A HISTORY OF SIMPSON The following article is a history of the town of Simpson and gathering information about it has been extremely difficult. The author would like to thank Lucille Sumrell for sharing her collection of historical notes which enhance this article. Simpson, formerly called “Chicod,” is a small residential town located about five miles east of Greenville. It was just another farm community until the railroad came through in 1907 and it began to grow into a town. The story of Simpson goes back to Gen. John Simpson (1728-1788), a local Revolutionary War patriot and civic leader, on whose plantation the town would later grow. Before the town began, the area was known as Chicod. A post office was established at Chicod on August 1, 1888, with Louis Nash Edwards as the first postmaster. He served until the mail was dispatched to Greenville in October 1890. In 1896, Charlie G. Barron and W. L. Wootten came down from Clarksville, Virginia, to help the farmers in the Chicod area to grow tobacco. They bought land and had houses which would later become the first houses in the town of Simpson. In 1900 a three-room schoolhouse was built at Chicod known as Oak Grove School. This became the Simpson Graded School by 1911 with Delia Smith as principal and Daisy Tucker as assistant teacher. In 1918 the Simpson School had 70 pupils and had three teachers: Misses Minnie Warner, Rosa Wootten, and Helen Wootten. This school closed in 1932 when it was consolidated with the Grimesland School. In 1907 the Norfolk and Southern Railroad built a rail line from Greenville to Chocowinity which passed through the Chicod community, and it is said that Captain J. J. Laughinghouse named the railroad town Simpson. Before the track had even gotten to Simpson, a fledging village grew up along the railroad right-of-way consisting of a store owned by Stanley Adams, Oak Grove School, a sawmill owned by Lewis Edwards and W. E. Tucker, and a brick-making plant. By March 1907 C. G. Barron and W. L. Wootten had divided part of their land into lots and began selling them off. After the coming of the railroad and the depot was built, the village began having an identity crisis. The railroad station was called Simpson, but the post office continued to be known as Chicod. There were numerous calls for efforts to enact a law to change either the post office or railroad station name, to no avail. The town remained double-named until 1965. In 1910 W. L. Wootten built a general store which had the first telephone in the community. On January 1, 1920, the firm of W. L. Wootten and Co. dissolved and Wootten sold his store to the Tucker Brothers, composed of W. S. Tucker, L. W. Tucker, and J. B. Tucker. The store eventually burned in 1927. By 1911, Simpson had organized its own baseball team and they had a ball park in which they played other local county teams. On April 29, 1915, the Chicod post office was established again in Simpson with Godfrey S. Porter as postmaster. On September 11, 1930, Mrs. Ella B. Pate became the next postmistress. The post office then was in Stanley Adams’ Store. Also in 1915, Noah Carson Moore (1868-1940) moved to Simpson and operated a blacksmith shop there for 25 years. By 1916 the village of Simpson had streets named Central, Center, Simpson, Madison, Jefferson, and Mail (Railroad) Street. That year William E. Tucker donated land to the Salem Methodist Church which was located two miles from Simpson. They built a new church and moved their congregation to Simpson. In August 1921 the railroad depot accidentally burned down and was rebuilt soon after. It again burned down later but was never rebuilt. On August 22, 1923, the town of Simpson was incorporated. The first officers of the new town were Nehemiah H. Beddard as mayor and J. B. Hardee, W. H. Porter, W. J. Edwards, James Wetherington, and J. Lonnie Tucker as commissioners. They later named Floyd Bell as the town policeman and a small brick jail was built. The town’s charter was revoked during the Depression for non-payment of taxes. After the town was chartered, Simpson included such businesses as a garage run by Leroy Gladson and Shorty Gibson. A small café was operated by Dick Tell and a barbershop was operated by Lewis Hudson, Ross Edwards, Bryant Smith, Shade Edison, and Oliver Boyd. William Corbett operated a clothes pressing club which was later operated by Ray and Callie Dixon. A doctors’ office was built consisting of three rooms. The doctors were Dr. Spigel and Dr. Drewy, with Mrs. Ella Edwards as their secretary. In 1924 the Simpson black school was built on land owned by C. G. Barron. The first black school and church were held on the first floor of the Odd Fellows Hall which was built in 1921. This school was torn down in 1991. In March 1927, under the auspices of the Pitt County Agricultural Department, the Simpson Boys’ Agricultural Club was organized with 12 charter members. John Hardee was elected president and Wardell Mills was secretary. Robert Little was made Captain of the Pig Club members and Carey Hardee was Captain of the Poultry squad. In 1936, C. C. Lang and Son Pickle Co. of Baltimore, Md., opened a cucumber-buying station at Simpson with J. Herman Tucker as manager. He was assisted by Karie Lee Buck and Miss Elizabeth Edwards. The cucumbers were graded by electric graders and hauled daily to Washington. N.C., in trucks by J. B. Rouse and Floyd Tucker. The pickling plant at Washington took most of the cucumbers and the others were trucked to C. C. Lang. In the late 1950s Vlasic Foods took over as the new owners and it remains a big business there. In 1961 the Simpson Rural Fire Department was organized and with the efforts of local civic groups, the Simpson Community Development Program won several first-place awards from the Coastal Plains Planning and Development Commission for community improvements. A water corporation was formed in 1967 and operates as the Eastern Pines Water Corporation. The town of Simpson was once again incorporated in 1975, and probably the most memorable event in the recent history of Simpson was the devastating tornado which ripped through the town on March 28, 1984. —Roger Kammerer Greenville Times December 6, 1995

