Home > Items

Browse Items (2170 total)

 William “Smitty” Smith - Pride in His Work (clip)

William Smith: I was not an academic person so building was something that I could do and I could look at it after it was finished and brag about it because it was hands on and I enjoyed doing things with my hands. Danielle Dulken: And when you say brag about it, you must have been very good at…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Learning Brick and Stone Masonry (clip)

William Smith: I had a masonry class in high school for one year and that was being a brick mason. Actually, I was trained as a brick mason, and I became a stone mason in the later years. Enjoyed doing stonework because it was very creative and that was the part that really interested me.

 William “Smitty” Smith - Developing an Eye (clip)

William Smith: With brick and blocks everything is straight, it is dimensional. With stone it is not dimensional. You have to develop an eye and when we say eye, that means you can pick up a rock and find a place in the wall for it. You know? So, that is an ongoing thing. So, if you were, we’d never…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Differences between Rock Masonry and Stone Masonry (clip)

William Smith: The term, “stone mason” is misunderstood. Sometimes, basically what we did in the local area is we were rock masons. Stone masons are different. Being a stone mason, you have to cut, shape, and make the stones fit. Rock mason is not that way. You just take a rock as it is and lay it…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Arts and Science (clip)

William Smith: The art form is designing a project and having a finished project. The science is whether you are going to use S type model or pouring the cement. In some cases, you can do a rock wall that has neither mortar mix or concrete. It has no mortar at all, so there is a difference. So, if…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Self Taught (clip)

William Smith: After I married, I decided to go into business for myself, and we did that and then we began to try to do that. I only did bricks. After then, I was approached on a job at the Carolina Inn by my boss and he asked if you could lay rocks, and I only had one answer and that was “yes.”…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Mentors (clip)

William Smith: The secret is developing an eye you know. One guy can see a rock and find a place to put it. Another guy would have something and have a problem placing the rock. It all determines in how you see that rock and how it fits in your design. Danielle: It definitely seems like a talent as…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Class Description (clip)

William Smith: Well, it was a room that had a pile of bricks, a pile of sand, and bags of lye. Just an open space. Then we had a project, and the projects began with a 6-brick lead. 6-brick lead being you lay out 6 bricks and the next course is 5, the next course is 4, the next one is 3 and that’s…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Learning the Basics (clip)

William Smith: Well, when you do projects, you do a project over and over and over, and then progress it. You start out with a six-break lead, then you’ll do a pier, then you’ll do something else, then you’ll do a fireplace. But then once, these are just basics that you learn. You don’t really learn…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Good Masonry (clip)

William Smith: That’s the very difficult question because masons, I’ll give you an example, we had a mason one time come to work with a pair of white shoes. He worked all day and when he left his shoes were still white. No mortar on them at all and the quality of his work was superb. Okay now you…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Owning a Business (clip)

William Smith: But the thing about being in business is you have to be very careful. If you’re working outside of your capacity, you’re in trouble. So, to be successful you have to stay in your capacity. Danielle Dulken: Because you’ll over promise if you’re outside of it? William Smith: Well when I…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Builders Gateway (clip)

William Smith: What I would suggest at least when they decide to do it and have a design, that they specify to use some of the old masons. They could specify that and see how it works. And even now being retired, I could put something together and put something together. But they would have to have…

 Louise Felix - Buildings Constructed by John Wesley Campbell (clip)

Louise Felix: My grandfather built the Hargraves Center and in 1924 he built Northside School and in Carrboro on Graham Street, he built those two rock houses over there. His son lived in one, he and his son, they did all the rock work themselves. So, we lived on Graham Street, 215. We lived on…

 William E. "Smitty" Smith

Fannie Snipes

 Judy Nunn Snipes and Gertrude Nunn - Speaking about the Rogers-Eubanks community

“I just have to say it was two proud families that basically loved the land and raised their families and contributed to the economy. There were lots of talents on both sides of the family- there was nothing her brothers couldn’t do.” - Judy Nunn Snipes This interview is part of an SOHP project…

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On family, faith, and the importance of heritage and land

“The connection is that the faith that backs me is my support and my strength. The you don’t give up. You keep fighting.” - Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes has been an important member and leader of Chapel Hill since growing up and living in the community for most of her life. She…

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On being bullied (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On her journey as a leader (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On the impact of Duke Energy ordinances on her family property (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On the impact of gentrification (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On the landfill and loss of Black-owned homes (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On the beginnings of the landfill and its impact (clip)

 Judy Nunn-Ellison Snipes - On how the landfill destroyed her family's land (clip)