SALISBURY — Want a piece of history, but just a small one?
Starting Feb. 18, history buffs can buy one or two bricks from Grimes Mill for use as bookends, doorstops or a conversation piece on the mantle. Historic Salisbury Foundation will continue to sell pallets of 250 bricks at the mill site and will add the single brick sale at the Depot Street office, thanks to interest from the community.
“We have had a large response to the brick sale,” said Brian Davis, executive director for Historic Salisbury Foundation.
The foundation also will offer single bricks with a commemorative plaque. They are not available yet, and price has not been determined.
To buy single bricks without the plaque for a nominal fee, stop by the foundation office starting Feb. 18 at 215 Depot St.
To order a single brick with a plaque or a pallet of 250 bricks for $100, call 704-636-0103. People who order three or more pallets receive a discount.
The 117-year-old roller mill on North Church Street was destroyed Jan. 16 by a five-alarm fire. Some 100,000 bricks made up the five-story structure, and thousands of those wire-cut blocks of clay will find new uses as walkways, patios and landscape borders at homes in Rowan County.
The foundation has sold 20 pallets so far and has one buyer alone interested in 20 pallets. That would be 10,000 bricks, generating about $4,000 to help offset the cost of cleaning up the site.
But many people want just a brick or two to commemorate the historic structure with the “amazing Tinker Toy interior,” as described by preservationist Ed Clement, including chutes, belts, silos, rollers, ladders, elevators and pulleys.
The foundation also will salvage some timber from the mill that survived the fire and use it to repair historic structures as needed, such as the Henderson Law Office, Davis said. Proceeds from the sale of any recyclable metal from the mill also will offset the cost of cleanup.
The goal, Davis said, is to preserve and reuse anything that can be salvaged and keep as much material out of the landfill as possible.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.