Founded in 1966, the North Randolph Historical Society seeks to ensure the preservation of St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church and Randolph County’s rich history by collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting archival materials and physical artifacts associated not only with the history of northern Randolph County, but also with the larger Randolph County community. “Click” on “Activities“ for a listing of programs and when the museum will be open. Check out our gift shop, history page, and donate page. As always, we welcome your comments. (See “Contact Us” page)

See The St. Paul Museum From the Air

Thanks to Steve Grogan for sharing his pictures of the St. Paul Museum from the air. “Click Here” to watch. Enjoy!

St. Paul Museum Monthly Programs Start for 2024

The St. Paul Museum Programs for 2024 start March 17th at 2:00pm. Our first program will be presented by Don Farlow. Mr. Farlow will speak about Riley Miller who founded and built Uwharrie Cliff Mills (Miller’s Mill) on the Uwharrie River in the early 1850’s after White’s Mill, which he previously operated on a tributary of Deep River in present-day Archdale, burned. Riley’s son, Jesse A. Miller, in spite of an earlier deferment as a miller, was arrested and enrolled in the North Carolina 63rd Militia during the Civil War. Following the death of Jesse A. Miller in 1901, a representative of William Gould Brokaw, developer of Fairview Park, the 2,300 acre game preserve, and leaseholder of an additional 30,000 acres of quail-lands, purchased the mill. Jesse’s son, Ed, and a partner incorporate another mill in Randleman, before being able to repurchase Uwharrie Cliff Mills a few years later. The Uwharrie Cliff Mills continued to operate until the death of Ed Miller in 1960.

Programs for 2024
April 21 – “A Struggle with Slavery” This is the story of how Thomas Lytle of Randolph County, tried to free his slaves and what went wrong.  We will talk about Jordan Brown’s 5-part series on the Lytle family. Program starts at 2:00pm
May 19 – Restoration of the St. Paul Church by Andy Compton: The St. Paul museum is restoring the interior as it was originally painted by Jules Korner. This restoration, however, is not just simply painting over the walls, but a matter of determining the original colors and designs on the walls. During the 1920s, the interior was painted over using the drab brown color that you now see on the walls. Apparently the decision to paint over the elaborate designs was to cover the darkening of the walls caused by the coal-fired furnace. Fortunately, no one tried to scrub the walls in an attempt to clean them because this would have made most difficult the determination of the original designs and colors. All of this is to say that the amount of work that must be done before any painting can begin is very time consuming. St. Paul is most fortunate in having conservator Andy Compton, who in 2015 restored the museum apse. He has most recently worked in Washington at the US Capitol Building and at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Working with Andy at St. Paul is Mary Aldrich, a conservator who has worked on many prestigious buildings throughout the United States, including the US Capitol, Joel Lane Museum (Raleigh) and the Ailey Young House (Wake Forest). Besides the conservation of paintings, objects and the decorative arts, Mary is an artist residing in Chapel Hill. For quite a few years, St. Paul has been on the National Register of Historic Buildings, and the interior paint designs, difficult as they are to see, is a major reason the building was so honored. Randleman has a church Building like no other anywhere.
June 23 – Join us as we take a walk through history in our cemetery as we focus on some of the more prominent people associated with the development of St.Paul as well as Randleman.
July 21 – Program Change: This is the story about Peyton Randolph for whom Randolph County is named after. Did you know that Washington Irving, biographer of George Washington and author of  Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, wrote the following regarding Peyton Randolph and “The ‘Gentlemen Associators” which Randolph founded: “… like all gentlemen associators in similar emergencies, (they) turned out with great zeal and spirit, and immense popular effect, but wasted their fire in preparation and on the march. …  There is no doubt that they would have conducted themselves gallantly, had they been put to the test; but before they arrived near the scene of danger, the alarm was over.” Come and hear Don Farlow give the background about this story.
August 18 – Join us as “We Walk Through Randleman’s Past” hosted by Louise Hudson.
September 15 – “Randolph, Rahab and the “Red Strings”
The Story of Confederate Resistance in Randolph and Surrounding Counties presented by Don Farlow. Program starts at 2:00pm.

