Rochdale, Another Forgotten Pitt County Place Everyone once knew the name of the community they lived in, but now most of these places and names have been lost to obscurity. Rochdale, also called “Cobb’s Store,” was once a small village located in Beaver Dam Township, now called Bell-Arthur Township. In 1900, Rochdale consisted of a store, a blacksmiths shop and several houses and was considered the social and commercial center in Beaver Dam Township. It was located on the Stantonsburg Road, eight miles west of Greenville or six miles east of Farmville. Nothing remains to mark the site but a road sign marking “Roach-Dail” Road, just north of where the Stantonsburg Road crosses over Highway 264 west. According to maps they now call the road “Cobb-Dail Road.” “Cobbdale,” which in 1900 was a large stock farm operated by B. P. Cobb, was located about one mile north of Rochdale. Other communities like Arthur (now Bell-Arthur) was located 1 ½ miles south of Rochdale. Smithtown was 1 ½ miles northeast of Rochdale and Marltown was 3 miles south. Poketink (or Nicholstown) was located about 4 miles southeast of Rochdale and Grimmersburg was over 4 miles southwest. Now that I have you thoroughly lost in the country, I want to give you a history of “Cobbs Store.” About the year 1872, J. C. Cobb erected a small store on his farm and had each of his boys work in it to gain business experience. The store grew and was a successful business and his sons went on to own their own stores. By 1888 the store was known as J. C. Cobb & Son, Robert J. Cobb remaining with his father as a junior partner. On June 28, 1888, a post office was established in Cobb’s Store known as “Rochdale,” with Robert J. Cobb as postmaster. The post office remained there until October 1891 when the post office was closed. The post office was opened again in August 1894 with Charles L. Tyson as postmaster, but closed again in January 1897. J. C. Cobb & Son sold their store to Charles D. Smith about 1894 and moved to Greenville. In Jan. 1895, C. D. Smith got a license to sell spiritous liquors at his store. Very little is known about the Rochdale area other than it was a farming community. Somewhere near Rochdale was a black church known as “Paul’s Chapel’ and a Free Will Baptist church known as “Mays’ Chapel.” In January 1910, “Mays’ Chapel” bought a lot in Arthur and moved their church building there. At Smithtown, the seat of the Ivy Smith, Mills Smith and Jesse L. Smith families, there stood a school house known as Smith’s School House. Smith’s School House, built by 1869, was the social center of the Rochdale community. It was here that religious services were held several times a week, along with choir practice one night a week and Sunday School each Sunday. All baptisms were held at the Tar River at Blue Banks landing. Besides the religious ceremonies, Smith’s School House was the site for social and political gatherings. There was also a Smithtown Woman’s Betterment Association which held basket parties at the school house to raise money to help fund the school. The Association helped buy the school house an organ in 1908, with Mrs. L. W. Smith as the first organist. Some of the remembered teachers at Smith’s School House between 1907 and 1910 were Miss May Brooks, Miss Dell Clements, Miss Mary Joyner, Miss Rebecca Evans, Mrs. D. K. Smith and Miss Lena E. Gary. In September 1907, the Norfolk and Southern Railroad built a rail line through Beaver Dam Township and opened a station there known as “Cobbdale,” since it was near Cobbdale stock farm. The station was moved to Arthur a few years later. In April 1909, the Rochdale and Smithtown boys organized a debating society that met every Friday night, known as the Pheonix Debating Society. In November 1909, a farm club was organized at Smith’s School House by G. C. Hedgepeth of Nash county and by 1910 the Rochdale Boys had organized a baseball team. In January 1910, Charles D. Smith almost lost his store at Rochdale to fire. It seems that Mrs. Smith, who clerked in the store for her husband, went out to pick up wood to put in the heater late one night and saw a lot of smoke. She looked at the top of the store and saw flames coming through the shingles near the stove flue. She rushed to the store and gathered up all the books and valuable papers and then gave the alarm. In a few minutes over a dozen men had arrived and soon had a line of buckets going from the well to the roof. With persistence the fire was put out and the damage to the store was mainly by water on the goods. In March 1911, the Dramatic Club of Smithtown presented a drama in Smith’s School House; the proceeds going for the benefit of the Christian Church in Arthur. The final end of Rochdale came when in February 1912 the old store once known as Cobb’s Store and later as Charles D. Smith’s Store, was moved to Arthur by L. A. Fulford. It was in the rear of this store that the Rochdale post office was operated. Arthur soon became the commercial center of Beaver Dam Township and Rochdale faded into just another place name in the forgotten past of Pitt County. _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Contacts: Organize your contact list. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/marcusatmicrosoft.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!503D1D86EBB2B53C!2285.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_UGC_Contacts_032009