When Community Comes Home to Roost: The Southern Milltown as Lost Cause

This article examines the experience of the Cooleemee Historical Association in North Carolina. It notes the many successes of this community history project, while examining the intellectual and professional trajectories of its principal sponsors, Jim and Lynn Rumley. The article argues that the project also became politicized and distorted, particularly in terms of issues of race relations and relationships between community and the outside world, ultimately projecting a highly selective historical memory.