Founded in 1909 by a young man with a 3rd grade education, the Nello L. Teer Company, based in Durham, North Carolina, grew to be a major construction company with projects including the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. In the early days of the company, it held the contract to maintain roads in Rockingham County. Here the mules are shown working near Stoneville, North Carolina. The foreman in the picture is Lewis M. Heflin. When in Stoneville, the mules were quartered at night beneath the old Piedmont Tobacco Warehouse on the west side of the railroad, opposite the depot.