GUILFORD COUNTY, NC - NEWSPAPERS - A Historic Old House - 1896 ============================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Mary Jones benka1@midamer.net ============================================================== From the Greensboro Patriot of March 30, 1896 A HISTORIC OLD HOUSE EDITOR PATRIOT: The present seems to be an age of reminiscence, and of digging up old family histories and bringing to light old and curious family relics. It is with this reminiscent feeling that the writer undertakes to give a brief history of an old house in Guilford County. About the year 1750. at the time of what is known as the Scotch-Irish movement, John McLean, a native of the County Ulster, Ireland, moved from the colony of Pennsylvania to secure for hmself and his posterity a home in the wilds of North Carolina. He entered a large tract of land on the waters of Alamance Creek, in what was then Orange, but now Guilford County. Within sight of this historic stream he built his house, and it is more of this house, than of those who occupied it, that we wish to write. The exact date of its erection is not known, but we are certain that it was built before the year 1767. It is now in the possession of the fifth generation of McLeans descended in a direct line from the original owner, and is now and has been, during all these years, occupied as a dwelling. We think that it is the oldest inhabited house in Guilford County. The house is almost a quadrangle-three sides built of yellow poplar logs sawed about eight or ten inches square, pinned together at the corners and placed upon a solid rock foundation. This huge construction was called the frame and it was then weather-boarded and ceiled, and was originally painted red. It fronts to the east and has a porch running along both the east and west sides. The south end is built entirely of rocks and originally contained a fireplace eleven feet wide, and so high that a man six feet tall could stand under the mantel. The front door, a heavy but rather handsome affair, was made in two parts, an upper and lower. All of the lumber was gotten out and prepared by hand, and shows some very find and artistic workmanship. When first built, and for a long time after, the entire house was in one room and heated by this immense fire place. Marshall McLean, the second proprietor, divided it into two rooms and built a chimney at the north end. John Marshall McLean, the third proprietor, built an ____against the front, but without making any change in the exterior appearance of the house. Walter H McLean, the present proprietor, has filled in this large fire place, extended a partition in the opposite direction and thus made two confortable rooms with a fireplace in each one, all from this one large fire place. Notwithstanding all these changes, the outside appearance of the old house is the same today that it was when the Liberty Bell sounded in 1776. This quaint old house has been the home of the same family under two local and three national governments; under its broad low roof have slept soldiers of five wars. It had the honor of sheltering Col. William Washington in the spring of 1781, while his troops reposed under the tall graceful poplars in the yard. There are those who can trace their ancestry back to this old house now known to be living in the states of New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, the Dakotas and Washington, and many have been lose sight of and are perhaps living in other states. They have spanned the continent and among them are found lawyers, physicians, ministers, teachers, merchants, farmers, mechanics and artisans. Such is the history, briefly told, of the old house. The companions of its early days are all gone, but the old stone doorsteps upon which brave men trod, when, with knapsack and rifle they left home at their country's call to endure all the hardships of a soldier's life, are the same now as then. The same stones are in the large old chimney around which sat the mothers, wives and daughters and with deft fingers made wonderful fabrics of flax, wool or cotton, while they anxiously waited for news of the loved ones far asay. The beautiful waters of the Alamance sing the same song as they ripple over the same stones now as then. All else is changed. Even the sturdy oaks and tall graceful poplars have decayed and died. Generations have come and gone. Some have sought homes in the far west and long since mingled their ashes with the dust of the prairie. Others have been laid to rest in the quiet old Alamance Church yard, and the same Alamance Creek which sang their lullaby when they lay in their cradles, now sings their requiem as it rushes past their graves. Still the old house stands as a yore, extendings its hospitality to all who may come. Another and a younger generation now room over the old house, peering into the dark nicks and crannies and wondering what they were for, exploring the mysteries of the old garret and bringing to light the old swords, pistols and reap-hooks, implements of war and peace, little dreaming of the hardships enduring and the sacrifices made by the owners of thos implements to secure the liberty and freedom they now enjoy. W. P. McLean March 17, 1896