What We Know
What we know is that the house was built in three major eras: The first small house, built around 1790 was built with heartwood so strong the termites won’t touch it. It was probably two or three rooms, single story, with a root cellar beneath. The construction was hand-hewn, peg, and wooden rose head nails, very early colonial craftsmanship. Probably around the turn of the century, upstairs bedrooms with heart pine floors and plastered walls were added using square nails. These are the first manufactured nails made at the start of the industrial age. They really are square! The upstairs construction is quite different from the 1790. An expanded downstairs was built over the original. The house probably had a Victorian look at that time, as do the neighboring houses also built in 1800s. Then, in the 1920”s, the Wheelers tore down some of the old house and built a Sears Craftsman bungalow home on top of the old original structure, which is much of the same appearance as today. Sometime, probably about 60 years ago, a master bedroom wing was added. No siding was put on the new wing. Instead, the entire structure was wrapped in aluminum siding. We’ve removed the aluminum siding and were relieved to discover the wooden Victorian siding under it was in excellent condition. Our restoration carpenter created a matching siding for that wing. The current structure maintains characteristics of all three eras, early Colonial, Victorian, and Turn-of-the-Century Craftsman.
Each resident has left a piece of their life in the house. The solid brass door knocker is unusual. I didn’t like its unfriendly appearance and dull finish. I considered replacing the animal head with a shiny brass pineapple. But I’ve learned that the animal is a fox and it came to this house in 1988 with owners who moved here from their country plantation called Fox Run. Mr. Fox will remain on the door as their legacy. The kitchen wing with basic clapboard siding was the gift of the 1998 residents who owned the house for six years. I’m sure every resident has left a little legacy and we hope to uncover more. Our research of owners is back to 1894 when the home gifted, or willed, by a black woman named Martha A. Creecy, who bequeathed it to a granddaughter. We’d like to establish how she came to own the property and perhaps find its provenance back to 1790. For this we need to visit the archives in Raleigh. Only one hundred years to go! We’ve only just begun.