Though we have focused much of this tour on the 18th century and the Alexander family, this property left the family quite quickly after the deaths of Hezekiah and Mary Alexander.
This site was home to dozens, if not hundreds, more people from the late 1700s through the early 1900s. For example, even while Hezekiah was alive, a local doctor rented the house and boarded ill patients in the house. In addition, Hezekiah’s close colleague and friend, Waightstill Avery, who would later become North Carolina’s first Attorney General, rented space in the house for a short time. These tenants were in addition to the dozens of enslaved people who called this site home. A speculative portrait of one of those enslaved women, Nance, is depicted in photo 9 on your guide.
During the American Revolution, it was also said that Hezekiah locked Tories (otherwise known as British loyalists) in the attic of the house at the height of the Revolutionary fervor of 1780. The same story indicates that one Tory even jumped out the attic window and ran away to flee his captors.
After Hezekiah’s death, the property was willed to his wife, Mary Alexander, who died soon after. Ozwald, their youngest son, inherited the property in 1805 and died without a will in 1826. Ozwald’s third wife, Mary Moore Alexander, successfully petitioned the court and was awarded the property in 1828, comprising about 121 acres. Mary Moore remarried to William Lucky in that same year, and William died without a will in 1845. This time Mary Moore was not awarded the same 121 acres, and the property was instead awarded to Dorcus E. Lucky, one of William’s children.
In 1858, the property was sold, likely by an agent, from Dorcus Lucky to Joseph Caldwell for $850. Joseph soon gave the property to his brother, Samuel in 1861. Samuel and his wife sold the tract to A.F. Yandle for $2,838 in 1883, who then mortgaged the property to Victor Barringer in 1886. However, Yandle defaulted on his payments, the property was foreclosed, and sold to Joseph Reid at a bargain $2,300 in 1890.
Joseph Reid died in 1913 and willed the property to his wife Rachael. During this time, the property was rented out to tenants and likely did not serve as the primary residence for Rachael Reid. In 1924, one tenant, John Sparkman, was arrested at the Rock House when the County sheriff raided the home and found “the most complete bootleg whiskey still they [had] run across in months….The still was in full blast when the officers arrived. They found 2,000 gallons of beer, several gallons of double-run whiskey and paraphernalia indicating whiskey making operations on a large scale had been carried on.” See photo [10] for the original newspaper article.
Four years later, Rachael Reid’s family members were unable to agree on who should inherit the property, so it was auctioned off in 1928, with the proceeds split among Rachael’s descendents. The winning bid from J.M. Wallace was $9,660, well below market value, and the commissioners disallowed the sale. Instead, they came to a private agreement with Eugene Cole to sell the property for $15,000 in 1929.
Eugene and his wife, Pattie, owned the property until 1943 when it was given for $1 to the local Trustees of the Western Conference of the Methodist Church. That was the final sale of the building and the land on which you stand. The land is now operated by Aldersgate Senior Living, which originated as a retirement community for elderly Methodist preachers and widows.
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Thank you so much for visiting the Charlotte Museum of History and 1774 Homesite. If you’re interested in learning more, please connect with a staff member or consider coming on the guided tour of the Rock House and Siloam School. Your admission helps us keep this site preserved so we can continue telling these stories through programs, tours, special events, exhibits, and more.
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Thanks again for visiting!
