Full Text of the Excerpt

FRANCES E. WEBB:

What values, how do you think the values differed?

NANCY HOLT:

Well, first of all they live all clustered up together. That was one. And you never knew - and I think it even goes back to that basic thing I was talking about, the cause and effect. A real tie with the land and a real tie with what we considered the, the way to live. And I think perhaps they held the same view of other people in the surrounding areas. But I think perhaps Chapel Hill most of all because it was like a transient thing. How could these people establish values when they're only here for a short time and then they go away and another set comes in with another set of values? And I think it had some validity. One of the things I think that was a definite prejudice on their part was they did not stop to consider that Chapel Hill was a town with long term residents. That did not keep the people from this community from taking produce down there and selling it, at the Farmers' Market. But it was probably the, the lack of understanding was probably the lack of knowledge, more than anything else. I'm trying, I'm trying to think back to what it was like then as opposed to now. I don't think anybody pays any attention to it. Chapel Hill is just another place to shop or to go or to receive goods and services. And because - and I think it was an acceptance of Chapel Hill as being a contiguous part of the, the community and being that place that you could receive goods and services. Until the OWASA [Orange Water and Sewer Authority] thing happened. And then it was almost like it reverted back twenty years ago. And it was like them and us. And I think perhaps the way it was handled, the lack of concern for the people here, the lack of acknowledging the values of this community. I think the perception was that they saw this area and they thought well, there's not a whole lot of folks out there, so, and there is a lot of land with not a development on it. So who cares? Let's, let's put a lake out here for a temporary water supply. And then in twenty years we'll go away. And then they proceeded to make these things happen without considering the value of a community that had been going on for almost two hundred years with lots of the same families being in the area. And it acted like glue. When, you know I told you that families would close rank, I think the community closed rank. And that included the recent arrivals. And Bruce and I have discussed on various occasions how grand it was, what a great effect, even though OWASA, and I think it centered on OWASA as opposed to Chapel Hill first of all, because of Everett Billingsley and his attitude and his arrogance toward the people out here. You could see doctors and lawyers and farmers and, and milking hands all pulling together. The - I guess the greatest net effect was that the newcomers suddenly became part of this big family called a community.