When Charleston quakes, N.C. shakes

On this day in 1886: The Charleston earthquake, the most destructive ever recorded in the eastern United States, leaves its mark on North Carolina.

Buildings throughout the Piedmont shake and sway. At Swannanoa a railroad tunnel caves in. Gold mines in Cabarrus County collapse, but miners escape injury because the quake hits between the day and night shifts.

“The old expression ‘solid as the Earth’ has been brought into disrepute of late,” observes the Concord Times.

One thought on “When Charleston quakes, N.C. shakes”

  1. A family story: It was during Rock Springs Campmeeting. The minister was really worked up like they would get in those days, especially during campmeetings. But no one in the congregation would respond to his calls for repentence. And so, he closed his eyes and began to pray. And he prayed that the Lord would shake up the sinners and send them down to the mourners bench. And, as my great grandma Georgie told it (and she was told about it by her father-in-law, my Great-great Grandfather Monroe Howard who was there at the time), he really was praying hard. And all of the sudden, the ground began to move and shake. And, as they tell it back home, that preacher was the first man out of the Arbor and running! This is how the Great Charleston Earthquake came to Denver, NC.

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