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Old Posted Mar 3, 2012, 9:13 AM
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hauntedheadnc hauntedheadnc is online now
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Rutherfordton, NC: A visit to NC's secret code-word city.

Another week, another trip to Rutherford County to take my mother to see her doctor down there. The last time my boyfriend and I took her down there, we passed the time while she was seeing her doctor by heading over to downtown Forest City, which is one of the four small towns comprising the little urban clump at the heart of the county. The other three are Spindale, Ruth, and... Rutherfordton, the county seat.

Naturally, as befits its status as the county seat of government, Rutherfordton is considerably grander than the other communities in the clump. The county courthouse is here, for example, and it's also where the majority of the mill-owners, as well as the county's professionals such as doctors and lawyers, settled as the area grew. As a result, here are the government buildings, the biggest churches, and all the nicest houses because Rutherfordton was where the county's money settled.

However, there is another aspect to Rutherfordton that is even more important, and it is this: Just as Rouen serves as France's secret code-word city, its name unpronounceable except by locals born and bred in the area, so too does Rutherfordton's name defeat all but the locals. And even attempting to spell out the pronunciation phonetically will trip us up.

"RUHTH-fuh-ton" is close, but not quite right, and I've just spent the past five minutes repeating the city's name out loud and I'm still unable to transcribe it just right.

No matter. Here is Rutherfordton.

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Now, you may wonder why I chose such music for such an out-of-the-way backwater, and the reason is because it's a nice jazz tune and in the Jazz Age, Rutherfordton was a community on its way up. Rutherford County at that time was a humming hub of the textile industry and its towns were booming. I'd like to think that good things lie in the future for Rutherford County again someday.

































































































































































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"To sustain the life of a large, modern city in this cloying, clinging heat is an amazing achievement. It is no wonder that the white men and women in Greenville walk with a slow, dragging pride, as if they had taken up a challenge and intended to defy it without end." -- Rebecca West for The New Yorker, 1947
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Old Posted Mar 3, 2012, 9:31 PM
novaCJ novaCJ is offline
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Looks nice. It definitely reminds me of many small towns in Southwestern Virginia.
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Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 2:32 PM
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hauntedheadnc hauntedheadnc is online now
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Originally Posted by novaCJ View Post
Looks nice. It definitely reminds me of many small towns in Southwestern Virginia.
I imagine it would... landscape is similar and if I remember correctly, SW Virginia is -- or was -- coal country, which would have made its town industrial in nature... just like Rutherford County with its textiles.

Thanks for stopping by to look!
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"To sustain the life of a large, modern city in this cloying, clinging heat is an amazing achievement. It is no wonder that the white men and women in Greenville walk with a slow, dragging pride, as if they had taken up a challenge and intended to defy it without end." -- Rebecca West for The New Yorker, 1947
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Old Posted Mar 7, 2012, 8:04 PM
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Interesting photo tour.
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Old Posted Mar 8, 2012, 1:56 AM
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The textile towns never saw the great wealth coal towns in VA/WV had. All are still interesting though.

I don't think I've ever stopped to look around in Rutherford County? The first thing I think of when I think of Rutherford is Isothermal Community College. For the people from outside the area reading this, if you lived in Asheville at some point in your life, you've heard this college's interesting name (connected to the Isothermal Belt) and heard it more than UNCA, Western or AB Tech, thanks largely to the bluegrass/folk music scene they support in the area. The next time you're in the Rutherford area, you should look into photographing the school and the town around it. The school is "locally" famous.
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Old Posted Mar 8, 2012, 4:43 AM
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Looks like a nice little town.
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Old Posted Mar 8, 2012, 3:25 PM
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hauntedheadnc hauntedheadnc is online now
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Originally Posted by Matthew View Post
I don't think I've ever stopped to look around in Rutherford County? The first thing I think of when I think of Rutherford is Isothermal Community College. For the people from outside the area reading this, if you lived in Asheville at some point in your life, you've heard this college's interesting name (connected to the Isothermal Belt) and heard it more than UNCA, Western or AB Tech, thanks largely to the bluegrass/folk music scene they support in the area. The next time you're in the Rutherford area, you should look into photographing the school and the town around it. The school is "locally" famous.
I pass right by that en route to the doctor. From the highway it looks very futuristic.
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"To sustain the life of a large, modern city in this cloying, clinging heat is an amazing achievement. It is no wonder that the white men and women in Greenville walk with a slow, dragging pride, as if they had taken up a challenge and intended to defy it without end." -- Rebecca West for The New Yorker, 1947
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