HSF presents ‘Spinning History: The Rise and Fall of North Carolina’s Textiles Industry’

Cotton mills and the surrounding housing, often built by the mill owners for their workers, shaped the fabric of small towns and cities throughout the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The textile manufacturing business played a major role in the economy and employed thousands of people.

The fall of the textiles industry in the Piedmont left many of towns and cities, Salisbury and Rowan County included, struggling economically and tore a hole through the fabric of our communities.

Historic Salisbury Foundation will host noted historian Peter Coclanis who will speak on the history of the textiles industry in North Carolina on Feb. 7, at 5:30 p.m. Coclanis is the Alfred R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A past chairman of the department of history, Coclanis currently serves as director of the Global Research Institute at UNC Chapel Hill. He is married to Salisbury native Deborah Busby.

The deadline to register is Feb. 1. RSVP to 704-636-0103 or email office@historicsalisbury.org