— courtesy The Chamber of Commerce of Warren County | Craig Hahn, Executive Director ~ 252-257-2657 ~ info@warren-chamber.org ~ Facebook
— by Craig Hahn
***Photographs courtesy Leigh Traylor***
As many of you know from earlier Warren County Historical Tidbits and daily drives thru Norlina, we have a diamond in the rough and 100+ year old treasure in the Hotel Norlina right on US #1 in Norlina.
The Historic Hotel Norlina as it appeared in 1973
Recently, a Warren County resident, Margaret Moseley has begun working with the current owner of the Hotel Norlina to bring it back to life and open a new chapter for this regal building. As they’ve worked to host sales before Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter for local home-businesses that attracted up to 200 shoppers in a day, Margaret and the owner have been working to take the steps necessary to earn funding and support for the Historic Hotel Norlina over the recent months. Part of their work has been doing extensive research into the history of this hotel.
In doing that research, one “local legend” that kept tugging at Margaret was that of a visit in the 1960’s by Beatles’ members John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Could she find proof? Check out the telling of this story by Margaret herself…
“Beatle Mania Mystery”
By Margaret H. Moseley
As some of you may or may not know, the owner of Historic Hotel Norlina is in the beginning process of restoring the old building to her former glory and has plans to start a historic museum/library. We have been researching the history of the hotel and of the town of Norlina and want to incorporate the library/museum to retain the history of its past and record the present day activities for generations to come.
For decades it has been rumored that “The Beatles”, well at least a couple of them, stopped at Hecht Hardware Store’s Indian Museum in Norlina during the 1960’s. It was rumored that John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited and other rumors stated it was John Lennon and Ringo Starr.
I wondered why no one has ever tried to find the answer. My curiosity got the better of me so I was on a mission to find the truth behind the legend. Through extensive research, detective work, numerous phone calls and communications I located the person in possession of the log book and pleaded for just a copy of the pages. I recently received the coveted copies of the Museum Log Book from the present owners. Upon reviewing some of the log pages, I thought we had found the proof necessary to verify that the famous entertainers did indeed stop in Norlina. There it was in black and white, John Lennon and George Harrison’s names dated 12/22/1969. I was ecstatic that we finally had proof of their visit. However; a little voice of reasoning was nagging, “You need to research the authenticity of the signatures”. Although it would have been the easy thing to do and just say we have proof, I listened to the voice of reason and with the confidential help of a friend and “Norlina native”, began an extensive research of authentic certified autographs from both John Lennon and George Harrison.
Much to our dismay, the signatures bear no resemblance to that of the certified autographs. Not only do they not resemble the original signatures, we found that there is absolutely no way possible that John Lennon would have been here in Norlina on that date as there is documentation proving otherwise. You see, December 16, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono left England on a tour to Canada. This was their “War is Over, Give Peace a Chance” marking the end of their two-year protest of war. https://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/12/16/john-lennon-yokoono-fly-to-toronto-canada/.
Now I have more questions than answers and have begun a new search for some facts. I have always believed that where there is rumor, there is also some truth; therefore, I need the assistance of anyone who actually may have seen, know of someone who saw, or have any other proof that the Beatles were at the museum at Hecht’s Hardware Store. If anyone has any information, could you please come forward and assist us in solving the mystery. You can contact Margaret Moseley at 252-820-8032 or via email at mhmoseley1@gmail.com.
So, there you have it. Can you help? I’m confident that there is someone in our wonderful County that can shed some light on this story. Please keep me in the loop as you pass along your information. Here’s to solving our “Beatle-Mania Mystery!”
Wherever you turn in Warren County we have a jewel… “Warren County Historical Tidbits” is a project of The Chamber of Commerce of Warren County.