9, 1934
THE STATE
Page Eleven
A place of great historic interest
which is visited by thousands
of tourists annually.
THE ROCK HOUSE
THE massive walls of The Rock House arc still standing, and the present owner
is seriously considering restoring the structure to its original form.
★
By LULA M. WEIR
*
UNDOPBTKDLY the most in¬
teresting and historic ruin in
Piedmont North Carolina to¬
day is tin*
Коек
House in Stokes
County, built by Colonel
Лаек
Martin,
of Revolutionary War fame. 164 years
ago. It is visited annually by thou¬
sands of tourists, including residents
from many states of the union.
Colonel Martin was one of the two
first settlers of Stokes County. His
family has given many distinguished
men ami women to the state.
The Rock House, built by slave
labor, of native atone, was fifteen years
in erection. The foundation was laid
in 1770. It. was a gigantic undertak¬
ing to build n struct ure of such size
and massiveness in those days. The
stately house was four stories in height.
Its walls were three feet thick. Flag¬
stone Hours were laid in cement,
closely resembling the old Hnglish
mansions of the sixteenth and seven¬
teenth centuries.
The basement was used for dining
room and kitchen; the great fireplace
lieing of sufficient dimensions for the
roasting of an ox.
The broad hall and up|>er rooms
wen- originally used as a fortress rather
than a dwelling place. It was there
that the populace gathered at times
for refuge from the Indians and
marauding Tories, tin- latter being
particularly active in this section dur¬
ing the Revolution.
Oliee the strong doors had boon
bolted and Colonel Martin anti his
neighbors wen* safely inside, they could
laugh at the futile efforts of attackers.
Vast stacks of provisions were always
kept within thi< house, enabling the be¬
sieged parties to remain there for
week» at a time without special dis¬
comfort.
The Rock House is situated on a
commanding knoll in a region full of
historic memories. It is in close
proximity to that |wrtion of the
Sauratown mountains of which it has
been reporte-d recently a tract of 110,-
700 acres of forest is to be purchased
and established as a national forest
reserve. No more picturesque nor in¬
teresting spot is to he found anywhere
ill the Piedmont or northwestern por¬
tion of the state.
Doubtless the aristocratic Martins,
as well ns the pioneer Moravians,
Quakers and others were inllueneed as
strongly by the native beauty of the
spot as by the fertility of the region
when they decided to settle in Stokes
County.
The
Коек
House was completed by
Colonel Martin as a homo for his bride,
the beautiful Nancy Shipp, of Surry
County, whom he married in 1784.
Mistress Nancy Shipp Martin, tradi¬
tion says, was a worthy and lovable
queen of the stately castle which was
hurried to completion one year after
their marriage, A |M'rfis>t house-
keeper and home-maker, she was
adored by the members of her house¬
hold and by the negro slaves of the
plantation. The broad hulls and
spacious rooms of the great house, all
elegantly furnished, became the center
of happy homo life and far-flung
hospitality instead of the fortress and
scene of stormy war councils of its
earlier history.
Mistress Martin was proud of her
impressive home and of its furnishings.
The Rock House china was a par¬
ticularly cherished possession. After
each meal she carefully washed and
dried with her own delicate hands each
piece of china and placed it in a wal¬
nut cupboard built especially to hold
it. Her parlor furniture was imported
from England ; the cherry suite in her
tad room being the envy and admira¬
tion of the entire countryside. Many
other handsome pieces were made by
niastercraftsmen who went from one
plantation to another to select wood
which was hewed by slave labor.
Colonel and Mrs. Marlin reared a
family of ten children. The social
atmosphere of the
Коек
House was
typical of the times and of their posi¬
tion. Their guests included such
notables as the Winstons, the Cleve¬
lands, the Franklins and others of the
line old pioneers of Southern aris¬
tocracy.
Colonel Martin, of outstanding
English ancestry, was horn in
АНи-
marle County, Virginia. He settled
in Stokes in
17*»’'
while quite a young
man. He acquired a vast plantation
and became one of the wealthiest and
most influential men of his day. He
distinguished himself for daring
bravery during the Revolution and
proved an equally worthy citizen in
time of peace, superintending the
cultivation of his acres and taautify-
ing the homo which was his pride.
One tragedy marred the history of
the Rock House. William Martin, son
of the builder, was murdered by a slave
overseer in 1859. His body rests in
the family graveyard on the estate
where three generations arc buried.
There is also a tradition that a
young daughter of the Martins was
(Continued on page tuentg-two)
