Little Washington reunion held
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 4, 2016 1:45 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Siblings Bobby Royall and Mattie Coley look through photos on display during the annual Little Washington reunion at H.V. Brown Park Saturday. Even though they live out of the area, Royall and Coley try to attend each year.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Duncan Jackson fries fish for the annual Little Washington reunion picnic Saturday.
Stormy weather did not deter the gathering of former Little Washington residents on Saturday.
The 13th annual reunion of the former Goldsboro community that ran from U.S. 117 South to Center Street was held on familiar ground at H.V. Brown Park.
In its heyday, it was a self-contained town, with its own restaurants and shops, nightclubs, doctors and lawyers, churches and schools.
For anyone not around during those early days, just ask any who attended the annual gathering. They were more than willing to paint a vivid picture of the bygone era.
"We stayed on Canal Street and right in here about where the (H.V. Brown) park is, they used to open up the water hydrant and we used to have a ball," said Faye Booker. "It was the most fun we had the whole summer.
Joseph Seay lived off George Street, he said, in a little area called "Big Road."
He moved back to Goldsboro two years ago, after having been away for 46 years, living in New York.
James C. Arrington, a 1973 graduate of Goldsboro High School, also moved back home after serving 31 years in the Army. He now works at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Memories flooded back as he reconnected with former residents from the community where he grew up.
"My grandfather sold the farm, we moved right downtown. We stayed right there, at the railroad tracks on this side," he said, pointing in the direction where his family formerly lived. "Georgia Avenue came right beside our house.
"At one time my grandfather would let me blow the whistle at Kemp (plant) because he ran the boiler room shoveling all that sawdust and stuff. I would come and bring him lunch."
Separate from the city of Goldsboro, it was annexed in 1915.
"We were a city in a city down here, where everyone played all the way up to the cemetery," recalled Doreatha Macklin. "My mama and daddy had to holler real loud to get me out of the mulberry tree."
What is now a playground and park, where the reunion has been held for a number of years, was once a "sand hole," Ms. Macklin said.
"We played in the sand hole," she said with a laugh. "Then we went over to the cemetery and up in the tree and ate mulberries.
"We had everything here but the jailhouse. Everything else we had -- we had hotels, we had doctor's offices, drugstores."
"We even had our own movie theater, on James Street," chimed in Arrington.
And four funeral homes, Ms. Macklin added.
She should know. Not only was she a longtime resident, but she is a historian of sorts.
In 2003, she and several others organized the reunion as a way to reunite friends and neighbors who once inhabited that community.
The attendance has decreased over the years, as people live farther away or have passed on.
But there are still the faithful few, who show up rain or shine.
"I'm surprised today because we really didn't get in touch with everybody," said Ms. Macklin, who was sent scrambling late in the week when the weather forecast included a hurricane that was later downgraded to a tropical storm.
The event, originally planned at Waynesborough Park, was relocated to H.V. Brown Park on Friday afternoon.
Duncan Jackson, Ms. Macklin's son, manned the fish pot, letting the oil bubble heat up to the best temperature to drop in his catfish and white fish.
The slight chill in the air and the steady breeze worked in his favor, he said, as he had his own personal heat source.
Mattie Royall Coley, who now lives in Raleigh, said she called someone Friday evening to check on the status. When she found out it was a go, she waited for the storm to pass and ventured out late Saturday morning.
Marshall Brown, who resides in Brandywine, Maryland, brought his aunt, Rosa Green.
He had moved away in 1989, he said, but still has fond memories of his teenage stomping grounds.
"We used to be out here in this park all the time," he said. "Everybody would come out. We'd come through here with our cars and music and stuff and talk."
Time and distance melt away when there are opportunities to return and reminisce about home, he says.
"Sometimes I come for other reasons, but I come here every year for this and for the Jackson family reunion," he said, admitting that that would not change if he lived closer by. "If I was here, I'd still be here, helping out."