Greensboro's Revolution Mill on the Horizon

The vantage point for this photo was a small, sloping knoll on the east end of State Street overlooking what used to be a cotton mill in Greensboro. Built in 1899,  Revolution Cotton Mill prospered and became the world's largest flannel production facility by the 1930's. Cone Mills closed the plant in 1982; however, the 600,000 square foot space is being repurposed into a work/live campus environment with walking & biking trails. The new facility is known as Revolution Mill Studios. The slogan on their website is "Join us for our next 100 years!" 

For those of you who want to read more about the mill life in North Carolina, we recommend Barbara Presnell's book of documentary poems entitled "Piece Work." We saw the poems, spanning generations of mill life, acted out at the Greensboro Historical Museum and they were fabulous. 

For our Sky Watch Friday friends and fellow photographers, the blurry foreground reminds us that Greensboro's mill history is quickly slipping out of focus. Most of the jobs and factories have gone to Mexico or to Asia. Here-- Greensboro's textile mill version ground zero-- we are left with a round brick monument to our community's past: REVOLUTION. 

Comments

[Enigma]

Nice shot. Thanks for the history lesson!

[Sally in WA]

Great photo. It's sad about the mills leaving. I remember going to Showtime in High Point and seeing so many wonderful fabrics. I ate at a delicious little restaurant in Greensboro but for the life of me, can't recall the name of it. Old age, I guess! :-)

[J Bar]

Great scene.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

[Guy D]

Brilliant capture, shots like this are why I love skywatch friday.

Have a great weekend
Guy
Regina In Pictures

[babooshka]

Such a familiar story. Excellent capture and title.

[Carver]

That's a beautiful shot and an interesting post. Happy weekend!

[Evita]

Very neat capture because it is so unique! Thanks for sharing :)

[Pietro]

Very interesting image and text.
Happy Sky Watch!

[Darcel]

What fluffy clouds. They make me want to hitch a ride somewhere.

[Pagan Sphinx]

Excellent and poignant photograph. I too live in a former mill town. We have a shell of an old factory that burned down and a similar "monument" but without the "revolution". There were plans to convert the factory to art studio spaces before the owner lit it on fire to collect the insurance money. Sad.