When a group of us were planning the county’s sesquicentennial, its 150th birthday, in 1971, we decided to create a driving tour of the county. By then 95 percent of the county’s roads were paved and that would not be a problem.
You would head north out of Fayetteville and turn left at Kenwood. We had encouraged local women’s clubs to have various items for sale along the way and there was an old store in Kenwood that opened and had soft drinks for sale.
Following the hand drawn map you would have driven a short way on Highway 314, New Hope Road, driven through the Hopeful community, the Fife community, passed the Lees Mill community that goes back to the 1840s, and passed the original Yates Apple Orchard. Matthew Yates first noticed an interesting apple growing on some bushes in the 1880s hybridized them, and by 1920 there were hundreds of acres of Yates apples growing in north Fayette County.
If you’re not familiar with them, they are a red apple about the size of a McIntosh apple, and could be eaten right off the tree or cut up and baked in a pie. It was not too tart to eat raw. Today, North Carolina leads in the production of Yates apples, sad to say.
One could continue out Sandy Creek Road to Highway 74, go through “old” Tyrone, the town and the road has changed dramatically, and south into Peachtree City.
We had artisans and food vendors in the park in Peachtree City and one of those artisans was D. X. Gordy. He had been born in that area and he and his Dad had become quite famous potters. My daughter has a cup with her name on it that he made just for her and it is priceless. He would often spend Christmas night staying with us evoking many precious memories.
One would continue south from Peachtree City into Brooks, then north on Brooks-Woolsey Road to Highway 92 South, north back into Fayetteville.
What surprised us committee folks the most was afterwards, the number of native Fayette Countians who confided that they saw areas of Fayette County they had never seen before in their lives. Someone from the south end of the county related that they would not have been caught dead nor seen under any circumstance driving through Kenwood, for instance, for any reason. They said it would have been too embarrassing of itself, but they were glad to use the excuse of taking part in the sesquicentennial events to support their county.
This county goes back to 1821 and a number of interesting communities and sites still exist. All the county public libraries have a copy of the county history written in 1977. Check out a copy, learn about these sites and take a Sunday ride around our fair county – we’re never too old to learn. Not to mention the fact that there are now over 100 places to eat that didn’t exist in 1971.
