Alford, a businessman and politician, started several businesses including a mercantile store, a sawmill, a cotton gin and the Holly Springs Land and Improvement Company, and eventually, the General Assembly granted the town a charter. He started a newspaper, "The Cape Fear Enterprise," which he used to promote the town. He also got other prominent men in the community to join him in seeking a charter of incorporation for the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad, which became the Durham and Southern Railway. During the post-war period, several attempts were made to revive the Holly Springs Academy, but none was successful. For a time, children were taught in private homes, and eventually the first co-educational school, serving 125 students, was opened by the Masons.