Valdese, NC: A Historic, Economic, and Educationally Thriving City.

Essay by jonesy20University, Bachelor'sA, November 2003

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Essay Question and Description:

The paper assignment was to right about local town that had historic background, economic ties to the state, and educational opportunities compared to the rest of the state.

This paper is about a small North Carolina town that is wealthy in History (with the hisotric Waldensians' leaving Italy because of religious oppression over 100 years ago), the towns economic ties to the state (textiles, one of top industries in NC), and a healthy educational system.

Essay:

Valdese, NC: A Historic, Economic, and Educationally Thriving City

As you travel along I-40 through the Foothills of N.C. you will find a little niche in the ground between Hickory and Morganton called Valdese. But watch out, if you don't pay attention you might not even realize it is there. Valdese (named after its motherland Valdez, Italy) was settled in 1893 by Italian immigrants, know as the Waldensians.

They fled Italy over the Alps and across the Atlantic Ocean to America to get away from the religious suppression by the Duke of Savoy in the late 1800's. Not only were these immigrants killed because of their religious beliefs they were also tormented because of their ideology of urbanization, the same idea that was now spawning in America at the same time. In this essay, this small community (one of N.C.'s oldest communities) will be looked at in comparison of it, the county, and the state in which this municipality resides.

As already stated, this little community was vastly made up of Italian immigrants in its early childhood development, starting off with a handful that established the town and then their families that later fled Italy and came to settle. Through the mid-20th century, other ethnicities began to move into to it but not enough to make a dent...