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Richard Bennehan purchased 410 1/2 acres of land and the Horton House from William Horton on October 24, 1823. The Horton family were yeoman farmers, or subsistence farmers, that raised what they needed to support themselves. Their house was a small, well-constructed plank house built before the Revolutionary War. The original portion of the house consisted of one room with a small loft, which was accessed by climbing a narrow, steep, enclosed stairway. Plank shutters covered the window openings, which did not have glass panes. Although the house is typically modest for its time and place, it does have several unusual features such as skillfully beaded ceiling joists. It is believed that the rear addition, which incorporates brick nogging, was constructed around the same time the slave houses were built at Horton Grove (1851-1860). At this time, it probably housed an overseer or a slave family. The Horton House thus provides an interesting juxtaposition to the slave houses, demonstrating both an economic and cultural change in the area from subsistence farming to large-scale plantation farming using slave labor to produce cash crops. It is important to realize that the Horton House was typical of the kinds of houses many whites lived in during the antebellum period in North Carolina. A major restoration of the Horton house has included the reconstruction of a stone chimney and hearth, the installation of wooden floors, a wood shingle roof, and new siding. All of this work has been done with an attempt to match the original materials as closely as possible. |
