Caswell County Fair

Caswell County Fair Closed This Year

By LAUREN CHESNUT Register & Bee staff writer October 27, 2005 YANCEYVILLE, N.C. -

Like the area’s great tobacco farming legacy, it seems as if the Caswell County Fair, a nonprofit endeavor that has benefited veterans and showcased the county’s agricultural and crafts heritage for half a century, may now be just a memory.

With half the attendance of what was needed to break even at the 2004 county fair, the fair lost about $3,000. Its carnival midway company for the last several years, Inners Amusements, said it couldn’t afford to bring its 15 rides to Yanceyville again this year, according to Caswell County Fair Association board member Hoyt Moore.

Moore and his wife, Doris Moore, said they’ve helped coordinate all 49 of the county’s fairs, including last year’s. “We were hoping to get to that 50th anniversary (this year), but we didn’t make it,” Hoyt Moore said. Moore said attendance had declined in the several years before 2004. “Last year, it just dropped off,” he said. “People just didn’t take an interest. I reckon there are so many things to do now. I don’t know.” Moore said he’s seen other small county fairs in North Carolina experience hard times. 

“We probably should have gone out five years ago, but we just kept hanging in there,” he said. The Caswell County Fair Association, which is made up of five members each from Yanceyville’s American Legion Post 89 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7316, owns the county fairgrounds on County Home Road. Proceeds from the Caswell County Fair were donated to veterans’ hospitals, Moore said. The fair is not a for-profit venture, he stressed.

He said Caswell veterans originally decided to host a county fair in order to promote what the rural county had to offer and to provide an affordable outdoor event for residents. “The board is kind of discouraged at this particular time,” Hoyt Moore said. “What’s really sad is that we used to have to beg for help (with the fair),” said Doris Moore. “Now everybody says, ‘Oh, Mrs. Moore, we’d have been glad to help.’”

Alamance County School Photographs

Above are two Alamance County school photographs kindly provided by Karen Avants of the Caswell County Historical Association. While not directly pertinent to Caswell County, Alamance County is our neighboring county to the south, and the photographs are just excellent without regard to location.

The photographs came from a Burlington estate sale, and the photographer of the second shot was from Durham. Note that the same teacher appears in both photographs. In the second she is standing to the far left. In the first she is almost in the center of the image.

Recognize the location or the people? Any idea as to the date?

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Marnie Kerr (Younger)

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This photograph was in the papers of Mary Kerr Motz (1917-2005). On the back is written "Marnie Kerr." Marnie was the nickname of Martha Frances Kerr Motz, the mother of Mary Kerr Motz. Which person is Marnie Kerr, if either, is unknown.

Possibilities: Adult is Marnie Kerr and child is Mary Kerr Motz; child is Marnie Kerr and adult is her mother, Eliza Catherine Yancey Kerr

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Marnie Kerr (Older)

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This photograph was in the papers of Mary Kerr Motz (1917-2005) when she died. Written on the back is what appears to be "Marnie Kerr." Marnie was the nickname of Martha Frances Kerr (1883-1965) who married Alexander Hamilton Motz (1885-1973) and was the mother of Mary Kerr Motz. Accordingly, one of the females in this photograph probably is Martha Frances (Marnie) Kerr Motz.

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Kerr Family Photograph

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The person in this photograph has not been identified. The following is written on the back:

"J. H. Kerr, Yanceyville, NC"

The name originally had been spelled "Carr" but was overwritten with "Kerr." The photograph came from the papers of Mary Kerr Motz, who died 2005 in Yanceyville, North Carolina.

Note there were several in the Kerr family with the name John Hosea Kerr. This could be the source of the initials "J. H." Thus, the photograph could be of Mrs. John Hosea Kerr.

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Kerr Hotel (Yanceyville, North Carolina)

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The date of this photograph is unknown. It was found in the papers of Yanceyville resident Mary Kerr Motz after her death in 2005. However, note that the front porch remains intact. Today that porch is greatly reduced, apparently as a result of the street's being widened some decades ago. Also note the motor vehicle to the right of the right. While the age of the vehicle does not necessarily determine the year the photograph was taken, it does provide some guidance as to its age.

Below is the Kerr Hotel as it looked in 2005.

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William Arthur Burton

The following article originally appeared in The Caswell Messenger April 13, 2005:

(Click on Photograph for Larger Image)

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