By Renee Gannon, 2/2007
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Building Penderlea
- 3: Life on Penderlea
- 4: Penderlea Today
- Download the full article
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Penderlea today
The guardhouse that led onto the homestead project is now part of the Penderlea Museum. The museum, located in one of the first 10 homes built, is filled with items donated by families who lived throughout the area.
The award-winning Penderlea School continues to educate children from Penderlea and surrounding communities.
Cottle supervised the overwhelming task of a school reunion for the graduating classes 1938–1975. After almost two years of searching for former students, the reunion welcomed more than 500 people back from across the country to the Penderlea School in June 2006, with every class represented.
The community next hopes to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Eleanor Roosevelt’s June 11, 1937, visit to Penderlea. Many say the resettlement towns were her pet projects. That summer day visit was a proud moment for the community. Cottle says that the homestead’s farm manager, C.R. Dillard, drove a truck in front of the First Lady’s car and sprayed the road with water to prevent dust from blowing onto Mrs. Roosevelt. The First Lady spent the day in Penderlea, talking with homesteaders and even dancing with a lucky few.
“There is so much history here,” says Cottle. “It’s more than the history of just another town. This is still a great community, more than just a government experiment.”
Contact the museum to learn more:
Penderlea Homestead Museum
284 Garden Road, Willard, NC 28478
(910) 285-3490
info@penderleahomesteadmuseum.org
www.penderleahomesteadmuseum.org
Some information for this article was taken from “The Roots of Penderlea,” by Ann S. Cottle.
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