How did Piedmont North Carolina, and notably Randolph County, become the center of resistance to secession and the refuge for Unionists, outliers, draft dodgers, peace agitators and deserters during the Civil War? Few of us today have ever heard of the “Heroes of America” or the “Red Strings” or about the struggle against Confederate power in North Carolina after secession by those who remained loyal to the Union, especially in the Piedmont of the Tar Heel state, notably in Randolph County. What circumstances led to the strong support of the Union in this region of North Carolina? How did the resistance to the Confederacy come to be known as the “Heroes of America” or the “Red Strings”? 

October 20 – Mac Whatley program on “Mill Power – Waterwheels and Steam Engines on the Deep River“. Click on the link below to view the presentation.

Click to access Mill-Power-Randleman-23-Oct-2024.pdf

November 17 – Honoring our Veterans with Dr. Bob Shackleford. Doors open at 2:00pm and program starts at 2:15pm.
December 8 – Christmas Music by the Center Street Saxophone Quartet. Please bring paper products and personal items (i.e. toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) for Randleman Community Services. Doors open at 2:00pm and program starts at 2:15pm.

St. Paul Restoration Project

One of the goals of the North Randolph Historical Society is to not only preserve the church but to restore it to its former glory. Jule Gilmer Körner (Ruben Rink), a well-known North Carolina artist of the day, painted the walls of the sanctuary with beautiful and airy designs of draperies, columns, the 10 commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. The North Randolph Historical Society wants to restore the beauty of these paintings so we have hired Mr. Andrew Compton, an architectural paint conservator, who has worked at the U.S. Capitol and at George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. Mr. Compton has finished restoring the apse of the church and has started restoration of the walls on either side of the apse. He has discovered 22K gold leaf under many layers of paint and in the video presentation of Mr. Compton’s work, you will note the dramatic difference where he has restored a small area surrounding one of the painted columns on the wall. (NOTE: Because of the size of the church, the lighting for this video was a “challenge”.) Click “Here” for the video.

Donations are needed to help us finish this goal. Please see the “Donate” page if you wish to contribute.

Eagle Scout Project Surveys St. Paul Cemetery

In November 2018, Randleman High School student, Connor Uehlein presented his Eagle Scout project that documented, mapped, and photographed the entire St. Paul cemetery with special emphasis on the graves of the Veterans. (Click “Here” for a link to his PowerPoint presentation.) Some highlights of his project include:

1. 671 grave markers were identified.
2. Birth dates ranged from 1762 to 2009.
3. Death dates ranged from 1827 to 2016.
4. There were 33 Veterans who honored America by serving in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
5. There were a significant number of tragedies – with over 10% of the population dying before the age of 10.
6. There was also some unexpected longevity, experienced in this time period, with about 7% of the people living to 90 years of age or better – including a few centenarians.

Attached is a listing (“Click” on the link below) of all burials at the St. Paul Cemetery as compiled by Connor who had assistance from Boy Scout Troop 531.
Listing of Saint Paul Cemetery November 2018 (Updated May 2019)

Also attached is a link to a “movie” (Click “Here“) which is a collection of photographs of all of the gravestones in the cemetery. Troop 531 worked over many many weekends in gathering this information. If you visit the museum, we have detailed information as to the exact location of each grave. Thanks to Connor, his parents and the scouts of Troop 531 for all of their hard work.

Metal Detecting, Archaeology and History in the UK

An enthusiastic metal detectorist, and a member of the St. Paul Museum, John Steele, USAF, Ret., had always dreamed of metal detecting in England where humans lived, farmed, fought and died since the last Ice Age.  He read many articles about discoveries dating from the Bronze Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Norman periods.

