Солтүстік Каролинаның Бинум ауылы: Тарихы мен қазіргі өмірі

Bynum is an unincorporated community in northeastern Chatham County, North Carolina, United States on the banks of the Haw River. Bynum is north of Pittsboro and south of Chapel Hill. It is also known as Bynum Mill Village or Bynum Mill Hill. Bynum's most notable building is the Bynum General Store at 950 Bynum Road, Bynum, NC 27228. For many years the store, run by Frank and Louise Harris, was known as Harris and Farrell General Store. The post office, once located at an older store to the south, brought everyone in town and many nearby rural residents to the store. Retired loggers, business people, and mill workers often sat on the bench in front of the store passing on news and rumors and telling stories. The store was a natural community center and information hub. When the store and post office closed in 2006, the community formed a non profit called Bynum Front Porch and kept the store in use as an event and community center. The Bynum Front Porch Music Series runs every Friday evening, May–September at the Bynum General Store. Tift Merritt started her music career playing on the General Store's front porch.

The town began life as a "cotton mill town." The original mill was built about 1872 beside the Haw River. There was a wooden dam about 1000 feet upstream and water from the mill race powered water wheels. Later the dam was rebuilt with concrete and electrical generators installed. In stages from circa 1890 to 1910, small two to six room houses were built on the hill above the mill and rented to the mill workers and their families. Bynum was one of the first areas in Chatham County to have electric lights because turbines provided electricity for both the mill operation and the houses. The mill workers were paid in scrip. The scrip was only usable to pay their rent or at the "company store" (also owned by the mill). It was closed to motor vehicle traffic in 1999, but it is currently a pedestrian bridge and part of the statewide designated bicycle route as well as being a gathering place for the community on Halloween where many local folks artfully carve Jack o' lanterns and display them along the sides of the bridge. Cars now cross the Haw River on the newer US 15 501 bridges about 1000 feet north. There is another canoe take out, dam and the mill race sluice gates at US 15 501.

Hundreds of Jack o lanterns line the old bridge rails on Halloween night from dark until midnight, and local artist and musicians perform. There are haunted houses and trick or treaters at the Bynum Methodist Church and Ruritan Club near the old bridge.