Coats, NC

Coats is a Harnett County town built around a railroad depot, and the railroad still shows in its shape. James Thomas “Elder Tom” Coats gave land and a right-of-way to the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad in 1902; the town incorporated in 1905. A salvaged two-room schoolhouse now holds the Coats History Museum, while native Alton Stewart made a much bigger claim to fame as North Carolina’s first licensed aviator, with a license signed by Orville Wright. NC 55 runs through the center between Angier and Erwin. Coats is eastern Harnett County with railroad bones, a local museum, and aviation history hiding in the family tree.