Our Pr«Miid(Milial Cradles II
Polk, the Forgotten Man
By KVA N. YOUNG
“Born in a house V* mile off the
highway." Driving through a rolling,
fertile country, yearly dotted with white
fields of cotton, one suddenly came
upon the above marker designating the
birthplace of James K. Polk, and just
off the roadway, on a slightly elevated
portion of land, one saw a pile of
stones pyramided to a point and bear¬
ing the following inscription:
"Here stood the house in which was
born November 2. 1795. James Knox
Polk. President of the United States
1845-1849. Erected by the Mecklen¬
burg Chapter Daughters of the Ameri¬
can Revolution."
You found this on a well-paved
highway from Lancaster to Charlotte,
eleven miles out of Charlotte. North
Carolina, and one mile more, on a
country road, out of Pineville. If you
were in a hurry you might have missed
them both, for the surrounding coun¬
try is more enticing. If you found time
to read the marker on the stones, you
found the closer view had not been
very attractive. For years, a local
farmer fed his pigs just a few yards
away; and beer cans, also other evi¬
dences of joy riding, have dotted the
landscape.
"Polk was a statesman, characterized
by impeachable integrity, indefatiga¬
ble energy, patriotic devotion to duty
and breadth of view, wisdom and
vision." North Carolina has done vir¬
tually nothing to perpetuate his memo¬
ry, no biography by a native son. no
adequate memorial to his memory,
"The obscurity which envelopes Polk
and his accomplishments is one of the
most singular phenomena in the entire
course of American History," so spoke
Archibald Henderson in an article
twenty-five years ago. dubbing him the
"Most Forgotten President."
This is particularly interesting in
view of the fact that he is the only one
of North Carolina's Presidents to
Thil pyramid morking ihc site ol Polk's birlh-
plate in Mecklenburg Counly hoi been dis
mantled, but will be restored after work on the
Polk Mcmoriol il finiihed
graduate from U.N.C., the only one
with a college degree.
A plaque on the Memorial Hall at
Chapel Hill University (with many,
many others) bears his name and the
statement that he was a Governor of
Tennessee and President of the United
States. There arc plans to name a
building after him.
There is no single monument at Ra¬
leigh. but he was included in a statue
on the Capitol grounds dedicated to
a trio of North Carolina born Presi¬
dents — Andrew Johnson. Andrew
Jackson, and James K. Polk. All of
these were living in Tennessee, when
elected to office. The inscription bore
only the names, birth and Presidential
facts and counties of birth. New in¬
scriptions have been cut on the monu¬
ment. and we have learned:
"Jackson revitalized American Democ¬
racy"
"Polk enlarged our boundaries"
"Johnson defended the Constitution,"
Since 1957 efforts have been made
to purchase the site of Polk’s cradling;
bond elections held and failed, but at
last sufficient funds are available.
The State has appropriated almost
$ 1 20,000. bought the land, and, with
funds from private foundations, work
has begun on a long deferred recog¬
nition.
The original cabin disappeared some
time in the latter part of the nineteenth
century, but a description of it is on
record from an address delivered by
Ciovcrnor Swain in 1867.
"The place where President Polk
was born was. in 1849. the property
of Nathan Orr. The house pointed out
to me was of logs, had never been
weatherboarded. and was much di¬
lapidated. It was formed of two pens,
one about 20 by 16. the other about
12 by 16. making a structure 32 by 16.
with a single roof and brick chimney
at the north end. and stood about 200
yards South of Little Sugar Creek."
But reports were conflicting as to
the number of doors and windows, and
from a clipping in the ancestral home
of Polk in Columbia. S.
С К
this ex¬
cerpt:
"The building is made of immense
logs. It has three narrow doors but
no windows. It stood within two hun¬
dred yards of Little Sugar Creek, but
has been removed into a lot nearby,
and used, until this spring, as a cow
house."
Now nearly UK) years after his
presidency. North Carolina will honor
its second, and the Nation’s eleventh,
favorite son. and. before his 175th
birthday, there will be concrete evi-
THE STATE. APRIL IS. 1967
11
