The 1774 Alexander Rock House in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, USA, is the oldest house in Mecklenburg County and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1970. Originally built by the Alexander Family who finished construction in 1774, the Rock House and its various outbuildings have had many owners over the years with The Charlotte Museum of History being its steward today.

History

Alexanders
Hezekiah Alexander (~1728–1801), bought more than on Sugar Creek in 1767 and finished building the Rock House in 1774. Originally from

Cecil County, Maryland Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was n ...

, he moved to Pennsylvania, then to Delaware, and finally North Carolina. He worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and a farmer, was a member of the Fifth Provincial Congress which wrote North Carolina's first constitution and was a trustee of Queens College (which should not be confused with the present-day

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, ...

.) After Hezekiah's death, the homesite passed to his wife Mary Sample Alexander (1734-1805). She never remarried and thus the land was divided between her youngest sons, Joel and Oswald, after her death. In addition to the land, Oswald also received the Rock House and outbuildings.Solving the Rock House Mysteries, Charlotte Museum of History, December 18, 2019. In 1826, Oswald married Mary Moore only to die suddenly and without a will before the year's end. After his death, she filled a petition for and ultimately received the estate including the Rock House in 1828. She married William Lucky the same year and, because of how property law worked at the time, the house then passed from her to Lucky and out of the Alexander Family. Lucky
William and Mary had three children, Dorcus, William and Catherine, who all received portions of the land when William died without a will in 1845. Mary was also given a portion of the land but was not given the house, which went to Dorcus. Dorcus married and moved to South Carolina in 1852, leaving the property to her uncle, John W. Moore, who sold it to Joseph W. Cadwell in late 1858. Cadwell
Dr. Joseph Cadwell lived in the Rock House for two years until his death at age 28 in 1861. His brother, Samuel Cadwell, inherited the property and moved in with his parents and younger sister. After living there for 22 years, he sold the property to Adam Yandle in March 1883. Yandle
Yandle bought the house paying mostly upfront and promising the rest in January the following year. Knowing he would not be able to pay by the deadline, he mortgaged his home to Victor Barringer in order to pay Samuel Cadwell. This second loan went equally as well as the first and, in 1888, Barringer took the property and sold it at auction to Joseph Reid in 1890. Rei
Joseph Reid and his wife Rachel renovated the house several times including adding a large front porch and replacing the flooring on the ground level. He died in 1913 without any children so the house went to Rachel who died 15 years later in 1928 without ever remarrying, so the house passed to the control of their estate who put it up for sale. Cole
Eugene Cole bought the Rock House and surrounding property from the Reid Estate in 1929 though he never lived in the building himself.

Museum

In 1943, Eugene Cole donated the house to the

Western North Carolina Annual Conference The Western North Carolina Conference is an Annual Conference (regional episcopal area, similar to a diocese) of the United Methodist Church. This conference serves the western half of the state of North Carolina, with its administrative offices ...

of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

which had plans to use the site as a retirement community. In 1949, the home and some of the surrounding property was leased by members of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

in order to preserve and restore the historic building. The Hezekiah Alexander Home Foundation was formed in 1969 to better manage the property and to fundraise for further work. After passing through several hands, The Charlotte Museum of History became independent in 1986 and maintains the Rock House to this day.

Architecture

The stone house was built in a

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Hano ...

typical of those built by

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

who settled in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

. Germans who moved south to North Carolina brought this style of architecture with them. The Alexander House is one of the few examples of this architecture still in existence.

References

External links

Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South (Library of Congress): Hezekiah Alexander stone house, Charlotte vic., Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Hezekiah Alexander House
- Charlotte Museum of History {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, 1774, Rock House Houses completed in 1774 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Museums in Charlotte, North Carolina Houses in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina