It’s only fitting that the Ellis house – built with proceeds from a successful 4-H project – should become a museum showcasing the accomplishments of the 95-year-old organization.
Rudolph Ellis is one of Cumberland County’s great 4-H success stories. As a teenage 4-Her in the 1930s, Ellis invented a mass-production roasting machine and sold nickel bags of his Ellis Roasted Peanuts to country stores.
The peanuts were a hit. In fact, his family used the profits to purchase the farm where they sharecropped, and Ellis and his father built their house on the property in 1939.
In 2002, Ellis’ daughter, Dr. Sharon Ellis Joyner, donated that house to the North Carolina 4-H Development Fund.
“ It allows us to realize our dream of creating a 4-H museum in conjunction
with the 100th anniversary of 4-H in North Carolina in 2009. We can tell the
4-H story to generations to come,” says Sharon Rowland, executive director
of the fund.
The house was moved 61 miles from Fayetteville’s Ramsey Street to Millstone 4-H Center in Ellerbe.
“ Donations are still needed, because the next phase is to restore the house and then create the exhibits,” Rowland says.
IMAGES of Fayetteville, NC, 2003-04 Edition
by Lisa R. Hooker