A story about how the Vernedale neighborhood got its name.
Many new residents living in the area called Vernedale, bordered by N. Sharon Amity on the north and Hickory Grove to the east, do not know the history of its development or its odd connections to a national grocery store chain or its founders’ involvement in shaping education nationally and statewide liquor laws.
Or the research and development that benefited dairy farmers.
Or how the many smaller subdivisions with cedar-sided houses and large, brick ranches came to border each other.
There are more stories to tell about the aforementioned in the future, but this piece starts with how “Vernedale” got its name.
“Vernedale,” which most non-residents tend to misspell by leaving out the silent “e” inherited from its namesake, comes from LaVerne Harris Childers, wife of Harris Teeter founder, Baptist philanthropist and politician W.T. Harris.
The Harris family purchased a large swath of land where Wellington Farms apartments, Vernedale Park and Vernedale Farms subdivisions are now in 1940.
The land was used as a dairy co-op prior to being developed into a residential area. The dairy from the co-op was pasteurized at what is now the Pet Dairy plant on Plaza Rd.
As you can see from the news clipping on the right, according to Mrs. Harris, Vernedale became the name of the road that is now the main entrance to our neighborhood in order to eliminate confusion about mail delivery.
Vernedale Rd. was once called Lake View Rd., which appears on the original deeds for the area. Because so many roads in the area were named for lakes or had “lake” in the name, the post office requested a name change.
Mr. Harris believed naming the road “Vernedale” for his wife was appropriate because in French, “verte” means green, and so a road leading to a farm called Vernedale would evoke the freshness of his produce and diary products.
The name traveled beyond our neighborhood when he decided to sell the produce from his farm under the “Vernedale Farms” store brand in Harris Teeter grocery markets. Archival ads from the Charlotte Observer show that items sold under that label include “ice milk,” similar to ice cream but a more affordable and less dense dessert, ice cream in a variety of flavors, pork and other dairy products.
If you enjoyed this story or have other neighborhood resources, please reach out and let us know at vernedalefarms@gmail.com.
Newspaper clipping dated Aug. 5, 1969 reads:
Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Harris and daughter Resa of Vernedale Road are just back from a trip to California and the Hawaiian Islands. The Harrises had been to Hawaii in 1961 and decided to take Resa, who will enter Agnes Scott as a freshman this fall, as a graduation gift.
They left Charlotte and flew to San Francisco where they toured the city before flying to Honolulu. Mr. Harris, who is president of Harris-Teeter Supermarkets, has a friend who is a representative of Libby’s and he conducted them on a personal tour of the city.
Then they went to Hilo Island and saw one of the two active craters on the islands. Mrs. Harris explained that you couldn’t view too long because the sulphur fumes were almost more than you could stand.
Back to the U.S. they came and took in Disneyland before returning to Charlotte.
Noticing that the Harrises live on Vernedale Road in Hickory Grove and realizing that the Harris-Teeter brand foods are call Vernedale, I asked Mrs. Harris how it came about.
“Well, first of all, my name is LaVerne, which is French. And I’ve been told that it means fresh and green. When we bought the farm in 1940, we had to name it because we had registered cattle. So Mr. Harris decided to name it after me.
“The road we lived on was called Lake View or something like that and somebody from the courthouse called me one day and said because so many roads in the this area had Lake at the beginning of the name, people’s mail was getting confused. So, he said that as of that day they were changing the name to Vernedale because of the name of the farm.
“So when Mr. Harris started his own brand of things, he said he couldn’t think of a better name than Vernedale, because of the French meaning.”
