In the
early 1940s Transylvania County’s two commercial dairies, Eastview and
Sunnyside, both sold to larger dairies that operated in southwestern North
Carolina.

Pet
Dairy Products Company, which was one of the largest dairy companies in the
world, had purchased and expanded Western Carolina Creamery in Waynesville in
1936.  In March 1941 Pet Dairy bought the
Eastview Dairy including their equipment and business interests from Frank and
Lewis Osborne.  They bought milk from
local farmers, storing it at the Brevard facility, then trucked it to
the Waynesville plant for pasteurization. 
 Pet Dairy products, including
their popular ice cream, were sold throughout the region.  Frank Osborne continue to serve as the dairy’s
manager.

Also
in 1941 A.B. Slagle, owner of the Nantahala Creamery in Franklin, purchased the
Sunnyside Dairy from W. Davis Glazener and sons.  A few months later, Slagle announced that he would
construct a pasteurizing plant on the north side of Brevard across from Brevard
College.  The new facility, named
Transylvania Dairies, opened in the Spring of 1942. 

Transylvania
Dairies purchased Grade “A” raw milk from local dairy farmers for pasteurized
milk and a variety of other dairy products, including butter, buttermilk and
cream.  Their products were sold at
dozens of grocery stores and used in restaurants and soda shops throughout the
county. 

In
September 1942, Pet Dairy announced that the cost of gasoline and tires was
making it unprofitable to transport milk to their Waynesville plant and
therefore they had sold their milk business in Transylvania County to
Transylvania Dairies.  Transylvania
Dairies continued to distribute the popular Pet Ice Cream.

The Southern Dairies facility located across from Brevard College, near the intersection of Caldwell & Broad streets, 1947.

In
December 1945 Slagle sold the facility to Southern Dairies who introduced paper
containers for milk, cream and buttermilk to the Brevard market.  This eliminated the need to pay a deposit for
bottles or to wash and return bottles. 
Southern Dairies continued to purchase milk from local farmers to be
processed at their Brevard facility. 

A Southern Dairies Sealtest truck collects milk from a Little River farm in 1957.

A June
1962 list of dairymen who sold their milk to Southern Dairies included Howard
Gosnell, J.W. McGuire, Frank Merrill, Charles and Lewis Osborne, Heyward
Ramsey, W.T. Whitmire, Shipman Whitmire, J.C. and N.B. Wood and Freeman
Nicholson.

Southern
Dairies operated the Brevard business through the late 1960s.  Ralph Parrish served as the manager of
Transylvania Dairies and Southern Dairies for about 30 years.

Photographs
and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina
Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library
hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional
photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at [email protected]
or 828-884-1820.