Spring 2018 HSNC Meeting, Gastonia, NC

We will be motoring to Gastonia for our Spring 2018 of meeting on Friday afternoon and evening, April 6th at the Loray Mill Complex. We will get to see how this industrial facility so steeped in the textile and organized labor heritage of North Carolina has been adapted to alternative use.

Registration/Meal

If you have not already paid for your meal(s) please do so by no later than Tuesday, March 20th. The cost per meal will be $25.00 and payment can be sent to our Treasurer:
Mike Hill
Research Branch
NC Office of Archives and History
4610 Mail Service Center
Raleigh NC  27699-4610

Program

2-3 pm:  Council Meeting

3-4 pm:  Social time

4-5:30 pm:  Afternoon program:  Walking tour of the Loray Mill and parts of the surrounding mill village (weather permitting) with Dr. Robert Allen, James Logan Godfrey Distinguished Professor of American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill; tour of the Alfred C. Kessell History Center at Loray Mill with Amanda Edwards Holland, Director of the Center; Joined by Jason Luker, Director of the Gaston County Museum of Art and History, who will be talking about his museum’s upcoming exhibit on the Loray Mill Strike of 1929.

5:30-6 pm:  Business Meeting

6-7 pm:  Dinner (by reservation only- see details above)

7-8 pm:  Evening Program/Musicale:   Wayne Seymour and Fred Reynolds, of Leaksville and Spray (now Eden, NC), longtime regionally renowned authorities and performers of country and bluegrass music, will present a lecture/performance on “Music in the Textile Culture of the Carolina Piedmont.”

Directions and Parking

Address of the event hall: 300 S Firestone St #200A, Gastonia, NC 28052

The Loray Mill is actually now an apartment building with a variety of services, including the Museum on the lower floors.  The Mill is located on the south side of 2nd Avenue.

Abundant parking is available at the front of the site.

FROM RALEIGH, NC AREA (via I-40 West)
Begin from I-40 headed westbound
Keep left to continue on I-85 S, follow signs for I-73 N/US-421/Thomasville/High Point
Keep Left at the fork to stay on I-85 S
Take exit 19 for NC-7 toward East Gastonia
Continue on NC-7 W.  Take E. Franklin Blvd to W. 2nd Avenue
Turn right only NC-7W/E Ozark Ave. W (signs for I-85)
Turn left onto N. Broad Street
Turn Right onto E. Franklin Blvd
Turn Left onto S. Dalton St.
Turn right at the 1st cross street onto W 2nd. Avenue

FROM CHARLOTTE, NC AREA (via I-85 South)
Take I-85 S toward Gastonia
Take exit 19 for NC-7 toward East Gastonia
Continue on NC-7 W.  Take E. Franklin Blvd to W. 2nd Avenue
Turn right only NC-7W/E Ozark Ave. W (signs for I-85)
Turn left onto N. Broad Street
Turn Right onto E. Franklin Blvd
Turn Left onto S. Dalton St.
Turn right at the 1st cross street onto W 2nd. Avenue

FROM COLUMBIA, SC AREA
Take I-77 North to I-85 South direct (or via I-485 Inner Loop)

Hotel Options

• Comfort Suites Hotel: 1874 Remount Road, Gastonia, NC 28054, 704-865-6688 ($98 to 114.00/night)
• Fairfield Inn by Marriott Charlotte Gastonia: 1860 Remount Road, Gastonia, NC 704-867-5073 ($112 to $134/night)
• Holiday Inn Express Charlotte West-Gastonia: 1911 Broadcast Street, Gastonia, NC 704-844-3300 ($133.86 to $142.59/night)