Beginning in 1887, North Carolinians began seriously preserving the state’s historical buildings. One popular focus was buildings in which George Washington either “slept here” (to use a popular and overused cliché) or with which he had genuine connections. In 1791, George Washington, then president, took a tour of the southern states, and, as a result, is associated with four historic buildings in North Carolina.
“George Washington Slept Here”
In the middle of the 19th century, entrepreneurs took advantage of the enormous respect for Washington to promote places where Washington may have visited. Private homes and inns were using the phrase “George Washington Slept Here” to attract tourists. During this time, North Carolina’s State Historical Commission had a series of markers erected for places Washington visited during his presidential southern tour in 1791. These were placed out front of historic buildings or on roads outside towns such as Tarboro and Salem.
Early Preservation in North Carolina
North Carolina’s first step in saving historic sites occurred in 1887, when the Guilford Battle Ground Company began preserving land associated with the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.1 In 1896, the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association purchased the site of Fort Raleigh, the first English settlement in America. In 1903, the General Assembly founded the North Carolina Historical Commission, and in 1907, the commission was charged with the “preservation of battlefields, houses, and other places celebrated in the history of the state.”2 It was not until the late 1910s and 1920s that buildings began to enter the movement.
The Society of Colonial Dames of America of North Carolina purchased the Joel Lane House in 1927, Lane’s plantation had become the site for the state’s capital of Raleigh in 1792. In 1937, the Colonial Dames purchased the circa-1770 Burgwin-Wright House in Wilmington, which had been the headquarters of Cornwallis.3
Tryon Palace, New Bern
During Washington’s 1791 Southern tour, the Tryon Palace hosted a dinner and dance in his honor. Tryon Palace was North Carolina’s first permanent colonial capitol building, completed in 1770 along the Neuse River, in the town of New Bern. It was one of the finest public buildings in colonial North Carolina.
Designed in the Georgian style, the Tryon Palace was perfectly symmetrical and included a large, free-standing, walnut stairway at its center, illuminated by a skylight in the ceiling. Governor Tryon and his family resided in the house for only a year before Tryon became governor of New York in 1771. The second royal governor to live in the palace was Josiah Martin. After Martin fled New Bern at the start of the Revolution, American patriots continued to use the building as the capital until 1792, when Raleigh became the capital.[4]
In his 1791 diary, Washington observed that the palace was “now hastening to ruins.”[5] And after Raleigh became the capital, the palace lost its primary purpose and was converted for various uses, such as a Masonic lodge and a boarding house. In February 1798, a fire devoured the palace from the inside, with only the kitchen and stable offices surviving the devastation.4
Stimulated by news of John D. Rockefeller’s re-creation of Virginia’s colonial capital of Williamsburg, a movement began in the 1930s to restore North Carolina’s colonial capital city. Funds were raised in the early 1930s, with a portion used for the preservation of the Stanly House.5
It was not until 1945 that the Tryon Palace Commission was created and charged with the reconstruction of the palace using the original plans and building on the original foundation. In 1959, Tryon Palace was opened to visitors as “North Carolina’s first great public history project.”6
John Wright Stanly House, New Bern
On George Street and directly north of the Tryon Palace Auditorium stands the John Wright Stanly House, the first building with a connection to Washington preserved in North Carolina. The Georgian-style house was built in the early 1780s for John Wright Stanly, a wealthy New Bern citizen and patriot of the Revolution.
On April 20, 1791, Washington and his procession arrived in New Bern and for two nights lodged at the Stanly house. Washington’s diary describes the place as “exceeding good lodgings.”7
In 1935, the Stanly House was restored with labor from the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). Following the restoration, the house was used as a public library.8 In 1965, the New Bern Library Association gave the house to the Tryon Palace Commission, and the following year, the house was moved to the Tryon Palace Complex.9 It was opened to the public as a historic house museum, but currently is not accessible to visitors.
Salem Tavern, Old Salem
The Moravian settlement of Salem contains the third building to claim that Washington “slept here,” the Salem Tavern. In 1753, the Moravians purchased the Wachovia Tract, and in 1766, the first tree was felled for the creation of Salem. The Moravians designed Salem as a self-sufficient community and an industrial center.10 On May 31, 1791, Washington arrived in Salem and spent two nights at the Salem Tavern.
In 1929, before the creation of the historic district, was saved from demolition by Ada Allen and her sister, Annie. The Allen sisters lived in the Salem Tavern until 1939, when the building was purchased by the Wachovia Historical Society.11 Founded in 1895, the society is the oldest historical society in North Carolina. In December 1948, the city adopted a zoning ordinance for Salem and established the Old and Historic Salem District12
In 1950, Old Salem, Inc. was incorporated with the goal of purchasing historic properties within the city to preserve and open them to the public.13 In 1953, the Wachovia Historic Society agreed to lease the tavern to Old Salem, Inc., for 50 years.14 As part of the lease, Old Salem, Inc. agreed to complete the restoration of the building and open it as a house museum. In 1956, the Salem Tavern was opened to the public and remains open for visitors.15
Eagle Tavern, Halifax
The final building connected to Washington is in Halifax, the site of North Carolina’s the Halifax Resolves. On April 12, 1776, North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress, gathered in Halifax, approved the statement “that the delegates for this colony [North Carolina] in the Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other Colonies in declaring independency.”16 This document was the first official provincial action to propose the colonies’ independence.
It cannot be confirmed where Washington stayed in 1791 while in Halifax, but early tradition claimed he slept in the Eagle Tavern. In any case, historical records show that in February 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette lodged at the tavern during his 1824–1825 farewell tour of America.17
In 1838, Michael Ferrall, an Irish businessman, purchased the tavern (by then, named Eagle Hotel) and in 1845 relocated the building and turned it into a family home.18 Generations of Ferralls lived in the house until Nannie Gray, the great-granddaughter of Michael Ferrall, died in 1969. Gray left the house to the Catholic Diocese in Raleigh, which, in turn, donated it to the State of North Carolina.
In 1976, during the bicentennial of the American Revolution, the tavern was moved for a second time within the Historic Halifax State Historic Site.19 Today, the Eagle Tavern is still part of Historic Halifax and is open for tours.
