Join one of our historic interpreters on an informative guided tour of the early development of the textile industry in Alamance County and Piedmont North Carolina. We will share with your group the history of the impressive colorful plaid fabrics Glencoe Mills and other local textile mills manufactured in Alamance County as well as the development of one of the greatest textile manufacturers born in Burlington known as Burlington Industries. Following your introduction, you can walk through the museum galleries at your own leisure to see the hundreds of textile artifacts on exhibit from machinery to some of the early plaid fabrics. The company store, administrative offices and office of James H. Holt, the first president of Glencoe Mills are all available for viewing.
Across the street is the Superintendent House, the first house built in the Glencoe village. Visitors can walk into the home where Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus and Minnie Tyson lived with their two children. Cyrus was a supervisor and worked in the offices across from his house, and Minnie worked part time in the mill. They lived in Glencoe from 1917 to the 1940’s working and raising a family. The mill machine shop has been transformed into a nature interpretive exhibit lobby where visitors can enjoy wildlife displays of animals the residents would have come in contact with during their daily life in Glencoe. You can also learn more about what our Alamance Parks Department offers with the Haw River Trail (a segment of the Mountains To the Sea Trail) system and kayak paddle accesses along the Haw River. A leisure walk to the waterfront to see the mill dam or “waterfall” is an impressive view of the historic Haw River. Overall, Glencoe is a splendid unique historical textile mill village representing these early industrial communities of the Southeastern United States.
As with North Carolina and its gigantic sculptures of the Tea Pot in Old Salem, The Chair in Thomasville, the Chest of Drawers in Hight Point, and the Flat Iron in Asheville, Glencoe boasts having a giant shuttle and bobbin sculpture entitled “Weaver’s Tools”; perhaps the largest piece of metal artwork of its kind in the United States.
We have a museum gift shop which visitors can purchase books, shirts and hats, or other gift merchandise to remind you of your visit and help support the continued preservation of this historic landmark.
If you have a group of 10 or more people please make a reservation for a guided tour at least two weeks in advance.
Guided tours last approximately 30-45 minutes, but there is so much to see in the museum and village that one can spend up to 2-3 hours depending on one’s interest of early American textile history.
When making a reservation for your group email is the preferred, but you can also call visitor services at the museum.
Textile Heritage Museum
2406 Glencoe Street
Burlington, NC 27217
336-270-6374
textileheritagemuseum@gmail.