Life of a village: Sigmon's book tells the story of Rhodhiss

Back in the early 1960s, Burlington Industries plant manager Bill Craven had it up to the gills with the apparent low opinion some folks in surrounding communities had of the workers at the Rhodhiss facility.

So Craven, who was a notable community organizer of social groups and ball teams, came up with a brilliant idea. One week, he arranged to withdraw $66,000 worth of $2 bills out of the bank and paid the workers in cash.

When the bills began turning up in area businesses in copious amounts, it didn’t take long for merchants to realize the economic impact Rhodhiss workers had. That put a stop to the disrespect.

That’s just one of the interesting stories Sherrie Hartsoe Sigmon chronicles in her book, “Weaving the Heart Threads of a Mill Village: Rhodhiss, North Carolina.”

Sigmon, a former schoolteacher, spoke about her project at Thursday’s Coffee at the Museum presentation at the Burke Museum of History. The lobby was full Thursday, and audience members laughed at the $2 bill story. Sigmon smiled when she recounted telling the story to a friend who works in retail.

“She said, ‘I really get that,’” said Sigmon. “She said you have places for your twenties, your tens, your fives, and your ones, and anything that comes in other than that you have to pick up the tray and put it underneath…I just love that story.”

Sigmon’s book is packed full of historic photographs that help tell the life story of the mill community that sprang up on the banks of the Catawba River and straddles the Burke and Caldwell County lines. 

More importantly, there are interviews with more than 100 people who grew up in Rhodhiss and told their stories to Sigmon. 

The author’s interest in the town’s past began in 1970 when she was assigned a history project by her sixth-grade teacher. She chose her hometown, interviewing local folks with memories of the area’s early days. 

“I went to two elderly people in town, and they told me that once upon a time, there had been a hotel in Rhodhiss, and I was just hooked,” Sigmon said.

“I also heard that the first church in Rhodhiss was a Lutheran Church. I’m Lutheran. I had never heard that. The Lutheran Church was there from about 1903 to 1911 and they sold it to the Baptist Church.”

Sigmon explored the topic further in 1988 when she was working toward her master's degree. At that time, she audiotaped interviews with 65 to 70 residents. When COVID-19 hit, she took the time to transcribe the tapes.

When she finished, Sigmon took the transcript to Town Manager Rick Justice, who immediately recognized its value. Justice contacted Richard Eller of Redhawk Publishing. Eller told Sigmon to start writing as soon as possible.

The result is a hefty volume that contains a comprehensive history of the town.

Rhodhiss got its start in 1900 when a man named John Rhodes purchased 75 acres of land in Caldwell and 75 acres in Burke. Rhodes’ business partner, George Hiss, joined Rhodes in the project, hence the village’s unusual name.

Sigmon explained the town was incorporated in 1903, but only on the Caldwell County side of the river. It wasn’t until 1919 that Burke County was included.

With access to the river and a railroad line, Rhodiss’s manufacturing interests grew swiftly. There were plenty of steady jobs in the town’s two plants, but the work wasn’t easy. Sigmon said child labor was common in those days.

She said her favorite chapters are those that cover working and living conditions, which were gritty to say the least. Sigmon told of a relative of hers who started work in the mills at the age of 9. She tells of a young girl too short to run her machine and thus had to stand on a stool to do her job. 

One worker who couldn’t afford shoes had to walk on the hardwood mill floors barefoot, and her supervisor often had to lift her up and place her on a windowsill to pull the splinters out of her feet.

One young mother on the night shift brought her twins to the plant and put them in a box underneath the machine, where they slept through the night.

Life was made even more difficult by the fact the town didn’t have indoor plumbing until 1949. The outdoor privies were often full of pesky insects. Repeating what one mill worker told her, Sigmon said “Bugs would bite your butt while you were trying to do your business.”

“These were not pleasant times,” Sigmon said. “I don’t think I could have made it.”

But plenty of folks did. Burlington bought the mills in 1954, and by 1969 the town had traveled to the moon — in a manner of speaking. The material for the flag Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted on the moon during the Apollo II Mission in 1969 was made in Rhodhiss. From 1964 to 1983, the company produced aerospace materials exclusively and enjoyed a lucrative government contract.

But eventually, Rhodhiss suffered the same fate as most textile companies in the United States. The government opened the door for companies to find cheap labor overseas, and the industry died.

Justice said he’s optimistic about the town’s chances at revitalization, calling it a “hidden gem.” 

For now, though, he’s glad Sigmon’s book is out there to teach new generations about the community’s past. 

“She (Sigmon) said every person that passes on, our history loses a library,” said Justice. “That’s why this book is so critical and important to the town of Rhodhiss, not only for those that remained that knew some of the history, but for our young generations that may never hear tell of this.

“Whether you’re from Rhodhiss or not, it’s absolutely entertaining.”

Sigmon left the crowd with a word of advice. “Preserve your stories,” she said. “Preserve, preserve.”

NOTE: The book is available for purchase on the web at redhawkpublications.com, on Amazon, and at the Museum gift shop (A portion of the price goes to the museum).