Halifax County, NC - The Grove House ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The Grove House" - Halifax, NC This letter is contained in the collection of Tempie Parker Harris Prince posted on Wayne County Archives. The following story was written by my grandmother Mollie Carraway Parker, and I have two copies in her handwriting. However, for some reason, it was written in such a manner as to indicate that I wrote it, but such was not the case. In the summer of 1885 she visited Captain Henry James Carraway and his wife, Sue, in Halifax, and it was there that she had this experience. Captain Carraway's daughter, Minnie Carraway Hale, wrote my mother that she had written a story about the Grove House and that it had been published in the "Atlanta Constitution". I have been unable to get a copy of it. The Grove House was the home of Willie Jones, and it was here that John Paul Jones got his commission in the Navy and, therefore, it is a historic place. I have more than once heard her speak of a fine old house that stood in a splendid grove of oaks on the southern edge of the town. This grove gave name to the fine old building, for it was known far and wide as the Grove House, and with its marks of former beauty and grandeur well deserved its reputation of having been at one time a very fine specimen of Colonial architecture. Every particle of the building material had been brought from England. Even the gravestones in the nearby burying ground were English tho at the time of my grandmother's visit these unfortunately had been so defaced by time and vandalism that it was impossible to decipher any of the inscriptions except the word Johnston on two of the headstones. The steps to the house were three immense semi-circles of stone one upon the other and all bearing the English quarry mark, and they led up to a large double door, with the usual fan shaped transom above it. Upon entering one found himself in a splendid hall, with oak wainscot and panels and ceiling all beautifully carved, but especially would he be struck by an immense fireplace fronting him, with a grand old oaken mantel reaching to the ceiling with its lovely carvings of acorns and leaves. On the right of the fireplace was what looked to be a solid wall of panels, but really was the hiding place of a secret stairway utterly unheard of until a few months prior to my grandmother's visit, after the house had fallen into decay and was uninhabited except by vagrants and ne'er-do-wells. It seems that some boys were idling there one Sunday afternoon and with the thoughtless vandalism or young hoodlums, were beating on the panels to the right of the fireplace, when suddenly the spring door with its secret lock flew open, as several of the panels crashed in, and to their surpise there was a narrow staircase leading down, they knew not where. Being of an adventurous turn, they followed the leadings and came out finally into the open air, some half a mile from the house in a ravine that led away to the north. This find of the boys was soon noised abroad and very many went to see if it could really be true, and after a few months there was found an old, old couple living some miles away who knew of the existence of this secret passageway and told the following remarkable story of the use to which it had once been put. After the Battle of Guilford Court House, Cornwallis went to Wilmington for his army to rest and recuperate. In a short while he resumed his march going northward, intending to reach Petersburg and form a junction with the British troops of the north. When he reached Halifax on this route he halted his staff and attendants at this Grove House, demanding entertainment for his large retinue of officers and servants. Now the gentleman of the house had a very beautiful daughter who was engaged to be married to a young officer, a Lieutenant in Washington's army. Hearing of the approach of the British, he felt anxious about the safety of his ladylove, so knowing of the secret approach to the house, he rode thru the ravine to the mouth of the cave, where concealing his horse in the nearby woods, he made his way up the hidden passage and was actually in the house when the advance guard of Cornwallis' army rode up. His sweetheart simply bade him goodbye and shut him in the secret place, thinking he would go away as soon as possible. Not so, however, as the sequel shows. Just behind the huge fireplace and running parallel with the front wall is a cross hall some four or five feet wide with two doors, one opposite the left hand corner of the fireplace, leading into the grand banquet hall, a room large enough to seat easily a hundred guests, and the other exactly opposite this secret chamber we have been talking about, and leading into the wine room. While dinner was being prepared, Cornwallis and his staff sat in this wine room, and while they drank the fine wines and brandies, thinking themselves quite safe from all listeners or spies, they freely discussed all their plans of the coming campaign, and when called into the banquet hall, they went quite satisfied that everything was settled to their liking. Little did they dream that an ear had been glued to the opposite thin wall of panels, hearing every word, storing up everything discussed, to be repeated to General Washington as soon as possible. When the conference was broken up, and Cornwallis and his officers went in to partake of the feast prepared for them, the young officer hurried thru the secret passage to the open air, mounted his horse and rode at full speed to the headquarters of the American troops. Here he disclosed to Washington all that he had heard from the council of war held in the Grove House. So valuable was this information, that Washington acting upon it, so planned the movement of his troops that Cornwallis was brought to bay and finally compelled to surrender at Yorktown, thus virtually ending the long, hard fought Revolutionary War. From this incident we see how great things can be the outcome of little ones. But for the coming of the young Continental officer to visit his ladylove, there would have been no listener to the plans of Cornwallis and thus Washington could not have known how to thwart his plans, and thus the war might have been prolonged for weary months. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ___________________________________________________________________