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WCU - Oral Histories of Western North Carolina

Interview with Rebecca Rhinehart

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Interview with Rebecca Rhinehart

HL_HIST474_Strever_Rhinehart_2016-12-02_audio

Interview with Rebecca Rhinehart

HL_HIST474_Carter_Rhinehart_2016-11-10_audio
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  • Rhinehart 1 Name of interviewer: Alexander Strever Name of interviewee: Rebecca Rhinehart Date of interview: December 02, 2016 Length of interview: 036:14 Location of interview: Canton, NC Summary: Alexander Strever talks with Rebecca Rhinehart about growing up in Canton, and how the paper mill effected the town. Start of Interview Alexander Strever: So, my first question, do you mind stating your name for the record? Rebecca Rhinehart: Rebecca Rhinehart. AS: And you do understand this is being recorded, it might be going into the library’s archives or be used in future dates? RR: Yes AS: Ok, so. First question, were you born in Canton? RR: I was born outside of Canton in Clyde, but it’s pretty close. AS: Ok so, but you did grow up in the town of Canton. RR: Yes AS: Ok. So growing up in Canton your family is in that area or? RR: Yeah we are right outside city limits. AS: Ok, did you have any close family members that actually worked in the mill when growing up? RR: My great uncle worked in the paper part of the mill and my grandfather was a truck driver taking trips to the mill. AS: Ok so he was in the logging section. Ok, that means your parents didn’t have any connection? RR: My parents didn’t have any connection. AS: Ok, and what did your dad do growing up? Rhinehart 2 RR: He’s a mechanic. AS: Ok RR: So he would work on people’s cars from the mill often so it kind of trickled down to us. [laughter] AS: Did he ever get called to work on some of the wood trucks, or was that? RR: That’s like diesel mechanic stuff he’s not into. AS: Okay, I understand. Did your mom work when you were growing up? RR: Stay at home. AS: Stay at home. So when you grew up did you go to a school that was within the Canton city limits, or was it like? RR: I think it was in the city limits it was North Canton elementary and Pisgah High right in the middle of everything. AS: Alright, and so was it just a basic public school? RR: Yeah just really basic, really rural public school. AS: When you say rural how does that differ from like maybe a public school in Greensboro? RR: I feel like we’re probably like lower funded and not a lot of really good teachers want to live out here. AS: Ok, so what type of classes did you take mainly like primary school, high school, stuff like that? RR: Just the usual classes like English, social studies stuff, but in high school we had a class, it was an elective, and it was called Pulp and Paper, and it was all about the mill. AS: So you actually took this class? RR: Yeah I took the first level of this class for fun. AS: Ok. RR: Because we went on field trips to the mill a few times. AS: Ok. Rhinehart 3 RR: Yeah, and we would do hands on activities like how to make paper, and it’s pretty fun. AS: That’s pretty cool, so did this class actually try and teach you stuff that could be useful in the mills or like a vocational type? RR: Yeah definitely a vocational, once you take all four levels of the class you are exempt from taking a certain test to work at the mill. So a lot of people who would graduate Pisgah would go on to work at the mill. AS: Ok, so that’s actually pretty interesting because they could get a job right after high school in the mill. RR: Yeah. AS: Instead of having to go to college which is kind of the norm nowadays. RR: I’ve heard the test to work in the mill is kind of hard, so the Pisgah classes kind of make it easier. AS: That makes sense, so I went to the Canton museum. RR: Yes. AS: And while there I saw a child’s group going through, did you ever go through into the Canton museum when you were? RR: I feel like I’ve been taken in there in elementary school because we would go to the museum or the theater. AS: Ok, yeah. Now I never actually got a chance to look in the theater, is it like a play theater or a movie theater? RR: It’s. I think it’s a mix of both, it’s been years since I’ve been in there. AS: Really? RR: But it’s really, really old looking. AS: I know it’s considered a historical building now. RR: Really? AS: Yeah. Rhinehart 4 RR: That’s cool. And the floods that came through a few years ago like absolutely destroyed it, but it’s back to normal. AS: That actually kind of leads into a later question that I’ll address now, on when the floods in ‘04 I know they destroyed a lot of stuff and everything did your family and yourself get affected by it? RR: No we lived on Radio Hill it didn’t get touched