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The Cole Family

Notable Figures

excerpted from the January 1986 Calendar

Anothy(sic) Cole and Susan Browning Cole. ca. 1875. Portrait of the owners of Cole Mill photo courtesy of the Durham County Library. All rights reserved.

In the hard times after the defeat of Culloden in 1746 many family groups, even whole villages, left Scotland for America. In the shipping lists of 1776 the McColes are prominent from Apine and Glenurchy in Argyll, Scotland. They sailed on the Jupiter and landed at Wilmington, NC. We have no evidence that these early Coles ever made their way inland to Orange County.

In the reminiscences of E.H. Scarlett, however, Levi Cole is said to have come from the English town of Leeds, home of the Scarletts and Allens (see June, below). Levi, who appears to have been the earliest identifiable Cole in the Eno Valley, may have been an older brother of Anthony Cole, the Eno patriarch.

Anthony married Susannah Browning in 1822 and had 14 children and at least 18 grandchildren, besides nephews and nieces by way of his brothers William, Solomon and Levi. Cole holdings on the Eno were extensive. They ranged down river from Holden’s Mill, purchased in 1887 by his sixth son Samuel; past a tract of 108 acres “on the waters of Enoe,” purchased by his nephew John Anderson Cole from James Pratt in 1881: past McCown’s Mill run by John A. Cole in 1867 and bought by him with 400 acres in 1874; to 77 acres on Forrester’s’ Mill Creek just upstream from West Point which were sold by his first son Thomas to his third son Stephen in 1857. There were other lands besides.

The family grew and multiplied. John Anderson Cole had 16 children. His sister Sarah Caroline Theodosia Cole had 11. Then came the Durham sickness,” typhoid from contaminated wells, which killed the Coles and others mercilessly. In 1908 their mulls were washed away by the hundred year flood. Their lands are now diminished by Durham’s development. Yet they are a continuing force, a central part of Eno River history.

The homeplace of Thomas Cole, Anthony’s first son, still stands, now in the Eno River State Park, in a thicket of trumpet vines, surrounded by field daffodils in the Spring. A family of buzzards lives on the second floor and a ghost has been photographed in the dogtrot.

-Margaret Nygard, 1986

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Eno River Association
4404 Guess Rd.
Durham, NC 27712
(919) 620-9099

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Recent Posts on Instagram

The Eno community is mourning the loss of a tremen The Eno community is mourning the loss of a tremendous leader and community member.

John Blackfeather Jeffries spent his whole life in Hillsborough, on the banks of the Eno and in the shadow of a monadnock named after his people, the Occoneechee Band of the Saponi Nation. He passed away on January 24, 2023.

You can read Mr. Jeffries’ entire first-person narrative, as captured by interviewer Joe Liles, in our Eno Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2 - Ribbons of Color: The History of People of Color Living Along the Eno River. In tribute to Mr. Jeffries, we've posted it in its entirety on our blog: www.enoriver.org/news or click the link in our bio or story.

Rest in peace.

Photo of John Blackfeather Jeffries by Joe Liles, cropped from original
Artist rendering of an Occaneechi Village by Joe Liles, cropped from original
Sunset from Occoneechee Mountain by Dave Cook, cropped from original
Two of our staff -- AmeriCorps Environmental Educa Two of our staff -- AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Audrey Vaughn and Environmental Educator Tracy Dell'Angela -- recently had the exciting opportunity to go out with technicians from North Carolina State University to assist with Neuse River waterdog surveys in the Eno and Flat Rivers! PhD candidate Eric Teitsworth of @ncstatecnr is leading the charge to assess population levels of this federally threatened aquatic salamander species, and we were thrilled to get an inside look at what it’s like to conduct this research. 

Although no waterdogs were found in the Eno this time, we learned so much about this incredible species and the work that needs to be done to save it (and we did find one in the Flat River)! Visit our website to read the latest blog post about our staff's experience, Neuse River waterdogs, and what the project’s findings mean for the health of the Eno. Click the link in our bio to easily access our blog posts. You don't want to miss this one!
UPDATE: The original post had some incorrect infor UPDATE:
The original post had some incorrect information from an old hiking guide document in our files. We have updated the post to reflect Cox Mountain Trail more accurately. Thank you to all who commented to share the correct information!

This week’s #YearoftheTrail spotlight goes to Cox Mountain Trail in Eno River State Park. Hiking this 4.1-mile loop involves climbing about 280 feet to reach a peak of 680 feet. The trail offers a fantastic representation of the variety of unique geologic features found within the Eno River basin. Learn more about these features in the North Carolina Geologic Survey's publication, A Geologic Adventure Along the Eno River. (link in bio)
Lunch and learn alert!! Join us on Friday, Februar Lunch and learn alert!! Join us on Friday, February 3rd at noon for the first virtual Lunch and Learn of 2023! In honor of the #YearoftheTrail, we will be revisiting the four hikes we have completed so far this year in the first month of our winter hike series. If you weren’t able to make it out to the trails with us, this is a great opportunity to learn about the history and ecology of a few of the Eno's special spots, including the Confluence Natural Area, Bobbitt Hole, West Point on the Eno, and Holden Mill! 

Click the link in our bio to register on Zoom. You can also visit our Facebook page and join via Facebook Live. See you there!
Resolve to become an Eno Sustainer in 2023! By mak Resolve to become an Eno Sustainer in 2023! By making one gift each month this year, your support will have a huge impact! Check out our latest blog post for more info - link in bio!
This week’s #YearoftheTrail spotlight goes to Pe This week’s #YearoftheTrail spotlight goes to Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve! This 84-acre peninsula-shaped preserve features two trails which traverse a unique portion of the Eno. This uniqueness can be attributed to the geological makeup of the area, which is associated with high-pH soils that are not typical of the Piedmont. As a result of this less acidic soil, the vegetation that grows at Penny’s Bend is quite special. From blue wild indigo to smooth purple coneflower to hoary puccoon, there is a wide range of unique flora that can be observed at Penny’s Bend! Learn more at the link in our bio. 

📷 Photo taken by Kyle Foreman @kyleforemanphoto
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