From Worth Farm to Center City Garden

ASHEBORO – The history and genealogy of the Jonathan Worth farm in the middle of old Asheboro — soon to become the David and Pauline Jarrell Center City Garden arboretum — is the topic of “From Worth Farm to Center City Garden,” a talk by Randolph County Public Libraries Director Ross Holt at 6:30 p.m. Monday, January 23, at the Asheboro Public Library. The talk will be free. 

Jonathan Worth, who would become Asheboro’s leading citizen and serve as North Carolina governor, was 24 when in 1826 he purchased the 12 acres now bounded by Worth, Main, Academy and Cox streets. 

The area, which remained undeveloped for much of the 19th century, would involve two other prominent Randolph County families — the Moffitts and the Walkers — before being acquired by Acme-McCrary Hosiery Mills founder D.B. “Doc” McCrary and his family in the 20th century. 

Holt sifted through newspaper accounts, deeds and other records to uncover fascinating details about the property and surprising connections among the people associated with it. Owners of various parts of the site — including five Asheboro mayors — have represented each era of the city’s development, from an agrarian economy through industrialization and modern manufacturing.

Holt is a member of the Randolph County Historical Landmark Preservation Commission and author of A Man of Restless Enterprise: The Diary of Simeon Colton, 1851-1852.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Three types of spaces comprise the overall David and Pauline Jarrell Center City Garden: 

A - The Welcome Gardens lie to the west off of South Cox Street, offering amenities and orienting visitors to the property; 

8 - The Display Gardens sit within the central portion of the property, providing Classical outdoor spaces and manicured plantings of native and adapted non-invasive species; and 

C - The Naturalistic Gardens occupy the southeastern, northeastern, and northwestern site, offering relaxed landscape scale plantings of southeastern native plants.