Most anyone traveling the stretch of N.C. 39 between Henderson and Louisburg probably passes through the unincorporated community of Ingleside with little fanfare, but this general area holds on to some interesting history since it was first established in the decades before the Civil War.
Leave it to local history sleuths Bill Harris and Mark Pace to come up with some tidbits worthy of mention about this northern Franklin County crossroads in the most recent segment of Around Old Granville.
Ingleside was originally known as Macon, Pace said. There was a post office there from 1830-1834, but perhaps to avoid confusion with the other Macon post office in what is now Warren County, the name was changed to Ingleside and remained open until August 1907.
That may have been the reason to change the name, but why was the name Ingleside chosen? Well, there was a home with that name in the vicinity at the time owned by the Littlejohn family from Granville County. It was located about a half mile from the present-day intersection of N.C. 39 and U.S. 401.
It had a similar fate of many other homes of that period – it burned in the 1920’s.
Another home called Monreath is located near Ingleside. This home was built in the late 1770’s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
There’s also Locust Grove, Harris said, which is a great example of Georgian-style architecture that dates possibly from the 1760’s. Although there’s some speculation that the home has been moved from its original location, not everyone’s on board with that theory. Some point to the discovery of Roman numerals notched on the home’s structural beams as evidence that the house had been disassembled – the numerals would have indicated how the house would be put back together.
“That’s a big house to move, back in the day – and a long ways,” Pace said. Regardless, the home certainly has been around since at least 1790 and was originally owned by Thomas Bell.
“It’s an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous house,” Harris said.
The property eventually was sold to John Haywood, who served as the state’s treasurer from 1787 until he died in 1827. It was sold to Peter Foster of Gloucester County, VA., one of Harris’s ancestors.
Locust Grove provided room and board to some students of nearby Mt. Welcome Academy in the early 1800’s. According to an 1828 ad, students could stay for $36 a session.
A grandson of Peter Foster was Fenton Garland Foster, an inventor who is credited with a typesetting machine that basically is the forerunner of the typewriter.
Foster had a falling-out with his grandmother, and she kicked him out of the house for not paying rent. He moved to Connecticut and got in on the ground floor with a newish company called Sperry Rand and ended up losing the rights to all his patents.
There are a few more homes in the general area with names that end in Grove – there’s Maple Grove, Elm Grove and Oak Grove, the name of the home where Harris lives.
Oak Grove was built by a son of Peter Foster, Dr. Peter Stapleton Foster. The good doc, born in 1823, built the home in the 1850’s, Harris said. And the house has stayed in the family since its construction.
It is scheduled for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, fingers crossed, by next week, the proud owner stated.
Just down the road from Oak Grove is Traveler’s Rest, a tiny building that, as the name implied, offered respite from the road for stagecoach passengers.
“It’s one of the most iconic structures” in the area, Pace said.
Right near Ingleside is Rocky Ford, where a structure known simply as the “little stone house” or the “little rock house” stands.
They don’t know much about its history, but there are some theories floating around that it could have been a place where people would have taken refuge if they feared trouble from the Native Americans living close. Another theory has it being a mental institution.
It’s left experts and architectural survey professionals stumped, Pace said. “Nobody really knows what it was used for…it’s just an enigma.”
There’s a lot more to learn about Ingleside and the surrounding area – listen back to the complete conversation on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.
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