Oakdale is a Cotton/Textile village located right next to the Oakdale Mill on the Deep River.
Open in 1865 just at the end of the Civil War the Village was built to house the workers for the mill.
Here's the gatehouse, the one way in and the one way out of the village.
A historical marker is at the entrance to the village.
The mill looms at the end of the main road into the village.
It closed in 2009, but the village hasn't changed much then when I first saw it in the early 80s while I was on a Scouting trip to sell recycled newspapers and the Scoutmaster made a wrong turn into it. The mill was still in operation then, but the village looked much the same as it does today.
The Mill's become pretty grown over in the past 6 years. I'd love to see the inside sometime. I'm sure they're spirits there to visit. Cotton Mills at the turn of the century were dangerous places, and sometimes accidents and death were common place.
The village was typical of many factory towns in the United States.
There was a company store:
and a school:
But the real charm of the village are the houses which housed the mill workers:
Many were multi-family duplexes, or perhaps the single workers lived in some of these houses.
Most of the homes are abandoned, the whole village would made a good shooting location for a Horror Film. If I had the money I'd buy the whole village and make a movie studio out of it while keeping it historically accurate as an example of Cotton Mill Towns in North Carolina.
Many of the lots are vacant; the houses long torn down.
Or burned out like this house.
another view of the houses from the Mill gate.
Here's one of the many well houses in the village.
Even though the village seems abandoned many people still live here in the old houses.
Here's a house near the entrance; decorated with Jack-O-Lantern lights for Halloween.
Oakdale is a very unique place, and worthy of further paranormal study.
Check out this site for more information on Oakdale on the Mendenhall Plantation website:
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