Angier, North Carolina -
Backyard School Bell Collection

The Backyard School Bell collection is a 30-foot bell tower with about 30 bells erected on the bell tower (school bells, church bells, and firemen bells). It was built by Mr. Robert (Tink) Coats, a retired educator in 1970. Mr. Coats is deceased.

On the Coats Estate property is also the Coats Museum, which houses about 30 bells, as well as other antique rural farm equipment; and also the Coats Homestead.

The "Ringing of the Bells Celebration" is held each year on July 4th, at 12:00 noon. It is open at other times by appointments only. It is maintained by a 5-member Board of Trustees. [Alice Honeycutt, 05/22/2011]

We also drove out to McGees Crossroad to see the bell display. The directions are close enough that we did find the bells, but they are on Old Fairground Road, not Massengill Mill Road, which we did not see at all. No one at the nearby store knew anything about the mill. The bells were collected by the husband of a school teacher many years ago. We were told that the bells are school bells, and that there are more that were never mounted. [Les Parker, 08/13/2000]

"The Bell Man" (made up title because I don't know who owns it) - some man/woman has erected this giant platform and scaffold in their own backyard and has hung a collection of HUGE church bells from it. The scaffold stands between 30 and 40 feet high (just guessing - it's more than twice the height of the first floor). There are 15-20 bells of various sizes - most 3 feet tall and larger. All appear operational, and there are ropes attached to each. [Walker Blanchard, 11/17/1998]