Adjacent land uses include Single Family Residential, Agricultural including Residential and Single Family, and Conditional ZoningPlanned Use Development (D.R. Horton). A portion of the Town’s Land Development Ordisee COUnCIL, PAGe 6
those attending the screening to the parking deck. In an interview for the Jamestown News in February, Sam described his life before the brain tumor as chaotic. “Fitness and eating well were not my goals,” he said. “It was not a life with purpose. Now I am more connected with God and put him first. He has given me peace and I feel like the man he wants me to be. see HaWLey, PAGe 2
Water kiosk offers refreshment to walkers By nORMa B. dennIs FreeLANCe WrIter ndworddesign@gmail.com On any given day, people, often accompanied by their dogs, may be seen walking along Guilford Road in Jamestown. The beautiful brick sidewalks seem to encourage the activity. When Jan Purser was considering ideas of how the congregation at Jamestown Friends Meeting, located on a large lot at the corner of Guilford and East Fork roads, could connect in a meaningful way with the community, the thought of a water kiosk for walkers came to mind. “You see lots of book lending boxes in the area and the Methodist church has a food Blessing Box,” Purser said. The water station
Photo by Norma B. Dennis
kathy adams, left, and Jan Purser restock the water kiosk at Jamestown Friends Meeting. for those walking by just seemed like a good fit.” After getting permission for the project from the meeting’s session, Purser contacted Brian Haney, a former area resident and Ragsdale graduate, who volunteered his time and supplies to build the box to hold bottles of water. It and a bench on which to rest
were placed under a shade tree south of the meeting’s driveway. “I thought it would be nice to do something different,” Purser said. “We have had it there for two years and it keeps growing in popularity. The box holds 25 bottles of water and I average putting out about 83 bottles each month.
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Rezoning, annexation top Council’s June 24 meeting
Photo submitted
sam Hawley is ready for a workout.
“When it is extremely hot, people sometimes carry their own water bottles with them. The kiosk seems to be used more in the spring when people start off walking and get thirsty along the way.” “There has never been a concern about the water’s temperature,” said Kathy Adams, the meeting’s clerk. “Being in the shade helps and even in the winter the water has never frozen solid.” A sign on the front of the water kiosk requests that empty bottles be replaced in the box and Purser recycles them. Members of Jamestown Friends Meeting, a Quaker congregation, have always been concerned with consee WaTeR, PAGe 2