Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. A Visit to Sloop Point Plantation "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Last Saturday the Sampson County Historical Society held a luncheon meeting at Poplar Grove Plantation near Wilmington. After the lunch and business meeting the group made a pilgrimage to the Sloop Point Plantation house. This house is located near Hampstead, overlooking Stumpy Sound and the waters of Banks Channel. The house was built in 1727 and is believed to be the oldest standing house in southeastern North Carolina. The Orton Plantation house in Brunswick County was built about the same time, but in 1840 it was very much remodeled and the style was changed to Greek Revival. In 1726 the Honorable John Baptista Ashe received three large land grants from the crown, which included the tract around the Sloop Point house and all of what is now Topsail Island. In 1727 he built the house out of well-seasoned heart pine with a basement built of ballast stone. The style of the house appears to resemble the plantation houses of the West Indies. There are two large chimneys and the chimney on the south side of the house is large enough to have two fireplaces downstairs and one upstairs, as well as a doorway through the chimney. The brick appears to be English made. The brick kitchen and smoke house are separate buildings and are in ruins just as they were when I visited there more than 50 years ago. The house has two stories and an attic, all built above a large cellar or basement. The parlor mantel and the wainscoting are in a fine colonial style, and the floors are of heart long-leaf pine. The house is located in a large grove of mostly live oaks with a few yaupons. There is an avenue of oaks extending from the house almost to the water (two-tenths of a mile away.) Brick ruins of the old dock may still be seen. Naval stores, lumber, shingles, barrel stoves, and rice were shipped abroad from this place. During the War Between the States salt works were located here and some of the saltpans may still be seen in the grove. John B. Ashe, the builder of Sloop Point, was originally from Charleston, South Carolina, and may have been young when his brother came from England to Carolina. The Ashe family was from Wiltshire, England, and was prominent long before coming to the New World. John B. Ashe came to the Albemarle in 1719 and later served on the Governor’s Council and was speaker of the Assembly. He married Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Major Samuel and Elizabeth Lillington Swann. Major Swann’s first wife was the daughter of Governor Drummond. After the death of Major Swann, Elizabeth Swann married (1713) Colonel Maurice Moore. John B. Ashe had a rice plantation called Grovely on Town Creek, a plantation at Rocky Point, and a plantation on the Cape Fear in Bladen County called Ashwood. He and Mrs. Ashe had three children: Governor Samuel Ashe who married Mary Porter, the daughter of John Swan Porter and Mary Moore Porter (daughter of Colonel Maurice Moore); Major General John Ashe, an officer of the American Revolution who married Rebecca Moore (daughter of Colonel Maurice Moore and sister of Judge Maurice Moore and General James Moore) and lived at Rocky Point, died 1781 and is buried in the Sampson family cemetery at Clinton; and Mary Ashe who married George Moore, the son of Roger Moore of Orton, and lived at Moorefields, near Rocky Point. John B. Ashe died in 1734 and left Sloop Point to his son, Governor Samuel Ashe. His heirs sold it to the Rev. Lewis Whitfield (1765-1849) of Wayne County. It was used by him as a summerhouse. He gave it to his oldest daughter Rachel Whitfield, who married William Wright of Bowden in Duplin County, and they lived at Sloop Point where they had six children. One of their daughters, Mary Louise Wright (b. 1826) married Dugald McMillian and lived at Sloop Point where they had nine children. The oldest son, Dr. William Dugald McMillian, a Confederate soldier, married (1869) Margaret Anderson of Fayetteville and had eight children. He inherited Sloop Point, lived there for a time and later he moved to Magnolia and to Wilmington. The family used Sloop Point in summers. When I first remember two of Dr. McMillian’s daughters, Joanna and Eleanor (Nell) both single, lived there, and after their deaths the place was sold to Mr. And Mrs. James Walton Graves who have restored the place to its original beauty. Today the grove looks like and English Park. The graves are gracious and hospitable. They are certainly to be commended for the splendid restoration and preservation of ancient Sloop Point. ============================================================== 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. The 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, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================