When Society Vice President Durward Matheny questioned developer Alvin Moore regarding the whereabouts of an especially significant Wake Forest artifact, Moore stepped up to the plate with an especially thoughtful donation.

At Durward's request, Moore kindly donated the big whistle that for decades had sounded every shift at the Royall Cotton Mill.  Wake Forest residents, from the late nineteenth century through the mill's eventual closing in the early 1970s, would have heard this whistle blow four times a day.

Not done yet, Moore also gave the museum an immense ledger that had been used in the 1930s through 1940s to record workers' names, ages, wages, and other vital information.

Together with the mill tools donated by Ray Wall (and pictured below), these once familiar items add touching realism to our exhibit on daily life in the Town of Royall Mills.

Alvin Moore poses with Society Vice President Durward Matheny and the antique mill whiste.

Churchgoers in the Town of Royall Mills and the factory where they worked.

THE MILL VILLAGE

Wake Forest Historical Museum