Gates County NcArchives History .....Gates County January 24, 1942
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Guy Potts http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004214 March 30, 2008, 12:07 am

"The State" Magazine

GATES COUNTY - Where big pine trees, fertile farms and fine people 
predominate. It's the land of the Riddicks, the Eures, the Hollowells, the 
Hobbses and the Crosses.

First of all, we want to tell you about the Ned Freeman place, which is now 
occupied by Miss Edith Freeman, Mr. Lloyd Freeman and Mr. Hewitt Freeman - 
brothers and sister.

The Freemans live in North Carolina. The Freemans live in Virginia. They live 
in Gates County. They live in Nansemond County. And, on top of all that, they 
live in three townships and three school districts. Half the time, one of the 
brothers is in Virginia, talking to the other brother or to his sister in 
North Carolina and without raising his voice. The family take their meals in 
North Carolina and sleep in Virginia. Mr. Lloyd Freeman runs a filling station 
across the highway from his Home. When he goes to dinner, half of him is in 
North Carolina and the other half is in Virginia. Of course, by now you've 
guessed the explanation. Their house is squarely on the North Carolina-
Virginia line. Half the house is in one state and half is in the other. It's a 
real old place, too, and was built about 150 years ago.

Gates County was formed in 1779 from Hertford, Chowan and Perquimans counties. 
It derives its name from General Horatio Gates, who acquired a brilliant 
victory in 1777 at Saratoga over General Burgoyne. The people of Gates 
evidently were great admirers of the General, because they not only named 
their county in compliment to him but they did the same thing with two towns 
within the county - Gates and Gatesville.

The first settlement in the county was at Corapeake. The original name of the 
place was Orapeake (an Indian name) but in the course of time this was changed 
to Corapeake for some reason or other - nobody knows exactly why.

Pete Murphy is a legislative veteran of many sessions, but Pete is a mere babe 
in arms when compared to Joseph Reddick of Gates County. Joseph went to the 
House of Commons in 1781, '82 and '83. Then he went to the Senate and kept on 
going to the Senate for 27 consecutive sessions, which makes a total of 30 
terms. No man in this state ever has equaled that record. In addition to this, 
he served another term in the Senate three years later.

Speaking of Mr. Reddick - all of the Reddicks (or Riddicks) you've ever known 
came from Gates County, North Carolina, or Nansemond County, Virginia. If they 
didn't, their parents or grandparents did. Other outstanding family names in 
that section are Eure, Hobbs, Hollowell and Cross. Dr. W.0. Riddick, for many 
years president of State College, came from Gates County. So did Thad Eure, 
our present Secretary of State. Incidentally, Thad holds the highest political 
office ever held by a native of Gates County. We've never had a Governor from 
Gates; never a Senator and never a member of the House of Representatives. 
General William P. Roberts, the youngest brigadier general in the Confederacy, 
became State Auditor and later was sent to Victoria, B.C., as consul. Judge 
Mills L. Eure was on the Superior Court bench. And that's just about all of 
the important political posts that have been held by Gates County men, unless 
you include Hathaway Cross, assistant parole commissioner and Charlie Brown, 
head of the bus department of the State Board of Education.

There's something about Gates County that is hard to describe. The best word 
we can find for it is atmosphere. People down there live the way it suits them 
to live. When noon comes, most of the storekeepers promptly lock their doors 
and go home for lunch. And you know, in that connection something happened 
which illustrates the spirit of hospitality and courtesy which you will find 
to be general throughout the county. As we were walking down the street from 
the courthouse in Gatesville we heard two young ladies speak to an elderly 
gentleman a short distance in front of us.

"Good morning, Mr. Cross," they greeted him.
"Good morning, young ladies," he replied.
They continued on their way and we hurried to catch up with him. 
"Is your name Mr. Cross?" we inquired.
"That's right."
"Any relation to Hathaway Cross?"
"No close kin, although we're probably distantly related. And what might your 
name be?"

We told him and we also said that we were trying to find out something about 
Gates County and particularly wanted to go out to Buckland, where Judge A.P. 
Godwin had told us was located the oldest house in that part of the state.

"Could you spare the time to go out there with us?" we inquired.
"I'll be glad to go," he responded courteously. "It's only about five miles up 
the road toward Gates."

So he got into the car. We drove out to Buckland and spent some little time at 
the old house. Then we went on to Gates, and from there to the state line, 
where the Freeman place is located. Returning almost to Gatesville, we swung 
to the right and passed through Roduco and on to the Story brothers' house, 
where we remained for almost an hour, visiting with them. Long about three 
o'clock in the afternoon we drove back to Gatesville and stopped in front of 
Mr. Cross' store. (We forgot to tell you that his name is S.P. Cross.) As he 
got out of the car we thanked him sincerely for the time he had given us.

"Not at all," he said, "I was glad to go with you." We shook hands and he 
walked onto the door of his mercantile establishment. There he paused, reached 
into his pocket, pulled out a key, unlocked the door and went in. He had kept 
his store locked up for approximately three hours in order to do an act of 
courtesy for a perfect stranger. It's a big store, too, and there's no telling 
how much trade he lost. And if you don't call that hospitality and courtesy, 
we'd like to know what you would call it.

The first man we met at Gatesville was Judge A.P. Godwin. Before leaving 
Raleigh, Thad Eure had informed us that the Judge knew as much about Gates 
County as probably anyone whom we could find. His office is up over the bank, 
across the street from the courthouse and he's as interesting and affable a 
gentleman as you will find anywhere. From him we learned much of the 
historical background of Gates County, as well as much information about 
present conditions.

