These are pictures of the Richmond Hill Law School. Home of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Richmond Mumford Pearson and his second wife, Mary McDowell Bynum, from approximately 1859 until his death in 1878.
To view the larger images, just click on one of the pictures.
By Keshia Horn
Situated at the end of a long driveway in East Bend, North Carolina is a place filled with Civil War history. One of the most notable people from North Carolina history once called Yadkin County home. North Carolina Chief Supreme Court Justice Richmond Mumford Pearson lived and worked in what is known as Richmond Hill. During the spring and summer months, Judge Pearson would turn his country estate into a law school. For thirty year, from 1848 to 1878, hundreds of students would make from Raleigh to East Bend to be taught by one of the most revered judges in North Carolina and arguably, the nation.
Chief Justice Pearson was a man who upheld the law. He felt it was his civic duty to not delay a ruling or to be unjust. According to Pearson, justice delayed was justice denied. As a lawman, he was stern and hard to read at times but he was fair. He would not make a ruling on any case unless he had heard and understood all the facts. Pearson was patient and attentive when it came to presiding over court cases; he would also give his associates the benefit of his reflection and learning. However, it would be Chief Justice Pearson’s stance on the Confederate cause that would land him in the national press.
Pearson was no stranger to the Southern way of owning slaves. Pearson owned many slaves but he upheld the constitutional supremacy of the federal government. Therefore, he was strongly opposed to the succession of the Southern States. Pearson became widely known throughout the states for his rulings on the conscription of men into the Confederate Army. His most notable ruling came in 1862 when he ruled that the Governor of North Carolina had no authority to use state militia to enforce Confederate conscription laws. Ultimately, his decision was denounced by Confederate civil and military authorities but Governor Zebulon Vance would uphold his ruling. Pearson didn’t see the Confederate States as a legitimate governing body. To Pearson, this meant that they could not force civilians to fight against the constitution.
The home was used by the Chief Justice and his second wife, Mary McDowell Bynum, from about 1859 until Chief Justice Pearson’s death in 1878. It then began the process of being passed from one owner to another until it was left unoccupied for years. In the 1970s, a group from Yadkin County began the slow process of restoration. Now the Pearson Home has been turned into the Richmond Hill Law School & Nature Park that features two picnic shelters, walking trails, and a museum of Pearson Family items. The park can be used at anytime but prior notice is needed to use picnic shelters. The Law School is open every third Sunday from 1 to 5, March to November.
© 2011 Keshia Horn
For many years, tobacco has been the powerhouse crop across the world. It can be chewed, smoked, dipped or whatever your desire. The popularity of cigarettes caused Richard J. Reynolds, son of a Virginia tobacco farmer and cigarette manufacture, to establish his own tobacco company in the nearest city with a railroad connection, Winston-Salem. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, founded 1875, started in a building that Richard bought from the Moravian Church. Surprisingly, in the first year of operation, Reynolds would only employ seasonal workers but would produce more than 150,000 pounds of tobacco. By the 1890s, production toped to several million pounds a year. With this production increase, Reynolds began to acquire the other tobacco factories in Winston. This lead to RJR, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, becoming the largest manufacturing company in Winston-Salem.
As Richard J. Reynolds began to expand his tobacco company, there was a need for employees and housing. Reynolds would create small communities around the Winston-Salem area for white and black workers and their families. One in particular, Reynoldstown, began as a predominately white community where white workers would stay. The neighborhood was established circa 1917 with worker style cottages dotting the streetscape. The Reynoldstown neighborhood was one of the first to get the all the modern amenities of a city, paved roads, sidewalks, sewer and water connections. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the neighborhood began to transition from predominantly white to an African American middle class made possible by RJR Tobacco.
To this day, Reynoldstown still holds much of its original layout and a high proportion of the original houses that identify two distinct periods: middle class white renters and middle class African American renters. The context of the houses is a mixture of Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Ranch styles with a dash of Habitat Homes that the city began to building in the past ten years.
