9/27/2013
Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
Eden North Carolina began life when the towns of Leaksville, Spray, and Draper combined in 1967. The three towns have continued to retain their identities in spite of being more or less contiguous. All three have their own historic commercial centers. Spray and Leaksville on the western side of town had large water powered textile mills. Leaksville, on the Southwest corner is the oldest. It began growing in the early 1800s. Spray on the Northwest corner grew around a water powered textile mills that began to be built around 1896. Most of the photos here are of now abandoned mills in Spray.
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
Most of the power for the mills initially came from water diverted into a canal from Smith's river. Pictured here is a coal power plant built to provide extra power. At one point 8 mills were in operation along the canal and river bank in Spray. Of those all are now closed; two are marginally occupied, two are abandoned and the rest I was unable to find or perhaps didn't recognize. One mill built more recently was being demolished but the older structures had been left open to the weather or were secured/reproposed.
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
Leaksville has a substantially built and largely empty downtown. The mill in Leaksville is more modern and seemed to still be functioning when I visited.
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
The Spray Mills Eden North Carolina
Eden (Draper) North Carolina
Eden (Spray) North Carolina
Eden (Leaksville) North Carolina
All content on these pages Copyright Mark Hedlund 2012-2019. All rights reserved. Use in school projects and with links on social media is always okay. Please send me an email to request permission for any other use: hedlunch@yahoo.com Non-exclusive commercial publication rights for most photos is $25 per image.