Gates County was first settled about 1660. It was formed from Perquimans, 
Chowan and Hertford. George Fox, the Quaker preacher, visited the county in 
1672. In August, 1831, the Nat Turner insurrection broke out in Southampton 
County, Virginia. Many Negroes participated and the rebellion spread over into 
Gates.

There's an interesting old church near Gatesville - a Negro church known as 
New Hope. It was built in 1859 for free Negroes and no slaves were admitted. 
Even after the war it would not for a long time admit any Negro who had been a 
slave; the line always being drawn between those "born free and those shot 
free."

In 1820 the first academy in the county was chartered. It was known as Spring 
Hill Academy, located at Sarum, now Buckland. The next academy chartered was 
the one at Sunbury, incorporated in 1832.

The first church to be established in Gates County was authorized in 1719 at 
Sarum by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The first church to be 
established in the county after the Revolution was the Middle Swamp Baptist 
Church. The original structure was a log house, built across the road from the 
present church.

Yes, sir; there's a lot of history in Gates County. Going back to our trip 
with Mr. Cross:

The first place at which we stopped was Buckland, which was quite a community 
in its day and time. Here is located what is known as the Dr. Smith house. It 
was built in 1775 and is owned and occupied by an elderly couple, former 
slaves of the family. The man's name is Charlie; we didn't find out his wife's 
name. Charlie said that they had been married 63 years.

"Ever had a fuss?" we inquired.
"Oh, yes," said his wife, "but there's one thing we can say - there never has 
been a day when we haven't spoken to each other."

They took us around to the side of the house and pointed to a date on one of 
the bricks. The date is 1775. Buckland was a palatial mansion in its day. The 
interior woodwork was of great beauty. A few years ago a man came down there, 
looked at the woodwork and offered Charlie $1,250 for it. "Sold!" said 
Charlie. So the man stripped the house of all of its mantels, doors, moldings 
and other things. "To tell the truth," said Charlie "I only got $1,200 for it. 
She (pointing to his wife) made me give $50 to her."

Gates is an attractive little community and is famous for its hams. So is the 
town of Sunbury, further to the east. Other communities in the county are 
Roduco, Drum Hill, Eure, Hobbsville and Corapeake. In passing through Roduco 
you may have wondered how the place got its name. When the Coast Line laid its 
tracks through there, Mr. E.E. Roberts built a large store at that point. It 
was known as the Roberts Drug Company. RO came from Roberts; DU came from Drug 
and CO came from Company. Put the three together and you get Roduco. Cute 
isn't it?

One of the most beautiful sights we saw in our trip through Gates was the 
driveway leading up to the house now occupied by Miss Sallie Jenkins and built 
by Colonel John W. Gordon. There are three rows of huge pine trees, extending 
for a distance of approximately 150 yards from the highway to the house. The 
trees form a double driveway; a most impressive spectacle and the only thing 
of its kind we have ever seen in the state. Be sure to look for it if you're 
driving through that section; it's between Gates and Gatesville.

The first courts in the county were held in James R. Riddick's yard - the 
place which afterwards was owned by Judge Mills L. Eure. The present 
courthouse at Gatesville was built in 1836 and is a stuccoed structure, one of 
the few public buildings in the state designed in the Gothic Revival style. 
Its bell was purchased in 1781. The Confederate monument, across the street 
from the courthouse, was erected in 1915. It bears an inscription to General 
William P. Roberts, about whom we've already told you.

East of Roduco, not far from the Chowan River, is the home of the Story 
brothers. There are three of them and the oldest is 93 years old and as spry 
as the average man of 70 or younger. Mr. P.P. Story (he wouldn't tell us his 
age but we imagine he's around 75) took us in tow and walked us through the 
woods for a mile or more to show us some of the big pine trees in the forests 
which the Storys own. And we mean they're big trees! The biggest we've seen 
anywhere in the eastern part of the state. Hundreds of them, towering over 100 
feet high. Not long ago the Storys sold some of the trees to the Government at 
a price of $25 per tree. There are 1,200 feet of lumber in some of these pines.

By the time we got back to our car, we were puffing for breath, and so was Mr. 
Cross. The elderly Mr. Story, however, gave no such indication. He probably 
can walk like that all day
long without getting tired.

Gates has practically no industries, except a number of sawmills scattered 
throughout the county. To offset this, however, it has some of the finest 
farms to be found anywhere in the state. It is a rich agricultural county and 
grows a lot of corn, cotton, peanuts, soybeans and other crops.

The late Dr. Horace Williams, who is as closely identified with The University 
of North Carolina as is Old East, was a native of Gates.

Howard E. Eure runs the Eure Poultry Farm. He has two plants in the county and 
is the largest poultry raiser in the eastern part of the state.

Secretary of State Thad Eure was born in a section of the county known as 
Scratch Hall. Used to be some Indians lived around there by the name of Hall 
and they raised a lot of cain. That's how come the place to be named Scratch 
Hall. It's mighty respectable now, however.

Our friend, Mr. Cross, told us that he had a brother by the name of Charlie 
Cross, now dead. When he was alive there were five other Charlie Crosses in 
Gates County, none of them closely related to any of the others, and one of 
them was a colored man. They got their mail mixed up something terribly.

And, we almost forgot to tell you - when you visit Buckland and talk to 
Charlie, be sure to get him to show you the handprints on the wall of one of 
the rooms and also where a pool of blood stained a place in the floor. There 
was a murder committed in the house many years ago and these are the mementoes 
of the crime.


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