Glencoe Mill Village offers a unique glimpse of a 1880s cotton mill and village. The 105-acre site along the Haw River includes the mill complex, 32 extant houses, 10 building lots where houses once stood, the mill store, office, lodge and other associated buildings. The site is of great historical and environmental significance.

GLENCOE Mill Village Click for Glencoe Before + After Slideshow (Images from PNC and Capital City Camera Club)

Read about the last available lot in the Glencoe Mill Village (353.69 kB)

A Special Place

Glencoe is an exceptional historic preservation project because it also encompasses major conservation and environmental components.

PNC's recent work with mill properties like Glencoe is in response to recent transformations in North Carolina's economy. The state's industrial base is evolving in response to changes in the global economy. Giant factories built at the turn of the last century are being vacated at a dizzying pace. The rehabilitation of Glencoe Mill can show by example how abandoned mills can turn into economic engines for their communities.

Glencoe is truly a special place. The site includes nearly a mile of frontage along the Haw River (including 2600 feet of undeveloped frontage) and is home to beaver, deer, groundhog, raccoon, and other species common to riparian areas in the Piedmont. When Glencoe is completed, planners, preservationists, journalists and others interested in neighborhood revitalization will study Glencoe's revival and how it can be replicated elsewhere.

History of the Site

Developed by the Holt family on a picturesque site along the Haw River, Glencoe is one of the state’s most significant early textile mills and mill villages. James and William Holt, sons of textile pioneer E.M. Holt, built Glencoe Mills, Inc. in 1880, and it would become one of the last water-powered mills developed by the Holts. The mill closed in 1954, and over time residents vacated the village homes. In 1979, Glencoe was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was described by the National Park Service as “a nationally significant site representative of the Southern textile mill village and its role in the industrialization of the American South.” The NPS has also considered listing Glencoe as a National Historic Landmark, the highest historical designation in the United States.

A New Beginning . . .

Although Preservation NC knew about Glencoe and its significance for years, it wasn't until the organization had successfully neared completion of the Edenton Cotton Mill and mill village that the organization felt that it had the capacity to begin the rehabilitation of Glencoe. In 1997, when Preservation NC purchased the long-idle 105-acre property in a bargain sale, Glencoe consisted of 32 vacant houses in varying conditions of decay and a complex of mill buildings along the river. PNC installed water/sewer lines and built necessary roads to provide modern access throughout the village. One by one, buyers began to purchase and restore the historic homes and rebuild the Glencoe community.

Progress Toward Completion

Only one building lot is available for new construction. Streetscape improvements have been made, including the installation of underground utilities and period streetlights. Various buildings in the mill complex are undergoing rehabilitation for a mix of uses. And in 2002, the first of PNC’s new infill houses was chosen by Country Living magazine as its House of the Year. Since that time, three more new houses have been completed with others under construction on once-vacant lots by citizens eager to continue the revitalization of Glencoe. By constructing new homes on these lots where original houses once stood, Glencoe residents are returning the look and feel of this historic community to what it was over 125 years ago.

Benefits to the Surrounding Region

Local preservationists dream of a museum village where visitors can learn about textiles' influence in the post-war South. Many Southerners have ancestors who worked in the textile industry, and Glencoe's authenticity and its location close to major transportation links will enhance its popularity as a destination.

As of December 2007 Glencoe Park, which covers the river frontage along the Haw River, was at 24 acres, with expansion and improvements planned.