With regard to the Stanley Adams who owned a store at Chicod/Simpson, do you have any information about his ancestors or descendants? I think some of my ancestors were in that area at the time. Thanks! J. D. Adams

A little more information on Washington Dixon, 5 Nov 1806 - 24 Dec 1856: "Mary Dixon wife of Washington Dixon and daughter of Thos. Ormond and Peggy Ormond born Aug. 25 1809 & died about the year 1860 ..." From John Jones Edwards Family Bible, Greene Co., NC; for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Martha Marble. Census record: 1850 Greene Co., NC, 17 Sep 1850, Family #491: Washington Dixon 43 Farmer $550 Mary 40 William T. 21 Farmer Sarah Ann 19 Mary E. M. 16 Susan E. 14 John W. 9 James J. 2 Nancy 7 Washington died in 1856 and Mary Ormond Dixon died in 1860 before the census was taken. Younger children were in the household of their oldest brother William T. Dixon: 1860 Greene Co., NC, Olds District, 12 July 1860, Family #442: William T. Dixon 30 Farmer $4,000 $2,000 Susan J. 26 David V. 3 Addie O. 2 John W. Dixon 17 Student $400 James G. 12 $400 Sarah R. 27 Servant $400 Nancy 13 $400 Catherine Brown 13 Bill Brown 8 Henry Barfield 27 Farm Hand Sammy Pierce Hobe Sound, FL

Catherine L. Dixon, 8 Apr 1811 - 7 Feb 1868 m. Lemuel Sugg, Abt 1808 - Aft 1870: Census records: (a) 1850 Greene Co., NC, 3 Oct 1850, Family #600: Lemuel Sugg 42 Farmer $1,500 Catherine 39 Joseph 19 Farmer Mary 13 Richard 8 Samuel A. 3 John 1 (b) 1860 Greene Co., NC, Hookerton District, 3 July 1860, Family #346: Lemuel Sugg 52 Farmer $4,176 $25,000 Catherine L. 47 Mary F. 23 Richard 17 Farm Hand Samuel C. 13 John E. 12 Sarah V. 10 (c) 1870 Greene Co., NC, Hookerton Township, 23 Aug 1870, Family #231: Sugg, Lemuel 62 Farmer $4,500 $1,000 Sarah M. 19 Keeping House John F. 21 Farm Laborer Pennina 30 Assistant House Keeper Cathrine 14 At School Sammy Pierce Hobe Sound, FL

