My cousin Diane Evans Allen has written a great description of Hollywood Beach on the Tar River, and there is not a lot I can add to it. I will add that it is at approximately the same location as an old river landing and crossing known as Brown's Old Ferry in the 1800's and shown on a 1905 USGS map that I have. I visited the location once or twice in the 1980's and it was as Diane described; it was also used during the wintertime as a hunting camp and cookout spot. As Diane mentioned, the last remnants of the place were pretty much destroyed by the Flood of '99. I do not know if the old concrete slab can be located today, although I suspect some remnant of the old sand bar that formed the beach can still be observed during low water. There are tales in my family of its use as a swimming hole and fishing spot going back a couple hundred years. My and Diane's ancestor, Rev. War patriot Arthur Forbes mentions a "seine place" in his 1820 will that likely refers to this same location, since it was on his land and a part of the river that was fairly easily accessed, thereby making it a convenient river crossing location. Brown's Old Ferry was likely named for the Brown family that owned land on the north side of river in that area in the 1800s -- likely most of the 1700s too. The Brown, Forbes, Evans and Stancill families were the landowners of that area from Colonial days almost to the present -- with the land traiditionally changing hands only via wills and marriages between those families... although I believe that Barnhill Construction Co., who bought most of the Stancill Farm in the 1980's to mine the sandy soil there for construction of the US Hwy 264 bypass thru the area, is the current landowner. Oh - one other interesting anecdote about Claxton Stancill who named the area Hollywood Beach after he returned from California to make it an amusement park. Claxton and several other brothers and cousins of the Stancill and Forbes families were expert horse riders... at least they certainly thought so. When the old Hollywood westerns started coming out in the 1920's, a few of them decided to head for California to try and break into the cowboy movie business. They didn't last long there, but upon returning to Pitt County, they all claimed to have had movie roles as "extras"... those legions of nameless horsemen who formed the cowboy gangs, cavalries, posses, etc. of those movies. So when viewing a cowboy flick on a Sat. afternoon in Greenville with their friends, the young men who'd been to Hollywood could be heard to say, "Hey, there I am!"... referring to a cowboy, Indian, or cavalry horseman shown in the background for a brief instant or two during the scene... Bob Forbes ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diane" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 11:25 PM Subject: [NC-PCFR] RE: Hollywood beach > > 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 >