History

The Town of Mt. Gilead began as the Providence settlement. This settlement was named by the leaders of the First Methodist Church. In 1855, the community's name was changed to Mt. Gilead, and in 1898 the Town was incorporated by the North Carolina General Assembly. From its inception through the 1930's, cotton was the biggest cash crop in Mt. Gilead. In the 1930's, as cotton farming waned in its importance, the textile industry emerged as the focal point of the local economy. Textiles dominated the local economic picture through the mid 1990's. Today in the abandoned cotton fields there springs forth another source of wealth for the Town: pine trees. This area has no shortage of timber, and the lumber industry has never been more important to the local economy than it is today.

Industry

The Town of Mt. Gilead is home to a wide variety of industries involved in wide range of functions including electronics, manufacturing, and sawmills. The Town is home to several large corporations including Tobe Manufacturing, PBS of North Carolina, McRae Industries, Standard Packaging, Unilin, Piedmont Components, and Jordan Lumber. The Town's industrial site, located on NC Hwy 109, was recently named as a certified industrial site by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. For more information about this site or locating a business or industry in Mt. Gilead, contact Town Manager at 910-439-6687 or Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Judy Stevens at 910-572-2575.

Education

The educational needs of the citizens of Mt. Gilead are met by a modern, county-wide school system, which offers our children excellent educational opportunities. Elementary students attend Mt. Gilead Elementary (Montgomery County's only School of Distinction), while middle and high schools students travel only a short distance to attend West Middle School and West Montgomery High School, which are located just outside the town limits. The Montgomery County Schools are considered to be progressive, with strong technical/vocational programs offered alongside a strenuous academic program.

Montgomery Community College (MCC), a post-secondary institution serving this area of the state, is also located in Troy. MCC is located on Page Street, just of NC 134 and NC 24/27. The college has gained national acclaim for its specialty programs in areas such as gunsmithing, taxidermy, and pottery. In recent years, MCC has been approved to offer an LPN program, and a one-year college transfer program. The continuing education department of the college meets a variety of community needs by offering in-plant training for business and industry as well as fire, law enforcement, and rescue training. The department further offers personal enrichment programs of interest to the county's citizens.

Parks and Recreation

The Town of Mt. Gilead boasts one of the best parks and recreation programs in Montgomery County. The Town owns and operates Stanback Memorial Park, which includes: two baseball fields, tennis courts, a swimming pool, two pavilions, and assorted playground equipment including newly built wooden castle. Each summer the Park hosts the Mt. Gilead Summer Park Program which provides a wide range of activities for school aged children living in the Town or surround communities. Each Fall, the Town welcomes visitors from all over the County for Mt. Gilead Day in the Park.

Town Creek Indian Mound

Located nearby is the Town Creek Indian Mound a North Carolina Historic Site. This interesting site provides insight into the lives of the people that first lived in this area hundreds of years ago.

For more than one thousand years, Indians lived an agricultural life on the lands that became know as North Carolina. About the year A.D.1200, a new cultural tradition arrived in the Pee Dee River valley. That new culture, called "Pee Dee" by archaeologists, was part of a widespread tradition know as "South Appalachian Mississippian." Throughout Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and the southern North Carolina Piedmont, the new culture gave rise to complex societies that built eastern mounds for their spiritual and political leaders, engaged in widespread trade, supported craft specialists, and celebrated a new kind of religion.

Town Creek Indian Mound
509 Town Creek Mound Road
Mt. Gilead, NC 27306
Phone: (910) 439-6802
Fax: (910) 439-6441

Hours:
Tues.-Sat. 10 am - 4 pm
Sun. 1 - 4 pm
Closed Mondays and most major winter holidays.
Admission is Free