Who knows where this is? August 21, 1931 - The Farmville Enterprise Meet your friends at Hollywood Beach, on Bruce-Greenville highway. Dancing, bathing, boating and fishing. Wondering if this is near Greenwreath Park? Donna Kemp

I am not sure if my notes will post on the email loop so I am copying Bob Forbes and Donna. The information summarized here was gathered from family oral history and interviews with Mr. Russell Stancil and Mr. Hicks Pollard in the 1980's. Hollywood Beach was located along the south side Tar River on the land owned by the Stancil Family which was originally part of the Forbes land. This would be along the Falkland Highway (NC 43) near the Rock Springs community. It was started by one or more of the Stancil brothers in the 1920's as a recreation spot managed for profit. It is possible that they took their inspiration from Greenwreath Park that you mentioned. The sandbar where the "Beach" was located is located just east of the 264 bypass bridge over the Tar (you can't see it from the bridge because there is a bend in the river there now) This is between where the 264 bypass crosses NC 43 and NC33. If you are traveling north along the bypass, you might crane your neck as you pass over the bridge and catch a glimpse if the water is low. As a children in the 1960's we would roam the farm paths and visit the beach, being fascinated by the old concrete dance floor and remaining wooden buildings. The beach was actually a wide sandbar on the south side of a bend in the Tar. In low water it was quite wide and as sandy as any beach on the coast. Just above the "beach" area was the first levee of the river and beyond that the land dipped into a flat and sandy "slough" before the next levee. It was in the dip above the actual beach that Hollywood Beach existed. Claxton Stancill ran a dance pavilion using Delco battery operated lights during the 20's and 30's. (Most of the houses in the area still used Gas lights until the late 1920's) Claxton had been in California so he named the operation "Hollywood" since that denoted all that was glamorous in the culture of the day. There was a charge for using the bath house and for renting bathing outfits. There was likely a charge for different types of "refreshments" though no one I talked to actually admitted that. Hollywood Beach operated with a profit in years when the weather was dry and the river low. In very wet years, it was inaccessible because water would flood the paths and the river became too high. According to the late Mr. Hicks Pollard and the late Mr. Russell Stancil, the Hollywood Beach was a popular recreation spot because there wasn't anything else to do in the country. My grandmother and grandfather, who lived in Greenville also talked about dancing at Hollywood Beach so the popularity obviously extended beyond the neighborhood. The beach/sandbar area had been used since the community was settled for many functions -- Sunday School picnics, baptisms, fishing all night and of course swimming. There was a little log house at Hollywood Beach for young boys to sleep over in, though in previous years they simply pitched a tent while they fished through the night with seine nets. Boys had been skinny dipping there for over a hundred years! It was a popular pastime for young people to walk the farm paths down to the sandbar and back on Sunday afternoons as well. My grandfather Evans, who lived in the area, wrote about taking guests from out of town for a stroll down to the sandbar. In the 1980's the Rock Springs community revived Hollywood Beach to a degree. Neighbors co-operated and refurbished an old a shack with propane stove burners for cooking and screens for comfort. People from around the community gathered there on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for swimming, volleyball and cook-outs (once a summer the traditional pig picking!) Some, brave enough to fight the bugs, would camp out in the evenings. This tradition ended when the 264 bypass was constructed and the access property was sold. Hurricane Floyd destroyed or covered what was left of the gathering place. It was at such a gathering that Mr. Hicks Pollard told me of his boyhood days spent at the "Beach". At the time we were sitting beneath a sycamore tree that my grandfather, Arthur Evans, had planted on the Sandbar when he was 12 years old around 1905. The tree at that time stood on the peak of the levee above the sandbar as the riverbank had moved further north. Diane Evans Allen -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 11:27 AM To: [email protected] Subject: hollywood beach Who knows where this is? August 21, 1931 - The Farmville Enterprise Meet your friends at Hollywood Beach, on Bruce-Greenville highway. Dancing, bathing, boating and fishing. Wondering if this is near Greenwreath Park? Donna Kemp