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Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 10:43 AM
Tree sparks history lesson By Keith Barnes | Daily Times Photojournalist A photo in our paper last week showing an oak tree being removed near Pine and Tarboro Streets has prompted questions from readers that I'll now try to answer while also providing a little history of Wilson. Let's begin with the sign on the brick wall at the corner of Kenan and Pine streets, across from Golden Leaf Apartments and only a short distance from the tree's location. It which reads "Paul V. Berry Hickory Grove Park." Paul Berry, a former Wilson resident and auto dealer now living in Blowing Rock, made a donation allowing for a public park to be built on this site, thus its name. As for Hickory Grove, we must go back to the year 1804 when Primitive Baptist Church, formerly located on the Thomas Farm off N.C. 42 East near present-day Tartts Mill Road, moved its congregation and built a church at a new site. That site was between present-day Barnes Street and Kenan Street on Tarboro Street and across from Womble Real Estate (formerly W.W. Furniture & Appliance) where a parking lot now exists. "History of Wilson County, North Carolina," (1985), said the Arthur Dew heirs sold an acre of land to the Baptist Society and that the property was "lying and being in the county of Edgecombe on the public road from Tarborough to Smithfield" (This area was then a part of Edgecombe County as Wilson County was not formed until 1855). Most historians recognize the church moving to this new location as being the actual origin of the town of Wilson. The site was basically farmland and trees during this time, but after the church was built a village named Hickory Grove sprang up. It is not known how the name Hickory Grove originated, but there were likely some hickory trees around there. Later, in 1839, the railroad was built running basically along the same tracks as today and the area where present-day Barnes Street crossed the tracks took the name of Toisnot Depot. Another small community, also called Toisnot, eventually formed around the depot with houses and businesses springing up along the road (later becoming Barnes Street) which joined Toisnot and Hickory Grove . Finally, in 1849, the two small villages were combined and were incorporated into the town of Wilson, named after Gen. Louis D. Wilson, a Mexican-American War hero. As for the oak tree that was removed, based on its size, location and estimated age, there is a good chance that it was either already there or planted when the area was still known as Hickory Grove. barnes@wilsondaily.com | 265-7855
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