Tucked away in Roper, North Carolina, is Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill, the largest private employer in Washington County, until recently. Wilson Jones, the owner and operator of the sawmill, came to the difficult decision to shut down operations, due to the repercussions of the tariffs implemented by the Trump administration.
Not only did it result in the laying off of all 50 of Jones’ employees, but it also ended an almost 40-year legacy. Wilson Jones and his brother are sixth-generation lumbermen, carrying on the legacy that their great-great-grandfather, William Sawyer Jones, began. He received his first order for sawn lumber on July 26, 1884. He continued to operate the sawmill with his brothers and children over the following decades.
“Our business goes back to 1882,” Jones told the Carolina Journal. “My dad took over our Elizabeth City plant in 1960. In 1986, I was out of college, and my brother was about to graduate from college, and he decided that we would horizontally integrate because we had a mill in Elizabeth City that was cutting primarily yellow pine. There was a big demand at that time for the hardwoods.”
Wilson and his brother Stephen own and operate two small sawmills in North Carolina, which employed 130 individuals in northeast North Carolina. Their operation in Elizabeth City is still in operation. However, Wilson says that due to the tariffs, Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill, the operation in Roper, which employed 50 individuals, was forced to shut down.
In late 1986, Wilson came to Roper with his industry colleagues and bought the entire mill, piece by piece, at auction. By the end of the day, they had a sawmill. A year later, in 1987, the mill was fully operational.
They expanded over time. They rebuilt the old mill once, and then, from 1995 through 2002, they modernized it into the state it’s in today — a very modern hardwood sawmill, according to Jones.
During those years, they also witnessed a significant shift in the industry: Furniture manufacturing moved out of North Carolina and, eventually, out of the United States altogether. Like most hardwood mills, they adapted by exporting products to manufacturing regions in southern China (like Shanghai) and Vietnam.
Wilson told the Carolina Journal that about 80% of their product was exported to Asia.
We’re in this unique situation where we’re getting hit going and coming,” said Jones.
On “Liberation Day,” President Trump announced additional tariffs on Chinese goods starting at about 20%. The tariffs escalated until they reached about 150% on Chinese goods. China retaliated with a 120% tariff on American hardwood products, Jones told Carolina Journal.
At the time, Jones’s company already had about $350,000–$400,000 worth of lumber on ships bound for China. Bringing it back wasn’t an option — freight costs from China were about eight times higher in reverse. Jones tried rerouting through Vietnam. He found buyers, but the problem was that Vietnam typically uses lower-quality wood than the premium-grade lumber shipped to China. Jones had to take price concessions for quality and volume, ultimately facing a 40% loss.
Jones said Liberation Day “liberated” him from his business and personal investments made to it.
“I’m not talking about money, because I can think any independent lumberman would tell you that they are not in this industry to make money. They’re in it because they love it,” said Jones. “It’s taken 38 years of my time, effort, and life inside and outside from me. It’s taken a business that I enjoyed — and I do love the industry — from me.”
Of the 50 employees who worked with Jones at Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill, Jones said that more than 40 of them were there at least 10 years. Jones said that his maintenance foreman, whom he ran the last board through with, was there for the first cutting.
“They’re guys that are cold in the wintertime and sweaty and dusty in the summertime. They worked and worked every day, and they took care of their families, paid their taxes, and did all that stuff.”
Wilson Jones, owner of Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill
When Jones told his employees he had to shut down the mill, he offered them jobs at the Elizabeth City plant. About a dozen of those men are now employed there, but driving 60 miles to work isn’t feasible for many.
“I can’t express to you how good these guys were,” said Jones.
Jones continued, saying, “Supporters of tariffs argue that business owners should absorb the cost of the tariffs without passing it on to consumers by absorbing the cost through price increases or layoffs. They don’t seem to understand that it doesn’t matter whether it’s Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill or Dot’s Button Shop — the point is, we’re in business to make money.”
And Jones said that if the business can’t make money, it can’t absorb costs. If raw material costs suddenly rise, with current expenses up 30%, and revenues are cut by 30–40%, the business simply loses money. Jones said that expecting a business to continue operating under these conditions is just not realistic, whether it’s his sawmill or a giant like Procter & Gamble doesn’t matter.
While many of his customers will likely be able to find alternative US sources, his contact in China, as well as with two of his largest suppliers, said they are having difficulty filling the niche or supply gap that Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill previously covered, since Jones supplied a specific thickness.
The Carolina Journal asked Jones what he would like President Trump to know about how the tariffs have impacted him, his company, and his employees. Jones said that he would ask Trump to come down to his mill and take a real look at the situation.
“I mean, at least when he went out in western North Carolina, it looked like he genuinely cared,” said Jones. “Come down here and look, and don’t just make blanket edicts because that’s the edict of the day.”
Of the final shipments that Jones was preparing to send out, he told the Carolina Journal that, due to the new tariffs on furniture and cabinetry, he now has about 15-20 truckloads that were to be sent to his customers in Asia, which will not be purchased as a result.
Jones emphasized that policy issues, such as tariffs, are nuanced and that there are opposing viewpoints on solutions. But he said addressing problems effectively involves engaging in conversations with individuals who have different perspectives and working together to find solutions.
On July 21, 2025, Jones and his maintenance foreman, who was with Jones when the first log was sawn, sawed the last board, bringing to an end an almost 40-year legacy of Mackey’s Ferry Sawmill.
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