Fieldale, Virginia
is located in Henry County near the 1756
site of Fort Trial, George Washington's
most southern outpost offering protection
to the hunters and trappers along the frontier.
By 1768 that same extended area belonged
to a landowner named George Waller whose
home was located on land that would make
up the eventual town of Fieldale.
During the Revolutionary War period Waller
trained militia on a drill field near the
Smith River. In March of 1781 he marched
16 companies of militia 70 miles south to
Hillsborough, NC in support of General Adam
Stevens in the Battle of Guilford Court
House. He was afterwards promoted and commissioned
a colonel of militia. Colonel Waller was
with General Washington at the surrender
of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, after which
he returned to his home in Henry County
to live out his life as a gentleman planter.
He served his county and state until his
death on November 18, 1814.  After
the Civil War, the future Fieldale area
was known as the Village of Waller and was
a rural area occupied primarily by people
of African-American descent. Early black
landowners in the area were descendants
of slaves owned by Colonel Waller. Some
surnames taken by those descendants included
Finney, Morris, Stovall, Napper, Baker,
Mitchell, and Waller. Another slave descendant,
this one from the Hairston line, was Jordan
Hairston who owned land near what is now
10th Street in Fieldale. The Smith River
tributary called Jordan Creek runs through
the center of the original Village of Waller
and was named for Jordan Hairston. Hairston's
land near 10th street became the site for
Mountain Top African Methodist Episcopal
Church which, like many early churches,
included a school. The founding pastor was
Reverend Wash Waller, a former slave who,
as a young boy, had been taught to read
by Colonel Waller's son. Although the families
had spread out to Chestnut Knob, Rock Run
and other parts of Henry County they considered
Mountain Top Church their home. Later, in
the early 1900s, a one room log schoolhouse
for grades 1 through 7 was built near Snowbird
Mill and was know as Mullins School. Snowbird
Mill itself was owned by the Mullins family
and operated until 1958 by James Mullins,
Jr. Tobacco was the chief source of income
for Henry Countians and the Danville and
Western Railroad completed its line to Martinsville,
the county seat, in 1882 to serve that market.
But small tobacco factories were soon absorbed
by larger firms and by 1906 hardly a single
tobacco factory remained in operation. Around the turn of the last century industry began to change Henry County and much of the south as well. Just across the border in North Carolina a man named Franklin Mebane developed big plans for a textile company manufacturing terry cloth towels. He built 7 mills on the 600 acres he had purchased in and around the Leaksville, Spray and Draper area - known today as Eden, NC. But in 1910 a business recession forced Mebane to sell his mills to Marshall Field and Company of Chicago, IL. Marshall Field renamed the factories 'Fieldcrest Mills' and established their headquarters in Eden. In 1916 Marshall Field began looking about for an area in which they might expand their mill. They contacted Heck Ford, Martinsville's one man Chamber of Commerce, who led them to the Waller area. The area suited them perfectly. The proposed site  lay
between 2 rail lines, the Norfolk and Western and the Danville and
Western, and beside the Smith River. By 1917 the transaction was complete
and Marshall Field owned 1800 acres of land in Henry County on the
site of George Waller's plantation.A construction boom followed as land was cleared and a plant and warehouse covering almost 4 acres was completed; Fieldale became a reality. The first hard surfaced road in Henry County was built during this period to connect Martinsville with Fieldale. Houses were added followed by a hotel, lodge, school, community center and stores. And so Henry County began to industrialize. Many people left the farm to take jobs in the factory. These people knew long hours, hard work and perfection in all their tasks. They brought the work ethic they had learned on the farm to the mill. The Fieldale Heritage Festival celebrates the lives of these people, many long gone, and the valuable lessons they taught us. Without these people Fieldcrest Mills would have been nothing. Through determination and hard work they built a town and a meaningful life for themselves, their children and grandchildren. They produced goods that became world famous for quality. The sacrifices they made and the wealth they generated built the life we enjoy today. |
