Ridgeway

Ridgeway sits quietly along US 1 in Warren County, bypassed by the modern Interstate 85.  If it were not for the green highway sign reading 'Ridgeway' next to the community's old Opry House, most travelers wouldn't even know it's there.  However, in the world of produce, Ridgeway is very well known.

Ridgeway's cantaloupes have been found at New York's Waldorf Astoria and even the White House.  During the 1930s and 40s, boxcars of cantaloupes from Ridgeway were shipped via train to produce wholesalers in the North.  Today, the Ridgeway Cantaloupe can still be found at the Holtzmann family produce stand along US 1.

Ridgeway dates to its days as a stagecoach stop in the late 1700s.  By the 1830s, it was known as Paschalls or Pascalls after a local tavern owner.  Like many communities throughout the state, Ridgeway's name comes from the railroad.  During the construction of the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad, a depot was built here.  The station's location on a ridge between the Tar and Roanoke Rivers earned the name Ridgeway.

After the Civil War, immigrants from Germany, France, England, and Switzerland began to settle in and near Ridgeway.  A development company had plans to develop a town of 1800 lots, and Ridgeway was incorporated in 1869.  The development never occurred; a decade later, the town's charter was repealed.  However, the new immigrant settlers found the area of Warren County to be great for farming, and soon the Ridgeway cantaloupe would be born.

Ridgeway celebrates its agricultural heritage (and of course its famous cantaloupes) every July with the Ridgeway Cantaloupe Festival.  It's held the third week of every July on the grounds of the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Department at the Cantaloupe Shed.  Ridgeway is about two miles south of Norlina on Highways 1 and 158.

Further Reading:

• Ridgeway Cantaloupe Festival ---Project 543
• Ridgeway: A decade that laid the foundation, taking a trip back to the 1870s. ---Warren Record
• Ridgeway Cantaloupe Festival ---NC Folklife Institute
• Ridgeway Cantaloupes Cause Melon Mania ---North Carolina Field and Family
• Come Summertime, Cantaloupes are Ridgeway's Royalty ---Our State Magazine

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