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New Role for the
Old Rock House
Its restoration recalls the stirring'
days of |»re-ltevolntionarav Mecklen¬
burg and llezekiali Alexander.
By JO II A W.
ПЛКН
The mists of Time had dimmed its
true history, while generations of Char-
lotteans who knew it only as a relic of
some former era referred to it as the
"Old Rock House." Built in 1774, its
two-foot thick walls of native stone,
quarried out of the knoll on which it
stands four square to the winds, defying
weather, neglect, and Time itself, yet
the old house is basically sound, and as
you look upon it these days there seems
to be a hint of a smile on the facade
which for many years presented only a
dour, decrepit, visage to the casual
passerby.
The "Old Rock House," now better
known by its rightfully proud name
as the Hezckiah Alexander House is
undergoing a complete renovation and
restoration by the Hezckiah Alexander
Foundation. Inc. to honor the name
and memory of its builder of 200 years
ago, before our nation was born. For
this old house, so long neglected and all
but forgotten, was built by and was the
colonial home of Hezckiah Alexander,
himself and his place in history all but
forgotten and blotted out by the glaring
and often trivial headlines of a later
day.
Л
Distinguished Patriot
For a refresher course in North
Carolina's and our country's history.
The Alciondcr Home, olter porlial restoration and re-roolmg, done some 25 or 30 *eors ago, by
о
former committee, hcodcd by Mrs. E. C. Morsholl of Charlotte. The work done by thot committee
sored this «oluablc ond historic londmork from further deterioration and mode possible the work of
the present doy Foundation.— I Photo mode obout
1947.»
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Relic of the spring house, on the grounds of the
Aleiondcr Home, fodoy in complete ruins al¬
though the site is clcorly risible, while the large
spring of liring -oter still bubbles ond flows
oround the foundation stones. — (Photo mode
about
1947.»
Ihc student will find in most libraries
the story of the Mecklenburg Declara¬
tion of Independence which was
penned, and signed May 20. 1775,
some fourteen months before the dele¬
gates to the Continental Congress sit¬
ting at Philadelphia got around to fram¬
ing the National Declaration of Inde¬
pendence on July
2/3,
1776. In fact,
many of Ihc ideas, and some of the
actual phrases of the latter document
arc so similar to the Mecklenburg
Declaration that many authorities find
them to be more than coincidence.
Among the 27 men who signed the
Mecklenburg Declaration, no less than
six bore the name of Alexander.
Hezckiah, a quiet and retiring man. a
lawyer by profession, known as the
thinker of the Alexander clan, was one
of the prime agitators in the move for
Independence, and is believed by many
to have been the actual author of the
document. Certain it is that in 1776
he was elected to the provincial Con¬
gress of North Carolina where he
helped draft the first constitution of
the new state. He was also one of the
founders of the Institution that is today
known as Queen’s College in Charlotte.
A leading citizen of colonial North
Carolina during the War for Inde¬
pendence and in the post war years.
THE STATE, JULY IS. 1970
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