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A name like Holly Springs conjures images of cool waters steadily trickling from resilient, deep aquifers, springs that run past vibrant, age-old holly trees that have withstood storms and droughts, wars and depressions, and times of peace and prosperity. Indeed, this southern Wake Town originated at such a place, where 40-foot holly trees towered over freshwater springs. Some of the local centuries-old springs feed creeks and ponds to this day. In colonial times, a small cluster of homes and businesses formed around the original “holly springs” in an area that once was a Tuscarora Indian hunting ground. The tiny community included a sawmill, cotton gin, a store and a house that was used as a school and as a church, one of the first four to join the Raleigh Baptist Association in 1805. The church disbanded when “several members became indulged in things of this world and became unfaithful to the church,” according to a church history. Some former members established another Baptist church a couple miles north at the intersection of two roads, one that went from Hillsborough to Smithfield and the other from Raleigh to the Cape Fear River and then on to Fayetteville. The crossroads was to become what is now downtown Holly Springs. It was at this crossroads that Scottish settler Archibald Leslie opened a tailoring business and store and began construction on a 180-acre estate that contained freshwater springs. Today, all that remains is the main house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Leslie-Alford-Mims House, and the springs, accessible to the public by a short, winding dirt trail that winds through the woods and past a family cemetery. The house is a commanding landmark, visible from Main Street in the heart of downtown Holly Springs. It is the most noted historic landmark in Town, having weathered nearly two centuries and a two-week occupation by Union troops during the Civil War.
The Civil War in Holly Springs During the Civil War, the Holly Springs community was stripped of fighting-age men. Local schools shut down and the progress of the once-thriving community was put on hold. Near the end of the war, when a flank of the Union Army was sent to cut off retreating Confederate forces and then was recalled, the Union troop’s headquarters was established in the Leslie house. “Legend has it that the lady of the house charmed the soldiers so that they didn’t burn the house down,” longtime Holly Springs resident Sylvian Brooks said. “They did get the chickens, though.” The Leslie house was one of the more lucky local homes. Bummers, bands of renegade soldiers that scoured the countryside without supervision, raided other local homes. Rebecca Jones Alford, mother of Colonel George Benton Alford who later bought the Leslie house, had a run-in with one of these bands as she was cooking a meal for Confederate fighters. The epitaph on her tombstone reads, “A devoted Christian mother who whipped Sherman’s Bummers with scalding water while trying to take her Dinner Pot which contained a hambone being cooked for her (Confederate) Soldier Boys.” The tombstone can be seen in the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church graveyard southeast of Town. Another historic home that survived the Civil War and remains standing today is the Needham Norris house off Avent Ferry Road. Norris' nephew, Simpson Washington Holland, and his family lived in the house during the war. Holland's widow is said to have taken in a wounded Union officer and nursed him back to health during the encampment of Union troops in the area in April of 1865; consequently, the home was spared from destruction. John Norris, Jr., father of Needham and who most likely was one of the first English settlers of the community, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. His home is located across the street. In 1935, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a memorial stone for Norris on the west side of Avent Ferry Road, not far from where Norris is reported to be buried in the Norris Family graveyard.
After the Civil War, prosperity did not return easily to the Holly Springs community. The construction of the Chatham Railroad through Apex, a neighboring town, encouraged economic prosperity down the road from Holly Springs. Historian M.N. Amis described the Town as “a deserted village;” only 10 buildings of size in the community are shown in an 1871 survey. Among the buildings was the downtown Masonic Lodge, constructed in 1854 and used as a school for girls in 1856. The structure is the oldest lodge and school building remaining in Wake County and still is used today for meetings and community events. While the Masonic Lodge has remained relatively unchanged structurally throughout the years, the Leslie house has been renovated dramatically. In 1875, Colonel Alford moved his mercantile business to Holly Springs. He purchased the Leslie house and expanded it, adding side wings, a third story and a widow’s walk. Years later, a monument adjacent to the 31-room mansion was erected, commemorating the 26th Regiment North Carolina troops. Alford was a man on the move. He ran a general mercantile, sawmill, cotton gin, turpentine works and brick kiln. He even drained a local lake to plant rice paddies. Alford, along with 20 other Holly Springs men, helped bring a railroad (to become the Durham and Southern) to the community. He also established the Holly Springs Land and Improvement Company, which encouraged economic development in Town, and the Cape Fear News and Advertising Company, which published the Cape Fear Enterprise newspaper. In one of his weekly editorials lauding the Town and encouraging investors to buy stock his company, Alford wrote, “We can convince any capitalist who will visit our town with a view to locating any manufacturing enterprise in our state that there is no place in the state to surpass Holly Springs as to health and pure spring water.” Alford also led a successful effort to petition the North Carolina General Assembly to incorporate the Town of Holly Springs in 1877. After its establishment, the Holly Springs Town boundary remained a solid, one-mile square for 110 years.
