Wayne County

NC State is Here

CEFS

Located at the Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems is a ground-breaking partnership between NC State and NC A&T, the state’s two largest agricultural universities, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The center, which opened on Feb. 1, 1994, is dedicated to long-term, large-scale sustainable agriculture research and demonstration, the first cooperative site of its kind in the state’s history, bringing together farmers and citizens with non-profit organizations such as such as the NC State Farm Bureau Federation, Land Loss Prevention Project, Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA and Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

CEFS is recognized for both its unique founding partnership and its contributions to large-scale and long-term field research. Over the years, it has expanded its focus to include the entire food system, becoming a statewide program with community, non-profit, county government, state agency and small- and large-scale business partners. It is now one of the nation’s most important center for research, extension and education in sustainable agriculture and local food systems. [Read more.]

Pride of the Pack

3 Sons of Wayne County

Of the 50 Wayne County natives or residents who died during World War I, three were NC State alumni: Gaston Lewis Dortch, George Rom Hardesty and Guy Jennings Winstead.

Goldsboro-native Dortch was the son of U.S. Marshal for Eastern North Carolina  W.T. Dortch and served as his father’s deputy marshal for five years after graduating NC State with a degree in agriculture in 1911. Dortch had also attended and played football at UNC-Chapel Hill.

He enlisted in the 30th Division of the U.S. Army, 119th Infantry, Company B, made up primarily of other Goldsboro natives, including two of his brothers and brother-in-law. On Oct. 18, 1918, just weeks before Armistice Day, Dortch was killed in action by a mortar shell while leading his company into action. He is buried at Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. [Read more about Gaston Lewis Dortch.]

Hardesty was born in Raleigh, but moved to Goldsboro after he earned his electrical engineering degree from NC State in 1907. While at NC State, he was a member of the literary society and was captain of Company B.

He served as the engineer at the city’s Cherry Hospital until he joined the U.S. Army’s newly formed chemical weapons base at American University in Washington, D.C. He was assigned as the Division Gas Officer for the all-black 92nd Division, the only U.S. division made up of only African American soldiers and all-white officers.

He was a captain for the 30th Engineers, Gas and Flame Regiment. While serving in France, he developed lobar pneumonia, a common malady for soldiers during the war, and died on Oct. 5. 1918. His body was returned to the U.S. and he was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. [Read more about George Rom Hardesty.]

George Jennings Winstead was born and raised in Roxboro, but was living in Goldsboro when he was called into service by the American Expeditionary Forces on April 18, 1917.

While fighting in the Battle of the Marne, Winstead was killed near the town of Chateau-Theirry and buried in Fere-en-Tardenois, France. A grave marker in his memory is located in Concord Cemetery in Roxboro in his memory and Highway 57 in Person County bears his name. [Read about the Names in the Belltower.]

 

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