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Rock mason James Blacknell Jr., 1984

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Staff

A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer


Every child who ever romped on the old stone walls on campus should thank this man. When I photographed 80-year-old James Blacknell Jr. in 1984, he’d been laying rock at UNC for 66 years. “Yeah, there ain’t too many (stones) around the university campus that I didn’t have something to do with.” As he was laying more Chatham gray granite at a home in New Hope, the master rock mason reflected on how it all started: “My daddy was in charge of the grounds up on campus, and they couldn’t find no mason anywhere. I wasn’t quite 15 at the time…. My daddy give me a liddlebiddy ol’ pointin’ trowel, and I just went to doin’ it.” To borrow a phrase: Now let us praise famous men.

A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
More “A Thousand Words”

2 thoughts on “Rock mason James Blacknell Jr., 1984”

  1. Ayeshinaye Holt says:
    November 2, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    He is my great-grandfather and I’m a student at UNC.

  2. jock lauterer says:
    November 3, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Hey, Ayeshinaye,
    I have some photographs of your great-grandfather I’d like to give you. Thanks for responding. Cordially,
    Jock Lauterer

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