Morven

written by Paul Warnock

Morven is a very small town about fifteen miles southwest of

Rockingham in Anson County.  You would need to take

highway 74-west until you cross the Pee Dee River, and then

shortly turn left onto state highway 145.   It sets at the

crossroads of highway 145 which would take you on to

Chesterfield, South Carolina and highway 52 from Wadesboro

to Cheraw.  Today the streets of the town are paved, but most

of the remaining commercial buildings are in disrepair.  There

were several of these old buildings being used when I was last

there about five years ago.  There were at least one restaurant

and several gasoline service stations.  There was also an

elementary school on the south side of town that was one of

my father’s accounts.  During my last visit, I couldn’t tell if the

school was still active or not, but the building was still there.   

 

Back in the early 1950’s, Western movies were in vogue.  “High

Noon” with Grace Kelly and Randolph Scott was the epitome

of these.  Other examples were “The Big Country”, “The

Magnificent Seven” and the spaghetti westerns with Clint

Eastwood in the mid to late 1960’s.  By the 1970’s, Westerns

were mostly a thing of the past.  Television was actually

invented the 1930’s, but it was the early 1950’s before it began

to be commercially feasible.  There was a 5:30 PM Cowboy

show on each afternoon.  On Mondays, it was “Kit Carson.”  On

Tuesday, it was “Wild Bill Hickok.”  On Wednesday, it was

“The Cisco Kid.”  On Thursdays, it was the “Lone Ranger.”  And

Friday, it was “The Range Rider.”   Then to cap things,

“Bonanza” was the Sunday night Western on color TV. 

Bonanza was the first show that I watched regularly that was

in color.  Now, what does this have to do with Morven?

 

Morven in the early 1950’s looked like a town right out of a

Western movie.  The streets were dirt; there were hitching

post for horses; and several of the stores were unpainted. 

There were some cars of course and some modern advertising

signs.  The water fountains were attached to a hand pump; you

had to do a little work for your water.  There were watering

troughs where the water spilled into for horses to drink.   I don’

t remember the proportion of horses & wagons to cars, but you

almost always saw at least one horse and wagon when I visited

that town back then.  In fact, horse and farm wagons were a

common sight in Rockingham at this time especially on

Saturdays, but they were by far the exception (you saw one

horse and wagon for each two thousand cars you saw).  Some

farmers, particularly sharecroppers, probably didn’t own cars. 

By the time I left Rockingham in 1954, I had probably seen my

last horse and wagon on public streets.

 

My father went to Morven to sell his Sunshine Biscuits’

crackers, and I had a lot of competition to go with him on this

trip.  My father did not play favorites even though I was the

one who usually accompanied him on his sales trips.  My

siblings enjoyed this trip as much as I did because of its

western demeanor.

 

One thing I remember seeing was one of those old fashion

gasoline pumps dating back to the 1920’s or maybe 1930’s.  I

think it was in or near Morven, but my memory is not

complete on the site.  This pump was 100% mechanical.  There

was nothing electrical about it.  It had a clear glass, cylindrical

measuring tank on top of the pump.  There was a handle that

had to be turned with arm power.  The tank on top would hold

five gallons, and it had etched marks for each gallon.  As the

handle was turned, it pumped gasoline into the tank on top of

the pump.  The pump had no dollar amounts, only gallons. 

You had to order the amount you wanted in advance; there was

no such thing as “fill-her-up.”  It would have been interesting

to hear someone request a dollar’s worth.  Anyhow, once the

tank on top of the pump was filled to the requested amount,

the attendant would then connect the hose from the pump’s

tank to your car’s gas tank intake.  I can imagine a lot of

disputes particularly when the car’s gas tank would not hold

all that was ordered or if someone ordered one half gallon.  I

remember trying to talk my father into getting some gasoline

at this pump; it shouldn’t have matter to him as the Company

paid for his gasoline. However, he usually got his gasoline

from Perry’s Covington’s Amoco on Hancock Street at the

corner of Court Street.  This was before the days of credit

cards, even before the predecessor gasoline credit cards. 

Turns out, Mr. Covington billed Sunshine Biscuits directly; so

my father would have had an unwanted accounting problem if

he had tried to buy gasoline anywhere else.  The price back

then was 29.9 cents per gallon as all Fords ran on regular. 

Premium was 31.9 cent per gallon.  I sure wish I could get

some today at those prices.  By the way, that gasoline was

heavily leaded (to increate octane ratings and thus better gas

mileage).  It was about 1970 before they mandated unleaded

gasoline. 

 

Most of the stores in Morven were general stores that catered

to the farming community.  Seems like all the stores had an

amble supply of seed and farming equipment including animal

feed.  Once inside the stores, you wouldn’t know you were not

in Rockingham.   

 

If someone on the street asked me: “What is a Mirage?”   I

would answer that it was a series of excellent French fighter

jet airplanes.  If they didn’t like that answer, then I would say:

“Something that someone marooned in the desert think they

see, but that’s not really there.”  I remember an old movie

(maybe it was with Humphrey Bogart) where two men were

lost in the hot sun in the desert.  They just kept moving

because if they quit moving they knew they would die (and the

buzzards circling overhead would eat them).  Then one of the

men shouts he has spotted an oasis with all the water anyone

could want, and it’s only a quarter mile away just in front of

them.  Then they both start running in that direction but find

nothing but more desert when they arrive.  What actually

happens is that the heat bends the light waves (refraction) and

distorts what you actually see.  I’ll let you nice people reading

this in on a well-kept secret.  You don’t have to leave the

Rockingham area to see a mirage.

 

The best place is near Morven.  On highway 150 from the

turnoff on highway 74, you have about a seven-mile drive to

Morven.  There are three major hills and valleys on this road;

it’s almost like a slow moving roller coaster.  When I was

traveling with my father and at that age, I could fit myself

horizontally in the area under the back window.  My father

didn’t care for that too much as it blocked his rear view

mirror; however, I was allowed to do it occasionally.  From

this position on a very, very hot summer day, I could see the

previous hills appear to rise into the sky.  My father explained

a mirage to me, and it made sense at the time.  I knew those

hill were no higher than our vantage point on the current hill. 

I don’t know if this will work from a stationary position or not,

but it sure did work from the back window of my father’s car. 

Actually this will work anywhere you have level ground or

unrestricted visibility for two to three miles and a mechanism

to heat the surrounding air irregularly such as an asphalt

highway.  For example, you can notice this effect from the

wake of a huge jumbo jet such as the 747.  If you are a least

several miles away, the blast from the engines creates enough

heat to bend the light waves, but the image you see is very

distorted due to the very high air turbulence. 

 

If you have never been to Morven, I suggest you go there at

least once and take your kids or grandkids with you.  And tell

everyone you see there that I sent you.  They don’t know me

there now, but maybe they will by the time a few of you

mention my name.