In 2007, Langdon Opperman, a historic preservation consultant, prepared the Reynoldstown National Register nomination under a contract with the City of Winston-Salem. Unbeknownst to the Reynoldstown population, the community was granted a place on the National Register for Historic Places as a Historic District just a year later in 2008. This district includes the original streets, Cameron, Gray, Camel and Rich Avenues, as well as other surrounding streets. These streets highlight the pre-1950s architecture of the post-World War era.
©2011 Keshia Horn
My name is Keshia Horn and I am in my final semester at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I am majoring in History and International Relations with a minor in Political Science. In my years at Salem, I have had the pleasure of being on the Model United Nations panel that travels to New York City every spring to attend a conference. I was also a member of the Athletic Bands at Wake Forest University where I was given the chance to travel all over the east coast. As a result of being a band member at Wake Forest, I was able to join the National Honorary Band Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi.
Before Salem College, I attended Forsyth Technical Community College where I received an Associate Degree in Applied Science for Architectural Technologies. Through this program, I was able to develop the skills needed to become a residential designer with a specialty in sustainable building. I excelled in digital media such as renderings, floor plans, and even creating commercials for Forsyth Tech. This is also the place where my interest in historic preservation began to grow.
At the present, I am looking forward to graduating and planning my next steps. My plans are to eventually attend graduate school but I am indecisive on what will be my major. I do know that it will be either American history, historic preservation, or non-profit management. In the meantime, I loved my internship with RIPI so much that I will begin working for them as a Community Development Specialist upon my graduation. I have learned so much about the workings of a non-profit and about historic preservation that I look forward to continuing my experience.
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The Nissen House restoration came to be when the property that the house, originally, sat on was under contract to be sold. At this time, the Dampier Family couldn’t afford to restore the Nissen House to its original so they placed it on the market. Then in the Spring of 2008, two dentists bought the property but soon discovered that the house couldn’t be modified to suit their needs. With demolition looming in the air, the dentists gave the house to the Lewisville Historical Society with one condition, find a new location for the house. The LHS was graciously given a plot of land by the Town of Lewisville, that was once apart of the 50 acres that Nissen owned in the Town Square, on the corner of Arrow Leaf Drive and Lucy Lane. This new home for the Nissen House is located behind the old Town Hall and the New Town Hall. It is literally right around the corner from it’s original location. This new location would keep the House in the Historic Town Square and next to the Lewisville Elementary School, which makes it easily accessible for school groups and those wishing to experience history.
With numerous fundraisers held, generous donations, and grants from the Winston-Salem Foundation, the National Trust, and the Stedman Incentive Grant from Preservation North Carolina, the Lewisville Historical Society was able to move the House to its current location on the corner of Arrow Leaf Drive and Lucy Lane. The current goal of LHS is to restore the exterior of the House. This restoration would take the current state of the House and restore it, as closely as possible, to the way it was when George Elias Nissen and his family lived there. To fund this phase of the project, LHS is in the midst of seeking grants and planning fundraisers to aide in restoring the home.
There is no question that the Nissen Wagon Works, in Waughtown, North Carolina, had a profound affect upon Forsyth County’s history. The family busy started with Tycho Nissen in Salem but his grandson would move the operation out of Salem and expand it to become a regional powerhouse. There wasn’t a “road” in the South that didn’t have a Nissen wagon on it. The growth and expansion of the wagon company would continue under the control of George E. Nissen for almost forty years. The business would be passed from father to son, and then bother to brother until the business was sold in 1925.
However, George Elias Nissen’s affect upon the town of Lewisville, North Carolina is lesser known. At the time of John Nissen’s passing in 1874, George was living a simple life in Lewisville. It was here that George Nissen was trying to make a name for himself. He owned a gristmill and co-owned a sawmill with brother-in-law, Lewis Laugenour. This is speculated to be a huge asset to the area because it provided two forms of employment to residents, as well as acres and acres of wood for the wagon company in Waughtown. In the 1870 U.S. Census report, Lewis Laugenour’s house was the starting point of the Town of Lewisville and George Nissen’s house was the end. In this census, George was the enumerator of Lewisville. This paints a picture that demonstrates Nissen’s importance in defining the lay of Lewisville.
©2011 Keshia Horn and Austin Wright (Nissen House Photo)
