THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
EoUrod
»«
iccond elm» rr.nU'r. June I. 1933. il lh* PoMofflce >1 K»Mjh. North
Carotin». undrr lb* Art of Morcli 3. 1879.
Vol.VII. No. 7 July 15, 1939
Up Around Stovall
Where Andrew Jackson's wooden
head was kepi for many years,
where pari of John Penn is
buried, wiiere I here's a 138-room
house and w here you w ill find llie
larjfesl holly Iree in I he worlil.
By CARL GO LHC II
У О
IT probably know that John
Penn " .-is one of the North <
lina signers of the Delcaration of
1 ndo|H*ndence, but tlitl you know that
part of him is buried in one place and
the rest of hint is buried some sixty
m ilw away?
And did you know that not far from
one of his graves there stands at the
present time a 48-room house which,
with the possible exception of the Hilt-
more mansion near Asheville, probably
contains more rooms than any other
house in the state?
Did you know that in the same local¬
ity is the largest holly tree in the
world: that the figurehead of the old
frigate,
СопяШ
ulioii. was concealed
in the 18-room house for many years
after having been stolen by a political
enemy of Andrew Jackson's: that
there is a pitcher in one of the homes
nearby that dates hack to 1708 and a
large platter that probably was made
before 1600?
Located Near Stovall
If you are interested in any of these
items, take a trip up to Stovall, in
Granville County, and you can cheek
on fill of them and also find many
other things of interest.
Stovall is one of the oldest com¬
munities in the state. It isn't a very
large place - its population is just
two or three hundred — but it is rich
in historical associations, it is in the
midst of a line agricultural section,
and it has one of the finest rural
schools to lie found in North Caro¬
lina.
Hen May. over in Hnrlington, was
the first to tell us aliout the fortv-eight-
room house. Wo went up to Stovall last
Thursday and. at Mr. May's sugges¬
tion, got in touch with Mr. W. C.
Daniel, whose folks have Ih-cii living
in that part of Granville County for
more than two hundred years and who
just naturally oozes history from ev¬
ery pore. It is Mr. Daniel who owns
the old pitcher and the old platter.
The pitcher was given to the great¬
grandmother of his great-grandmother
and is a beautiful thing. The platter is
a huge affair and originally came
from an old castle in Scotland. It can
Ik* traced back to 1620 ami is believed
to lx* much older than that. In addi¬
tion. Mr. Daniel has all kinds of old
papers, records, etc., which he has ac¬
cumulated through many years.
The 48-room house is located almut
a mile west of Stovall. It was built
originally by Jim Daniel, one of W.
Daniel's ancestors. Then it went
through several changes of ownership
and was finally bought by one James
Bradley of Haltimore. Mr. E. N. Dick¬
erson, of New York, visited Mr. Brad¬
ley and liked the place so much that he
bought it himself.
Located about a mile from Stovall,
this tree is said by authorities to be
the largest holly tree in the world.
It is perfectly formed.
Each of the owners added a few
rooms to it. and Mr. Dickerson brought
the total riuiiilmr up to 48. Since lie
left there, the place has gone down
gradually and today it is in rather
dilapidated state. A tenant farmer and
his family live there, hut they only use
three or four of the rooms. Most of
the others are untenable.
Mr. W. Daniel looked after the
place, and when Mr. Dickerson decided
to relinquish ownership. Mr. Daniel
helped ship the furniture and other
household goods up North. While
cleaning up around the place, he came
across an old letter, written by a Mr.
Fred A. Canfield of New York. Tin-
letter inquired as to the whereabouts
of “Andrew Jackson's head," and
wanted to know whether Mr. Dicker-
son still hud the head in his possession.
Back in 1884. a mail by the name of
Dewey (relative to Admiral Dewey
of .Spunisli-Aiiieriean war fame) per-
|»cirated an act which caused a na¬
tional stir at that time. The old frig¬
ate. ConsIHution or “Old Iron¬
sides" — had a wooden figurehead on
