PRESS RELEASE Weldon In Action Receives Grant for Oral History

Weldon In Action Receives Grant for Oral History

The America 250 NC Initiative award supports telling Weldon’s history through the voices and faces of people with Weldon ties.

April 30, 2025, Weldon, N.C. –

Weldon In Action has received a grant to support the research and recording of the town’s history as part of North Carolina’s America 250 NC Initiative to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ America 250 NC Initiative recently announced and dispersed nearly $1.2 million in grant funds to 77 grantees in 58 counties in the state. The grant program is designed to spark commemoration programs and activities on a local level.

Weldon in Action celebrated the awarding of its $27,142 grant and highlighted the project at Halifax Community College’s 2025 Progressive Community Awards on April 24. Halifax Community College, a partner in the project, will eventually house the oral history archives in its library. The archives will include extensive interviews with current and former residents of Weldon, that will be featured in the video series. Most of the interviewees attended the Progressive Community Awards dinner to support and showcase the project.

The grant is being used to develop a series of videos that will provide an overview of Weldon’s history, focusing on the geography, historic context, people, and events that shaped the community from colonial times to the present. From its start as an agrarian village of farmers and fishermen to a thriving railroad crossroads, and later to its heyday as a regional center of commerce, followed by a period of decline attributed to economic and social changes that have reshaped small-town America, the story of Weldon continues to evolve.

“Our effort to record and tell Weldon’s story fit well into one of the major themes of the America 250 NC Initiative, entitled “When Are We US?,“ said Alice Joyner Irby, one of the original founders of Weldon in Action and leader of the oral history project. “When completed, the video series will cover aspects of our town’s history unique to Weldon. Importantly, we believe our stories will also resonate with many who grew up in other small towns across our state and nation.”

Weldon In Action is working with award-winning documentarian Martin Brown, founder of Treehouse Productions based in Hillsborough, N.C., to produce the videos. The project will be completed and shared publicly in the fall of this year, and will be available online in time for the 250th Anniversary in 2026.

America 250 NC is North Carolina’s commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary is led by the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. For more information about America 250 NC, visit america250.nc.gov.

Weldon in Action is a coalition of current and former residents of Weldon, N.C., seeking to revitalize the historic small town. To learn more, visit https://www.weldoninaction.com/

Photos:

Group Photo: Left to right:  Shirley Boone, Robert Davis, Vicki Grimes, Noah Davis (guest), Valencia Turnage (guest), Mrs. Margaret Hawkins, Commissioner Doris Garner (guest), Emily Threat, Bert Kittner, former Commissioner John Smith (guest), Donald Jenkins, Gentry Smith, Marie Jenkins (guest), Henry Johnson.

Note: There were 17 participants present out of the 27 interviewed to date.

Photo labeled Former Commissioner John Smith: Former Commissioner John Smith, Commissioner Jennifer Cox, Caroline Long, WIA member

3rd Photo: Mrs. Margaret Hawkins, participant, and her daughter, Valencia Turnage