Railroad Builders: The Dunavant Family of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee

Download or read book Railroad Builders: The Dunavant Family of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee written by Christopher Hunt Robertson, M.Ed. and published by Christopher Hunt Robertson, M.Ed.. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1856, the Dunavants had begun building railroads and they would eventually be among the South's prominent railroad contractors. As they migrated from Virginia to North Carolina and Tennessee, they added to those regions new railroads, mills, hotels, golf clubs, dams and tunnels. For 73 years, from 1856 to 1929, their large-scale construction projects contributed substantially to the development of Southside Virginia, Western North Carolina (Morganton, Charlotte, Statesville, Asheville and Blowing Rock), Tennessee (Memphis), and other southern states. The naming of Dunavant Street in Charlotte paid homage to former resident and builder, Henry Jackson Dunavant. In downtown Morganton, Samuel David Dunavant organized Burke County’s first mill (the Dunavant Cotton Mnfg. Co., later known as the Alpine Cotton Mill); its building has been added to the National Historic Register. (2015 Recipient of a History Book Award and a Family History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians)