8-21-10-Gold Hill Cruise-in

Rick, Reese and I and our wives made the exhausting drive from Rockwell to Gold Hill (2 miles, maybe!) for their cruise-in. The good news is that no one broke down on the trip!!

For those that are not familiar with Gold Hill, the town got its name from the now abandoned gold mine. The following information was copied from the www.historicgoldhill.com

“Gold has been an important part of North Carolina’s history since 1799, the date of the first authenticated discovery of gold in the United States. North Carolina was the nation’s only gold producing state from 1803 until 1828, and continued as a leading producer until 1848 when gold was discovered in California.

By about the 1830’s the leading mines in North Carolina were hard-rock mines rather than surface placer operations. Output probably peaked in the early 1830’s and then again in the late 1840’s. The most famous mines in the south were at Gold Hill, where one shaft, (The Randolph) eventually reached a depth of 800 – 850 ft.”

We didn’t find any gold but we did see some fine cars while the gals entertained themselves with some shopping. Rick drove his Ford while Reese brought the Chevy. Uh oh!! Just remembered that I can’t call it a Chevy according to GM. OK, it is a Chevrolet Chevy!!

I bumped into Bobby Bonds and his wife Susie with their ’69 Camaro. Interesting story here. While he was in Vietnam, Bobby had his dad order this very same ’69 Camaro with the options that he wanted. One of those options was the 375hp 396. Prior to ordering the car, the salesman talked his dad into ordering the 325hp engine instead. And they did not tell Bobby. He found out when the car came in. To say the least, he was not very happy with his dad. Must not have been too much of a sacrifice as he still has the car. He and I are members of the Carolina Camaro Association and will be showing our cars at the Food Lion Autofair at the Charlotte Speedway this weekend.