Fifteen years ago, my Durham, N.C., middle-school class took a field trip to an abandoned mill village called Glencoe, to view firsthand how grimly our state's textile industry had declined. Glencoe in the mid-1990s could make even the most hardened visitor shiver. The brick cotton mill, opened in 1880 and closed in 1954, was in a Gothic state of ruin. The hydroelectric plant, overlooking the muddy Haw River, was nearly hidden by weeds. But creepiest of all were the houses. Once the modest homes of mill workers, they were now nothing more than skeletons of weather-beaten wood and shattered glass. We poked around the raised foundations, unearthing ancient moonshine bottles, shoes, broken combs.

Preservation Magazine Online (2.22.10)

Read the full story here. .

Learn more about the Glencoe Project and its progress here