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History of the Packhouse at West Point on the Eno
The tobacco packhouse is one of a cluster of outbuildings situated behind
the McCown-Mangum House at West Point on the Eno.
| Only two of the original work buildings, the tobacco barn and the packhouse, remain as reminders of the intensive farming that once went on at this location. This was the working heart of an extensive layout of crop fields (cotton, tobacco, watermelon), now no longer in existence. These fields were probably in use in the mid-eighteenth century. They were predated by Indian meadows whose existence is attested to by the names of the streams that thread this area—Black Meadow Branch and White Meadow Branch. |  |
It is possible that the
Packhouse dates from John Cabe McCown's time as part of the tobacco side of
his farming enterprises. Evidence discovered when' the new tin roof was put
on indicates a possible pre-Civil War date to the building. There are clear
signs that the original roof was made of oak shingles.
Jack Vaughan, who lived at West Point as a child, recalls the Packhouse and
its origins.
"It is all a matter of conjecture," he says, "It has always
been my understanding that P.J. Mangum built it. He was given to building
and built several structures that all had same design, or so it seemed. One
was the barn that burned in the big field by the house. Mangum had two, perhaps
three, tobacco barns and grew tobacco in a big way in the Fork Field. The
packhouse always had a tin roof on it as long as I can remember. The wings
were built by my uncle in the 30's and 40's. I remember when the west side
wing was put up. It was lower than the east wing to accommodate the half door
on the second story which was used for hoisting things up or throwing things
out."
It is perhaps impossible to resolve the question of whether McCown built the
Packhouse before 1876 and Mangum kept it up and added to it, or whether Mangum
built the entire structure some time after 1891. The curious use to which
the Packhouse was put by Mangum's oldest son Hugh is not so conjectural, however.
The earliest graphic evidence of the Packhouse is one of Hugh
Mangum's photographs showing a cluster of farmhands at the north side
of the building. Mangum's primitive dark-room was upstairs in the southeast
corner. Even in the later years of his short life, he returned here sporadically
from his photographic journeys through the South.
After Hugh Mangum's death in 1922, the building
and its precious store of glass negatives fell into disuse, then into disrepair.
Scheduled for demolition in the early 1970's, it was saved at the last moment
by the intercession of the Friends of West Point. The glass negatives were
retrieved by the family and given to the Eno River Association for safekeeping
until they could be permanently stored at Duke University.
The painstaking work of restoration was then begun. Money was found, rocks
were gathered; pier by pier and wing by wing, the Packhouse was renovated
(with some extra sophistication) to become an extraordinary center of early
photography.
Special thanks go to members of the Mangum family and to all those individuals, clubs and corporations, visionaries and volunteers who helped put together the Hugh Mangum Museum of Photography.