105 West Main Street
John Gray Blount (1752-1833) and his family exercised considerable influence over the political and economic life of North Carolina and Tennessee during the early National period. Blount's business dealings ranged westward to Tennessee and along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean, but his base of operation from his marriage in 1778 forward was in Washington. Blount made the town his home when it was still known as Forks of the Tar River. He and his business partners had large shipping interests, owning wharves, flat boats, and seagoing vessels.