Artist Chris Dalton painted a mural on the former Farmer’s Cooperative Exchange (FCX) building next to the railroad tracks in downtown Cameron at 403 Carthage Street. The FCX building is a historical placeholder for the once-thriving farming community famous for its dewberries.
Cameron became an antique-shopping destination, and the FCX building housed Sullivan’s Antiques for decades and is presently a plant store.
The mural, alive with railroad cars and their doors open wide for loads of dewberries, the dewberry auction shed, farm trucks, sprawling fields and the dirt road leading through the bustling town with three hotels, serves as the background for Cameron’s branding, as the prior “Dewberry Capital of the World.” Sparkling dewberries emblazon the foreground in a brightly encased medallion.
Dalton is a former art teacher famous for murals like the happy cows at Yarborough’s Homemade Ice Cream in Sanford and the mural in Aberdeen. She moved to West Jefferson and dedicated 40 days to Cameron’s mural, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day until it was completed.
During the hot and stormy summer days, she crafted a makeshift shelter from a blanket over her scaffolding. Each night, men voluntarily moved her scaffolding to the next area for painting.
“I thank God, he is my number one. Second, my husband for climbing a twenty-five-foot ladder…and the volunteers who moved my scaffolding,” Dalton told the nearly 70 attendees of the mural dedication on Thursday.
The mural is a first for downtown Cameron and was made possible by a grant from the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention & Visitors Bureau with matching funds from area citizens who bought fundraising merchandise.
“My job is to get them to come here and spend all their money and go home,” Werz said about promoting Cameron’s growth initiative.
Murals are proven tourist attractions that promote revitalization while uniting the community.
Parks and Recreation Committee member Vicki Jolliff awarded Dalton a framed photo of the mural and a glass dewberry.
Dalton joined the celebration with an overnight stay at Elizabeth Nhambure’s 1878 Bed & Breakfast at 538 Carthage Street.
To celebrate the small town’s decision for growth with the first mural, Now & Then Antiques, Ann’s Bless Your Heart, Junk n Java, Old Hardware Vintage Depot, and the new Dewberry Café extended their hours.
The Dewberry Café’s special dinner menu featured prime rib, roasted potatoes and asparagus; the first known dinner served at a restaurant in decades. Diners expressed gratitude and extreme satisfaction with the desire for more evening meals.
The mural brought citizens together, some for lasting friendships, for an evening marking a first in wide support for Cameron’s progress.
Feature photo: Cameron town officials and stakeholders dedicate artist Chris Dalton’s mural on the former Farmer’s Cooperative Exchange building on 430 Carthage Street July 11, 2024.
~Article and photos by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Stephanie is also an English instructor at Central Carolina Community College. She is the author of young adult fiction, including When the Yellow Slugs Sing and Sky’s River Stone, and a suspense, GUTTERSNIPE: Shakespearean English Stage Play with Translation.
