Gordon Ward Sees Bargain in 974-Acre Farm Selling for $12,000, Jan. 6, 1922

Cheap Farms Not All Gone. . . Former Canadian Stock Grower Buys 974 Acres Here for $12,000

The fact that cheap farm lands are still available in Northeastern North Carolina was indicated last week when Gordon E. Ward, a New York building contractor, purchased a farm known as the Horse Shoe tract, consisting of 974 acres, near South Mills in Camden county, 15 miles from Elizabeth City, for $12,000, or less than $12.50 an acre.

The tract involved contains 600 and odd acres of cleared land and about 300 acres of gum and oak timber. It is naturally drained and many persons familiar with it believe that it is one of the best potential farm properties in Camden County. The property was owned by Capt. Buck Perry, a retired sea captain, who had been on the land about six years and just couldn’t make a go of it.

The purchaser of the Horse Shoe Farm is going in for stock farming and expects to spend a bunch of money in the development of his property at an early date. He has employed C.R. Taylor of Elizabeth City as superintendent of the property.

How Mr. Ward came to buy the property is a story within itself. Gordon E. Ward is a contractor and builder whose headquarters are 417 East 34th St., New York City, with branch offices in Boston, Mass. He specializes in the building of abattoirs, packing houses, refrigerating plants, storage warehouses, etc. He is building the new government radio station at Cape Hatteras. That brought him to Elizabeth City. In Elizabeth City he picked up a copy of The Independent and became interested in the agitation for a packing and refrigerating plant for Elizabeth City. It was all in his line. He began to figure with W.H. Weatherly and other local capitalists on a cold storage plant—and is still figuring. In the meantime he was getting acquainted with Elizabeth City and its agricultural possibilities.

Now Gordon E. Ward has entertained a certain ambition for several years. He was born on a farm in Canada—a stock farm. He left that farm when he was 20 years old and became a contractor. But he has always wanted to get back to a farm and raise thorobred live stock. Several time she has investigated farm properties in other parts of the country, but every time he found what he wanted, some one wanted about a million dollars for it. And then he learned about the Horse Shoe tract and the low price at which it was offered. He snapped it up.

Among other things, Mr. Ward is owner of a basket factory in New York State. He expects to locate that factory on his farm in Camden County and utilize his 300 acres of timber in that way. His purchase of that farm in Camden County has decided him in another matter. He was seeking a location for a Southern office for his contracting business. He will locate that office in Elizabeth City.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, January 6, 1922. Yes, the paper spelled it “thorobred.”