Bellemont Mill Village Historic District

Bellemont Mill Village is a small textile community southwest of Graham, North Carolina, built in 1879-1880 by brothers L. Banks Holt and Lawrence S. Holt. Contractor Berry Davidson erected a three-story, white-painted brick cotton mill beside Great Alamance Creek and twenty-three frame houses for its workers along the adjoining road. Eighteen are two-story I-houses and five are one-story dwellings. The mill used slow-burn construction, with thick brick walls, heavy timber supports, segmental arched windows and a corbelled cornice. Framing timbers were cut on circular saws, a newer technique at the time. The Holts belonged to the family that dominated Alamance County's textile industry, and Bellemont is believed to be the county's earliest surviving post-Civil War mill village. The houses were sold to private owners beginning in 1937, and many have new siding or porches. The mill stopped operating in 1981 and is vacant, yet the village keeps its rural setting and original layout.