In 2014, John received a wonderful birthday gift from his daughter—a two-week metal detecting tour in central England.  The British Portable Antiquities Scheme (BPAS) encourages ordinary people who might find archaeological objects while metal detecting, gardening, walking, etc. to report their finds.  Little did he know that he was about to discover a “nationally important artifact . . . [and] fantastic piece of local heritage for the county” according to the Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust.

John set out with Weekend Wanderers, a private tour group which had permission to metal detect at a farm site when numerous Roman coins had been found.   On the second day of his trip, he picked up a signal for a large metal object; he dug down and saw the top of a bronze object. 

Knowing that this was unusual, he called over the tour director who in turn contacted the local Finds Liaison Officer.  That official alerted the county Archaeological Officer and an emergency excavation was authorized.  Over the next three days, Oxford Archaeology (OA) specialists lifted a cremation box burial.   Back at the OA lab, the staff cleaned and researched the items.

In the second century AD, wealthy Romans were cremated and buried with goods needed in the afterlife.  This burial was unusually rich with numerous vessels of glass, bronze and ceramics; the highly decorated bronze jug was unlike any ever discovered in Britain.  The ceramic vessels bore the inscription from a known pottery workshop in Gaul (France) so the grave could be securely dated.  Organic material suggested that the occupant was female and an engraved red jasper gem depicting the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva, reinforced that hypothesis.

John and the landowner donated the burial to the Buckinghamshire County Museum in nearby Aylesbury.  Funds in the amount of £3,000 (approximately US $4,500) were raised for Oxford Archaeology to conserve the metal objects and reassemble the ceramic and glass vessels. 

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St. Paul Museum Now Has a Facebook Page

Come and visit us on our new Facebook page and keep up-to-date with all of our activities. You can find us at northrandolphhistoricalsociety or at St. Paul Museum

 

 

St. Paul Museum Studied by UNCG Department of Interior Architecture

A graduate class from the Department of Interior Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, headed by Professor Jo Leimenstoll, M. Arch., visited the St. Paul Museum. The purpose of the visit was to study the museum through photographs, architectural plans and interior sections. The class also carried out a conditions assessment of the building. Furthermore, they created a digital rendering of the trompe l’oeil murals on the north wall to highlight the artwork of Jule Gilmer Körner and present what it may have looked like in its original state.  This study also included a virtual 360° view of the sanctuary interior.

In the Conditions Assessment, it was noted that the overall deterioration of the interior of St. Paul’s Church is minimal, and is mostly caused by weathering and natural causes, due to lack of maintenance for an extended period of time. (Note that the building was abandoned from 1951 until 1966.) This has caused moisture to infiltrate the building, and cause damage to the plaster and paint on the walls and windows. Additionally, the building may have suffered from excessive weight on non-load bearing walls, contributing to the deterioration.  Click on the link to view the Conditions Assessment. St. Paul’s Church Architectural Study

The class also completed a 360º virtual tour of the museum. (Click “Here”) (Note that this is not to scale, does not show the contents of the museum, and only the north wall is shown with the trompe l’oeil murals completed by Jule Körner.)

In addition to Professor Leimenstoll, we would also like to thank the following students for their hard work in this study: Christopher Ford, Isabel Leon Villasmil, Carolina Marty Matos, Jessica M. Ocasio, Mélia Soulier Parizel, and Christopher Vann,

 

The St. Paul Museum is now registered in the National Register of Historic Places which is a list of properties that are significant in American history, architecture, archaeology and culture. We  are proud of this recognition and thank the many people involved in this effort. (Click “here” for Asheboro Courier-Tribune article)

 

 

Pictures from the past

The St. Paul Museum recently received some pictures and we need your help if you can identify where they were photographed. You can view the pictures on our ‘Picture Gallery‘ page. If you are able to help, please send contact us as shown on the ‘Contact‘ page.