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Dec 19, 1891
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Completion of Roanoke and Southern Railway built between Roanoke, VA and Winston-
Salem, NC. This opens up industrial opportunity in the areas between the two cities.
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Feb 1892
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Roanoke and Southern sold to Norfolk & Western Railroad
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???
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J.J. Vaden home built in the center of what is to become the town of Avalon. Vaden boarded many
workmen employed to build houses, cotton mill, Avalon Dam on the Mayo River and canal between mill
and dam. An 11-room hotel is soon built to accommodate the workmen and overseers of the dam and mill
project.
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1898
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Village begun 2 miles north of Mayodan, NC, to house employees of the cotton mill under
simultaneous construction. The original street plan provides 62 lots with room for a yard and garden in
each. The 100.33 acres of land in Avalon offers ample space to double the size of the town.
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June 15, 1899
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Corporation papers drawn up at Wachovia Loan & Trust Co. in Winston-Salem.
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March 1900
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Town of Avalon, at 6 months old, has a store and 20 houses along 2 wide dirt streets.
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Sept 14, 1900
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Avalon Mills is completed, and in operation with 40 employees. Papers are signed between
Avalon Mills of Mayodan and Norfolk & Western Railway Co. for a 3200-foot track siding next to the
Mill.
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April 13, 1900
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First Moravian prayer meeting held at Avalon.
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1901
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Avalon Moravian Church erected.
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1902
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Mill is running strong and town has doubled in size. A shelter is built next to the tracks as a flag
station for residents wishing to ride the rails to another town.
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1903
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Avalon is included as a stop on Norfolk & Western Railway map, but not added to the passenger
schedule. Avalonians wishing to ride now, as before, must flag down a train as it comes into view.
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1906-1908
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Town continues to grow as mill wives deliver healthy infants at home with the assistance of
midwives. Occasionally a doctor named George Harrison travels from Mayodan by horse-and-
buggy to oversee the births, and otherwise care for residents of Avalon.
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1908
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Telephones installed in a few houses by A.J. Fair and his sons of Walnut Cove, NC. Town still has
no electricity or running water. Oil lamps provide light, and pumps placed over several wells
provide water for the villagers.
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1911
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Avalonians at the height of the town's growth bustle about their daily activities. Life here is
dependent upon the mill and its meager wages. Employees of the mill live in Company-owned
houses, shop at the Company store, and revolve their lives around mill hours, usually 6 am to 6 pm.
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Early 1911
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A hallmark event in the lives of Avalon residents: Halley's comet passes over, seemingly "so
close that its tail touched the ground". The 17- year locust by this time has also invaded the town, and
residents witnessing the "W" on its wings predict war.
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June 1911
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A picnic area is built behind the mill on the banks of the Mayo River as a gathering place for
the townspeople. It is used once.
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June 15, 1911
~5:55 p.m.
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It is the end of the workday for the residents of Avalon. Wives are finishing
supper as the mill employees walk up the path toward home. Only a few people are left inside the mill
when a loom catches fire. A bucket of water is thrown on this small fire to extinguish it, but the water only
makes it worse. All the windows in the mill are open to the breezes and soon the entire fourth floor is
engulfed in flames. Stricken townspeople hear the fire alarm and leave dinners untouched, hurrying down
the hill toward the mill. They watch with heavy hearts as their only source of income, a whole way of life,
burns.
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July, 1911
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Employees of Avalon Mills are transferred temporarily to Washington Mills in Mayodan. They
walk two miles between the towns twice a day, anxiously awaiting word regarding when their own mill
will be rebuilt. To their horror, an announcement is soon made declaring that Avalon Mills will not be
restored and that the entire town will be relocated to Mayodan.
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1911-1913
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Company-owned houses are moved progressively to Mayodan. Placed on logs and rolled two
miles up the river with the aid of as many as sixteen horses, these houses are interspersed
throughout the Town of Mayodan. Avalonians who were once neighbors bid goodbye to each
other, some choosing to move out of the area completely. Many will never meet again.
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Late 1913
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The only house left in Avalon is the Vaden house, the first house here and the only one not
owned by the Company. The only brick building in Avalon, which housed the company store, becomes a
residence for Mr. William Morgan Barrow. He has moved to Avalon to farm the land from which the town
has been removed.
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1928
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Mr. Barrow leaves what once was Avalon to pursue other interests. The old store building is
demolished.
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2000
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All that remains at Avalon is the dam, canal, bulkhead, machine shop and some debris from the
old mill. The machine shop is now a Duke Power facility. The 3200 feet of track once beside the mill has
been pulled up. There are large chunks of brick wall scattered at random. The streets where houses once
stood are overgrown and inaccessible. However, at least, walking along the road to Avalon, the feeling of
yesterday still exists.
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