because we were up kind of high, but I have a lot of friends that, like their entire house was gone. AS: So the mill I know one of the owners, one of the previous owners, he and his family actually funded Camp Hope, did you ever go to Camp Hope, or have friends that go? RR: My mom actually went to girl scout camps there whenever she was younger, so that’s about all I know. AS: Ok, yeah so like you were saying the mill actually has this Pulp and Paper class within your high school, was that the only aspect you can see of the mill in your high school or did they like maybe get funding for the football team or stuff along those lines? RR: I think they sponsored the football team, but the mill was kind of a, like a theme throughout the school. My marching band we did a show called Paper Town I think it was my junior year it was kind of like a patriotic Canton feel good story. AS: Ok. So the mill, its gone through like several changing of hands so to speak. RR: Yeah. AS: Did that ended like, did you see any changes within like the social structure of your town or maybe changes in the economy when it changed hands? RR: I’m, can’t really say anything about the economy because even after all the name changes everyone still calls it Champion. AS: Yeah, Yeah. RR: [Laughter]. That’s the reoccurring. AS: [Laughter]. That’s kind of the theme I’ve been seeing with all the other guys I’ve talked to. So like, you didn’t see like any change in with maybe like increases in unemployment or anything along those lines? RR: No. I probably didn’t pay attention to that growing up. [Laughter] AS: True. Let’s see, I lost my place [Laughter]. Ok yep, so obviously you and the people that were connected to the actual mill were kind of distant relatives along, and stuff Rhinehart 5 along those lines. But what do you think about the fact that it is a factory mill and it survived to modern day and it’s actually profitable to modern day? RR: I think it’s impressive because a lot of other factories of its size are just gone empty buildings and this one is still thriving because our whole town was built around the mill and the logging industry and it employs almost everyone in some way or another. AS: Yeah. RR: It reaches out into the town. AS: Now I know the logging industry with it and what was directly connected to the mill and they cleared a lot of the land for trees and everything. Have you seen any detrimental effects due to that? RR: I mean the whole area was clear cut back in the 30s but, I haven’t seen anything… AS: On detrimental effects, how about that water? RR: How about that water? That’s a really funny question because we refuse to get in the river downstream of the mill because it is so gross. AS: One of the men I’ve talked to he was a former engineer within the mill and he’s actually now consulted on the river clean up, have you gone back over breaks, along those lines, have you seen the water getting better or? AS: It has always looked the same to me. Sometimes it’ll be more muddy, but it’s nothing compared to the stories I’ve heard from my grandparents about the water. AS: Does it leave a smell? RR: The town or the water? AS: The water. RR: I mean it smells like a river, but you can’t really smell much over the mill. AS: Gotcha. So I know on Saturdays the mill has that alarm bell. RR: Yeah AS: Did that ever like when you were a kid did you ever notice it? RR: I knew they would always do like a lunch sound and we could just always hear it no matter where you were in town. In elementary School it would disrupt the class because you know five-year-olds. Some points it was kind of scary but then you get used to it. Rhinehart 6 AS: I know personally when I first heard it I was like what the heck is going on. RR: It’s just normal. AS: that makes sense it eventually just grows on you. So have you seen I know Canton is an older town and everything have you seen it start to expand, maybe some of the architecture started to change or has it kind of stuck to its historical roots? RR: I definitely think it’s stuck to its historical roots, but the floods really made it hard for businesses because the buildings were destroyed and buildings are constantly getting new owners and new stores are coming in and going out of business. But I think they’re getting a brewery downtown so that should make it more of a nightlife and we just got our first tattoo shop like a year ago. AS: I love the historical architecture and everything but it’s just you start to see nowadays fast food restaurants moving in and stuff like along those lines. Have you started to see more of those popping up or? RR: Yeah Radio Hill is where all the fast food is in the downtown area of Canton is starting to get… There is an old hotel and they have a cycle of restaurants who come in and