Charming mill village houses and historic cotton mill, all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the restoration process for a property, and even more so for an entire village, attention to landscape details is as important as attention to architectural details. The way in which the original owners and residents landscaped the yards is as historically informative as the houses themselves. The functionality and aesthetics of the design and the plant material used provide significant clues to the life of the original occupants. This is certainly true for the Rocky Mount Mills' Village. 

Historically, cotton mills did not generate huge profits that were seen in other types of mills around the turn of the century. Yet, while the average cotton mill worker had neither the time nor money to expend on landscaping, the gardening was of great importance to the village residents. The deep lots were designed to accommodate the chicken coops and large gardens which typically appeared in the village. 

Certainly, the landscape emphasis was placed on functionality rather than design appeal. The typical look of the Rocky Mount Mills' Village landscape around 1900 was very open with perhaps a few bushes near the houses and large vegetable gardens behind the houses. Evergreens, such as boxwoods and hollies, were prevalent during this time period as well as deciduous bushes. The advantage of the deciduous bushes was that fact that they lose their leaves and are dormant in winter and therefore could be transported bare root from village to village wherever employees sought work. Large trees such as oaks and sycamores with a few nut and fruit trees scattered in the mix were eventually planted along the street to provide shade, but the center of the blocks behind the houses remained open to allow the sun to reach the essential vegetable gardens.
In today's landscape, form is the primary factor that dominates and the historic landscape of the Rocky Mount Mills' Village would not coincide in a positive way with modern day aesthetics. However, it is possible to design a yard that upholds the essence of the turn of the century Rocky Mount Mills' Village landscape without exactly replicating it. The use of plants of the same or similar varieties that were used historically is a great way to achieve this essence of the original village and, of course, a large vegetable garden would fit right into the landscape.

The majority of the plants and trees listed here  are suggested as appropriate plants to use in the village context along with a list of a few contemporary plants that should not introduced to the village. 

Recommended Deciduous Trees
American Holly 
Apple 
Canadian Hemlock
Chinaberry 
Crape Myrtle
Dogwood 
Fig 
Gingko
Honey Locust
Ironwood 
Japanese Maple
Mock Orange 
Mulberry 

 Narrow-leaf Crabapple
Pecan 
Pin Oak
Red Maple
Red Ash 
Red American Elm 
Rose-of-Sharon 
Scarlet Oak
Silk Tree (Mimosa) 
Slippery Elm 
Smooth Leaved Elm 
Southern Catalpa 
Southern Crabapple 		 Swamp Locust 
Sweet Bay 
Tree-of- Heaven 
Tulip Poplar
Vitex (Chaste Tree) 
Weeping Willow
Weeping Cherry 
White Oak
White Ash 
White Poplar 
Willow Oak
Zelkova

Recommended Evergreen Trees
Atlantic White Cedar 
Swamp White Oak
Red Cedar 
Short Leaf Pine		 Laurel Oak 
Southern Magnolia
Live Oak 

Recommended Perennials
Bee Balm 
Carper Bugle 
Dahlia 
Goldenrod
Hollyhock 
Iris
Lenten Rose		 Peony
Shasta Daisy 
Speedwell
Spirea 
Sweet William 
Tickseed 
Yarrow

Recommended Evergreen Shrubs
Boxwood
Common Camellia
Holly (Inkberry and/or Yaupon)
Wax Myrtle

Recommended Deciduous Shrubs
Alder-leaved Red Viburnum
Althea 
American Boxwood 
Andromeda
Barberry 
Beautyberry 
Big-leaf Hydrangea 
Butterfly Bush 
Carolina Allspice (Sweetshrub)
Clethera
Dwarf Fothergilla
Flowering Raspberry
Forsythia		 Highbush Blueberry
Kerria
Leatherleaf Mahonia
Ligustrum
Littleleaf Boxwood 
Oakleaf Hydrangea 
Osmanthus 
Pee Gee Hydrangea 
Peony
Rose, Chinese
Rose, Carolina
Rose, Pasture		 Rose, (Old-Fashioned Shrub or              Climbing)
Saucer Magnolia
Spirea 
      (Hawthorn-leaved, Reeve's,       and Vanhouttei)
Star Magnolia
Wax Myrtle
Weigelia
Winter Honeysuckle
Winterberry 
Yucca

Recommended Bedding Plants
Ageratum
Canna
Coleus
Hen & Chicks
Lantana
 Geranium
Madagascar Periwinkle
Pansies
Scarlet Sage

Recommended Vines and Ground Covers
Five-leaf akebia
Japanese spurge
 Trumpet Vines
Virginia creeper

Trees and Plants NOT Recommended To The Village
Bradford Pears
Juniper
Leyland Cypress

 Chinese or Japanese Holly
Photinia
For more information, contact:
Lisa Ward
Rocky Mount Mills
P. O. Box 69
Rocky Mount, NC 27802
Phone 252.972.9922 ext. 368
Fax 252.442.4226
Email: moreinfo@rockymountmills.com


For more information about historic properties available for restoration, please visit the Preservation NC website at
www.preservationnc.org
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