William J. Gaston was a jurist and United States Representative from North Carolina. He was the author of the official state song of North Carolina, "The Old North State". Gaston County, North Carolina, created just after his death, was named for him, as later were the city of Gastonia, North Carolina, artificial Lake Gaston, and the Gaston Hall auditorium at his alma mater, Georgetown University.
Richard Henderson was an American jurist, land speculator and politician who was best known for attempting to create the Transylvania Colony in frontier Kentucky. Henderson County and its seat Henderson, Kentucky are named for him. He also sold land to an early settlement that went on to become Nashville, Tennessee.
William Lee Davidson (1746–1781) was an officer in the North Carolina militia and Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in Pennsylvania and moved with his family to Rowan County, North Carolina in 1750. He was killed at the Battle of Cowan's Ford.
The Carson House is a historic house and museum located in Marion, North Carolina. It was the home of Col. John Carson, and served as the McDowell County courthouse when the county was first organized in 1842.
The Old Brunswick County Courthouse is an historic former courthouse located at Southport, Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was erected about 1844, and is a plain, two-story, stuccoed brick building three bays wide by seven bays long.
The Salisbury District of North Carolina, was originally one of six colonial judicial districts established in 1766 by the Governor William Tryon of the Province of North Carolina. Immediately preceding the onset of the American War of Independence in 1775, these six regions were renamed "military districts" by the North Carolina Provincial Congress and used for organizing the North Carolina militia. The other military districts were Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, and Wilmington districts. The military district designation was discontinued in 1835 during the North Carolina Constitution Convention.
Coor-Gaston House, also known as the Judge William Gaston House, is a historic home located at New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina. It was built in 1774, as determined by dendrochronology, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, "L"-plan, Georgian style frame dwelling with a gable roof. It features a two-tier porch enclosed by Chinese trellis railings and supported by Doric order pillars. It was the home of Congressman and jurist William Gaston (1778-1844).
Benvenue is a historic plantation house located near Rocky Mount, Nash County, North Carolina. Originally built in 1844, the house was expanded and extensively remodeled to its present Second Empire form in 1889. It is a large 2+1⁄2-story, three bay by three bay, frame dwelling with a one-story rear ell. It features a steep mansard roof with imbricated and floral patterned slate tiles. Also on the property are the contributing frame kitchen, dovetailed log rootcellar, frame dairyhouse, smokehouses, commissary, a restored greenhouse, spring house, and a one-room schoolhouse. It was the home of Congressman Benjamin H. Bunn (1844-1907).
Wood Grove is a historic plantation house located near Bear Poplar, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built about 1825, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, three-bay, Federal style brick dwelling. It sits on a stone foundation, has a hipped roof front porch, and one-story rear kitchen ell.
Mount Vernon is a historic plantation house, farm complex, and national historic district located near Woodleaf, in Scotch Irish Township, Rowan County, North Carolina. The house was built about 1822, and is a two-story, three-bay, Federal style frame dwelling. It is sheathed in weatherboard and has a full-width, one-story shed roofed porch. The house was designated a post office in 1822. Also on the property are the contributing log smokehouse, large barn, "lighthouse" or Delco house, corn crib, gear house, woodhouse, spring house, mill site, shop, and plantation office.
Kerr Mill is a historic grist mill building located near Mill Bridge, Steele Township, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was constructed in 1823 by Joseph Kerr, a large plantation owner. The mill is a brick building with two-stories and three bay by two bay. It rests on a stone foundation and has a gable roof. The mill was operated commercially until the 1940s and has since been refurbished as part of Sloan Park run by Rowan County. The mill and surrounding property are operated by Rowan County as Sloan Park.
Gen. Thomas Boykin House is a historic home located near Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina. It was built about 1810, and is a large two-story, hall-and-parlor plan, vernacular Federal style frame dwelling. It has a side gable roof, is sheathed in weatherboard, and has a later one-story, two-roam wing. It was the residence of General Thomas Boykin (1785-1859), Captain in War of 1812, later a General in the Militia and a three term member of the North Carolina General Assembly.
James Kerr House is a historic plantation house located near Kerr, Sampson County, North Carolina. The house was built in 1844, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, five bay by two bay, Greek Revival style frame dwelling. It has a gable roof, 2+1⁄2-story rear ell, brick pier foundation, and a pillared double-tier porch central porch. The interior is center-hall in plan. The house is attributed to builder Isaac B. Kelly, who also built the Dr. John B. Seavey House. Also on the property are the contributing original detached kitchen and frame smokehouse.
Elmwood is a historic home located at Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. It was built about 1810–1815, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, three bay by four bay, Federal-style frame dwelling with a gable roof and dormers. It is sheathed in weatherboard and has two exterior end double-shouldered chimneys. It has a two-story wing added about 1830, and asymmetrical side and rear additions built about 1870, and between about 1890 and 1910. It features a one-story full width front porch with a hipped roof added about 1870. It was the home of John Louis Taylor (1769–1829), an American jurist and first Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and North Carolina politicians William Gaston (1778-1844) and Romulus Mitchell Saunders (1791-1867).
Gen. Joshua Barnes House is a historic house located along SR 1326 near Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina.
The Mecklenburg County Regiment was authorized on May 31, 1775 by the Province of North Carolina Congress. From November 7, 1779 until the 3rd Quarter of 1780, it was called the 1st Mecklenburg County Regiment when a 2nd Mecklenburg County Regiment existed. The 1st Mecklenburg County regiment was engaged in 39 known battles and skirmishes against the British during the American Revolution in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia between 1776 and 1781. It was active until the end of the war.
Charles McDowell (1743–1815) was a Brigadier General of the Morgan District Brigade of the North Carolina Militia during the American Revolution, state senator, and County Justice of Peace in Burke County, North Carolina.
Perciphull Campbell, Sr. (1767–1853) was one of the original settlers prior to 1778 in north Rowan County, Province of North Carolina. This area later would become Iredell County, North Carolina, in 1788 and after his death it became Union Grove Township in 1868. He was a moderately prosperous land owner, planter and miller, who migrated from Culpeper County, Colony of Virginia to the Province of North Carolina with his family before the U.S. Revolutionary War in which his two older brothers served. He was a justice of the peace and active in the formation of the town of Williamsburgh in north Iredell County. His home and mill that he built on Hunting Creek in about 1820, as well as the Campbell family cemetery, near what is now the unincorporated town of Union Grove, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house and cemetery have survived into the 21st century but the mill and covered bridge near the mill were destroyed in the late 1930s.
Thomas Gillespie was a large plantation owner in mid-to-late 18th-century North Carolina and served as commissary of the Rowan County Regiment in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. He spent his early life in Augusta County, Virginia before migrating to Anson County, North Carolina in about 1750, where he lived most of his life on Sills Creek in the area that became Rowan County, North Carolina in 1753. He and his wife and son were the first white settlers west of the Yadkin River. He owned a plantation of over 1,000 acres on Sills Creek in Rowan County, as well as 6,000 acres in the area of western North Carolina that became part of the state of Tennessee in 1796. He was an early elder in the Thyatira Presbyterian Church in Rowan County, which had been established by 1750. Thomas was the great-grandfather of U.S. President James K. Polk through the lineage of his daughter Lydia, who married Captain James Knox and gave birth to Jane Gracey Knox, mother of the President.
