CHAPTER ONE: An Introduction to Snow Camp

Introduction

In the spring of 2002, five graduate students from the UNC School of Public Health conducted a community assessment of Snow Camp, North Carolina. The students gathered information by conducting in-person interviews and focus groups with service providers and community members of Snow Camp and also by examining secondary data sources. Snow Camp, North Carolina is a rural area in the Southern part of Alamance County. Generally speaking, Snow Camp is the area bordered by Highway 49 to the west, Highway 87 to the east and the Chatham County line to the south.

The History of Snow Camp

Simon Dixon, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, first settled Snow Camp in the early 1750s. He is now known as the founder of Snow Camp. Originally, Snow Camp was called the Cane Creek Settlement, because it is located near Cane Creek. In 1781, the Revolutionary War Battle of Guilford Courthouse brought British soldiers to Snow Camp. General Cornwallis and the British soldiers took over Simon Dixon's house and slaughtered many of the Quakers cattle and sheep. Gravesites of British soldiers still exist in Snow Camp today.

The early settlers farmed and established grist mills. Later, other types of mills, such as sawmills and woolen mills, were established as industries for the area (Teague, 1995). Common mills in the area include The Old Mill at Westey Ruth Place, The Little Ward Mill, The Thompson Mill, and the Lindley's Mill (Euliss, 1971). Many of these mills did not survive partly due to the high costs of repairs and upkeep and also the decision that the railroad would not run through Snow Camp (Teague, 1995). Because many of these industries were not sustainable, Snow Camp has no current industry today. With a small grocery store, two restaurants, a post office and a fire department, Snow Camp remains "a sleepy little village not too far from its beginnings" (Teague, 1995).

The history of Snow Camp is important to many of its current residents and the Snow Camp community strives to keep the traditions of the first settlers. Historically, "when a need arose, there was no hesitancy on the part of the frontier men or women to share their skills or provide a service" (Teague, 1995). For the most part, this remains true today as kinship is a strong bond between neighbors, and services and skills are willingly shared among the Snow Camp community.

Current Demographics

Current demographics specific to Snow Camp are not available. However, through the assessment, the team estimated that the demographic breakdown of Snow Camp is similar to the demographic breakdown of Alamance County. Current demographics of Alamance County are given below in Table 1. North Carolina demographics are provided as a frame of reference.

Table 1: Current Demographics for Alamance County, North Carolina and North Carolina

Reference: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000

As stated, the team concluded that the population of Snow Camp is similar to Alamance County, consisting mostly of Caucasians, however, Snow Camp has smaller numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics. Also, similar to Alamance County, the population seems to have a rather high percentage of people over 65 years old. Lastly, the team suspects that increased population in the Snow Camp area contributed to the 20.9% increase in the population of Alamance County within the last ten years (see Table 1).

Employment

Currently, unemployment rates everywhere are high and fluctuating rapidly. In July 2001, the unemployment rate for Alamance County was 6.1%, which was a ten-year high compared to state rates of 5.1% (Fisher et al, 2001). The majority of the workforce in Alamance County is in manufacturing, service, or retail trade (see Table 2). The team expects that unemployment rates and types of employment in Snow Camp mirror that of Alamance County because most Snow Camp residents commute outside of Snow Camp to work. Snow Camp used to have a large farming industry, but it has been declining over the past few decades, which has caused Snow Camp residents to seek employment elsewhere.

Table 2: Percentage of Alamance County Employees by Employment Sector

Reference: Fisher et al., 2001

Themes Identified Through the Snow Camp Community Assessment Process

Themes