While the Town’s economy boomed during the early 1900s, several events shortly thereafter forced the Town into a recess. World War I drew men to war and families to bigger cities for improved employment opportunities. Colonel Alford, who had stirred up economic momentum, died in 1923. In 1924, the Bank of Holly Springs failed, the first bank in the state to go belly up before the great Depression of 1929. The Town lay fallow through World War II, seemingly forgotten in the southern corner of the state’s capital county. One of the oldest commercial structures in Wake County, which now houses Dewar’s Antiques, was built during the Town’s early years and stands as a testament to the community’s turn-of-the-century prosperity. The two-and-a-half story building edges Main Street in the heart of downtown and displays the gable-front form most commonly used for frame commercial buildings in the late 19th century. Another downtown commercial structure developed at the turn of the century that remains today is the Seagraves Drugstore building. Initially a general mercantile, the building was later used as a dress shop and an auto parts store. The Town purchased and renovated the two-story brick building in 2003 and currently uses it as a police station. During the renovations, the Town preserved much of the original old-growth heart pine flooring and reused other original wood pieces to construct a conference table and bookcases. In the latter half of the 20th century, progress returned to Holly Springs. In the 1960s, the Town installed streetlights and constructed a public water system. A sewer plant was completed in 1985, attracting Warp Technologies, a textile company, to Town. With the addition of Warp Technologies, Holly Springs’ tax base doubled from $8 to $16 million. The Town used the boost in revenue to expand utilities, in turn attracting further development, including the Sunset Ridge golf course community. Thus began another era of growth and prosperity that remains strong today.
Nestled among Apex, Cary and Fuquay-Varina, all towns experiencing growth from the heavily populated Raleigh and RTP areas, Holly Springs is rapidly growing. The Town of less than 1,000 in 1990 grew to more than 9,000 in 2000. By 2006, the population was approximately 17,500. While the Town welcomes growth, leaders also are determined to control the quality and placement of new developments while preserving open space and creating public areas. One of the recent focuses has been on encouraging commercial development in downtown Holly Springs. “We’re looking at downtown as a center for development of places that will be destination points, places that will generate traffic to draw people here,” said Holly Springs Town Manager Carl Dean. “We want to make it a place where people want to come and shop.” Part of ensuring a successful downtown was building Town Hall in the heart of Holly Springs. On Main Street, Town Hall is a center of constant activity. Opened in 2003, the 35,000 square-foot, two-story brick building was designed in an architectural style reminiscent of the 19 th century when Holly Springs was founded. A cupola with a large clock that faces Main Street and an outdoor plaza with a fountain behind the building are just two of the building’s features. In the lobby, above a display case maintained by the Holly Springs Historical Preservation Society, hangs a historic oil painting of George Washington, dated to the 1700s. The painting hung in 1876 in Carpenter Hall in Philadelphia. “We could have set up a Town Hall campus outside of downtown, but that’s not the vision we had here,” Dean said. “In order to make a viable downtown, you have to have something to draw people in. Town Hall is a destination point; it centralizes how residents get services and continuously draws people to downtown Holly Springs.” Whether it is the Town’s balance of commercial and residential development, its reasonable land prices coupled with its proximity to urban centers, or its small-town charm, new residents and businesses continue to be attracted to Holly Springs. Hardly a weekend passes without a Town-sponsored family activity in a local park or downtown, whether it’s a free movie or concert during the warmer months or a seasonal event such as the annual Easter Egg Hunt or the Happy Holly Days Parade. Indeed, the community seems ever-occupied with providing for future generations. The Town currently has two elementary schools and one middle school. Holly Springs High School opens in igh school in 2006. A combination Town cultural center and Wake County library are scheduled to open downtown in late 2006, offering additional opportunities for youth and adults alike.
Not yet a decade old, the Town’s parks and recreation department is young. Still, a huge variety of programs at Town parks provides opportunities for families to play together. The 46-acre Parrish Womble Park, much of which was formerly a tobacco farm, now includes baseball and soccer fields, playground equipment, a small fishing pond, a picnic shelter, an amphitheater, a paved walking trail, and areas for horseshoes and volleyball. Ninety-acre Bass Lake Park opened in 2004 and features a lake stocked with an assortment of fish. Canoes and small boats, along with fishing gear, are available for rent. A 1.25-mile mulch trail along the lakeshore features scenic overlooks. The park also offers a retreat center for meetings and special events. Park-sponsored outings, such as owl prowls, single-mingle canoe paddles and family moonlight canoe trips, draw in locals regularly. Outside Town limits, Harris Lake County Park offers additional programs and hiking trails, along with 8.5 miles of mountain bike trails, a disc-golf course, a fishing pier, playground equipment and picnic shelters. A N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission boat ramp nearby offers access to the lake, which is popular with bass, crappie and catfish anglers. Sportsmen use the fringing public lands to hunt waterfowl, deer and other game.
Festivals and Other Activities One of the annual highlights of community life is the HollyFest celebration on the last Saturday in October. Festivities include free children’s rides, music, food, arts and crafts, a 5-K race, and fireworks. Another annual event is the Kiwanis Club Haunted Schoolhouse in October. Volunteers decorate the Town’s community center, formerly an elementary school, and promise locals touring the facility plenty of Halloween scares. Young children can visit the facility during the early evening hours for a friendly tour, free face painting and hayrides. Yet another event residents anticipate is Main Street Christmas, sponsored by the Town Chamber of Commerce. Residents visit Town Hall to deck the Christmas tree, enjoy hayrides around the downtown block and listen to local church carolers. A line of children awaiting the chance to sit on Santa Claus’ lap constantly winds through the lobby while Mrs. Claus reads children’s stories and dishes out cookies and milk nearby. The Happy Holly Days Parade, a festive December parade that marches down Main Street, is a longtime local favorite. Annual entries include everything from local school marching bands and Town officials to unique groups, such as youth from the local gymnastic and martial arts schools. From the past to the present, from the small-town atmosphere where people still know each other by name to the frequent, unique family-oriented activities, Holly Springs is a town that is continuing to grow not just in population and industry but also in heart.
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Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us |
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