eventually go out of business. AS: So businesses don’t… RR: Businesses don't stay there long. AS: And do you know the reason for that or is it just lack of? RR: I feel like it’s not the tourist destination it used to be and it’s just the tourism industry has moved on to Maggie Valley and places like that. AS: So in the past Canton was a tourist destination? RR: I feel like it was a tourist destination before the interstate was put in a long time ago kind of the logging stuff I know there was a really good hotel industry for all the people coming for the mill. AS: So you keep bringing up radio hill. This is the first time I’ve heard that term do you mind explaining it? RR: I think it’s called Radio Hill because there’s a pretty large radio tower on the top of the hill. I’m not sure which way you came in the Canton but whenever you come in there’s a McDonald’s you see first thing that’s Radio Hill. And the hill goes down into town. Rhinehart 7 AS: I didn’t know if it was supposed to be because the old radio station was there or something like that. RR: I think there was an old radio station there’s a huge antenna tower and so that whole area of town is just called Radio Hill. AS: All right so you said your dad he services a lot of cars for people that work in Champion. Does he ever bring home stories about it? RR: There is one thing I’m not sure what it is the mill goes on a lockdown or shut down and he tells us about talking to people who are about to go in for this big shut down of the mill. I guess it’s like a maintenance thing. But he says things get pretty crazy for the people who work that. AS: So you said teachers really don’t like coming into town. Is that just because it is a rural town and if they’re coming from somewhere else they might not feel connected? Or is it just because they don’t want to teach in a small town? RR: I think it’s the small town. I knew a lot of my teachers lived in Asheville or Waynesville. But not a lot lived in Canton unless they were actually from Canton. AS: Did you have many teachers that were from Canton? RR: I don’t remember a whole lot but I know a lot of them were educated at Western for teaching. A majority. AS: Do you get a lot of outside traffic from Asheville or things along those lines? RR: If there is a wreck on the interstate then traffic there’s like a detour, there’s a back road that goes from like Canton to Enka, Candler, Asheville area and sometimes traffic gets crazy in our town from people trying to get to Asheville and people trying to get out of Asheville. AS: Growing up in a small town have you seen any differences between yourself and maybe somebody that grew up in someplace like Asheville or along those lines? RR: I would definitely say so. I’m kind of used to seeing poverty and kind of just an abrasive childhood growing up in such a rural area and a lot of people are surprised by the amount of drug use and homeless kids and stuff like that, but that was pretty common to growing up were people on drugs and really poor. I grew up across from a meth house. It’s still there. AS: Wow that’s very interesting. So obviously then the war on poverty didn’t really reach you guys. RR: The school kind of tried they would send book bags home with food for the kids who are really struggling. But it was just always there. Rhinehart 8 AS: Do you see many stores that are in town that are in service specifically like Champion? RR: I remember there was a drugstore like a pharmacy that was for Evergreen employees. But I think that closed down pretty recently because I think the building is abandoned now. AS: All right I know in the past they’ve had a company store or something like that where employees could come in and buy stuff on credit and it would just be taken out of their paycheck or something along those lines. I didn’t know if they still had that nowadays or? RR: I think it’s mostly died out. The pharmacy I think it just closed. AS: OK do you have anything you’d like to add about growing up in Canton maybe something you saw with your neighbors along those lines. RR: One of my neighbors, a lot of people who live around me, grew up in the area and so they’re just really strong, old people who have been here forever. I always like going to hear their stories. AS: Any interesting story that comes to mind? RR: Natalie actually got a lot from Joanne, but AS: Well if that’s all you have for me I’d like to really thank you for this. END OF INTERVIEW
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Oral Histories of Western North Carolina

These interviews document the communities and culture of Western North Carolina. Topics include the building of the Fontana Dam, the history of WCU, stories from local veterans, integration of the...

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