The B.B.Winborne Law Office & Country Store during a MHA tour.
201 North Fourth Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
The Winborne & Winborne building was built in 1872 by William P. Beaman and was a general store. Uriah Vaughan, Sr. purchased it in 1879 and willed it to his daughter, Cornelia (Mrs.. B.B. Winborne) prior to his death in 1890.
Judge Benjamin Brodie Winborne (1854-1919), author of a county history published in 1906, used this building as his law office. In his youth, he attended Buckhorn Academy near Como. In 1871 he entered Wake Forest College and stayed until 1872. He graduated from Columbia University's law school in June, 1874. Winborne then entered employment as a law clerk in the firm of Smith and Strong in Raleigh until he came of age on April 14, 1875 to be admitted to the North Carolina bar. Winborne moved to Winton, North Carolina. He was elected solicitor in 1877. In January 1880 he moved to Murfreesboro, and practiced law there until his death in 1919.
From 1891 to 1897 excluding the brief period that he served in the 1895 legislature, he served as judge of the Hertford County Criminal Court. Winborne served in the N.C. House of Representatives in 1895, 1905, 1907, and 1908. During the years of Winborne's law practice, his firm was known successively as B.B. Winborne (1875 to c.1879), Winborne Brothers (c. 1879 to 1892), Winborne and Lawrence (1892 to 1909), Winborne and Winborne (1908 to 1919), and eventually Stanley Winborne.
On December 23, 1879, Winborne married Cornelia (Nellie) Vaughan (b. 1853 or 1854), the daughter of Uriah Vaughan, a wealthy Hertford County landowner. They had four sons - Stanley Winborne who became an attorney and member of the NC House of Representatives and NC Senate, Benjamin Brodie Winborne, Jr. who became a farmer and merchant, Uriah Vaughan Winborne and Micajah Winborne who both died in childhood.
The building was moved to this location from a site on Main Street in 1976. It has been restored and houses a wonderful collection of Country Store Americana downstairs and the Winborne Law Office upstairs. When you go to Main Street, you will pass a historical marker with the name Stanley Winborne on it. That was the original location of this building.
One of photographs shows the interior of a bustling general store once located at 205 East Main Street in Murfreesboro.
Next Tour Stop - Go south on 4th Street to the corner of 4th and Williams Street. The William Rea Store will be on your right at 409 Williams Street.
The William Rea store is now the Murfreesboro Historical Association William Rea museum.
409 Williams Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
This building was built by Boston merchant and shipper William Rea around 1790. It is believed to be the oldest brick commercial building still standing in North Carolina. The one-story wing on the east side of the building was the law office of Thomas Maney. The Maney family came from New Jersey and settled in a community that became known as Maney’s Neck which is located a few miles northeast of Murfreesboro. Thomas Maney was the 4th generation of the Maney family in Hertford County. He studied law with Wiliam Hardy Murfree. James Maney, III (father of Thomas) served in the General Assembly for two terms in the late 1700s. Thomas was elected to the State House of Commons in 1817. In 1821 he married Rebecca Southall Boon, a young widow. They had two daughters, Betty and Annie, and a third child that died in infancy. Maney delivered the town’s welcome address to General Lafayette when he visited Murfreesboro in 1825. The Maney Family moved to Tennessee in 1826. Maney was appointed as Circuit Court Judge there and he served in that capacity for many years.
In later years the Ferguson Implement Company, which built the first peanut picker, occupied the building. It is now a museum owned by the Murfreesboro Historical Association. The museum features a Gatling Gun, invented by local inventor Richard Jordan Gatling, artifacts from the local Native American tribes, and an exhibit on Conjure Doctor James Jordan.
Is the Rea Museum haunted? When members of The Ghost Guild of North Carolina conducted a paranormal investigation of the museum, they used an instrument called a REMpod that detects disturbances in electromagnetic energy. The device activated twice during the investigation, both times when one of the investigators said, “If you are here and want us to leave the building and leave you alone, make the light on the REMpod activate.”
Across the street, The Rea - Lassiter house at 104 North 4th Street was probably built in 1800 by William Rea. The original part of the house faces Williams Street. The part of the house facing 4th Street was built by H.T. Lassiter in the 1850s. This property is privately owned.
At 503 Williams Street on the other corner is the Trader - Carter House. It was probably built before 1825 and was occupied by the Trader - Carter families who were prominent merchants. The structure is a late 19th century "country-town" house with "eyebrow" windows on the second floor.
Next Tour Stop - Go west on Williams Street next door to the Jordan Building.
The Jordan Building.
405 Williams Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
The Jordan Building dates back to right after the Civil War. It was originally built by William Jordan and located in Winton, NC which was burned during the Civil War by Union Troops. The building was donated to the Murfreesboro Historical Association by Louise V. Boone and William D. Boone, Jr. John Richard Jordan Jr. of Raleigh, grandson of the builder, funded the move and restoration of the building. It was dedicated in Murfreesboro in 1984. MHA rents the property to small businesses.
The building is reported to be haunted. Booker Daniel owned a gift shop in the building, and had an experience where she saw a well-dressed gentleman ghost looking out of the side door of the building.
Jerri Baugham, owner of The Old Mill Girls gift shop, also had a store in the building. She claims that a candle was “launched” off of a shelf one day when she and her husband were having a little disagreement over something trivial. She also says that she occasionally heard noises that sounded like customers coming in the store, but would find no one there when she would come from the back room to check.
Next Tour Stop - Go west on Williams Street next door to the D.C. Barnes Law Office and Print Shop.
The D.C. Barnes Law Office.
403 Williams Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
The David Collins Barnes Law Office was donated to the Murfreesboro Historical Association and moved to this location by Alexander H. Barnes in 2005. It is believed that the building was built by John Wheeler Moore (1836 – 1906) when he started his law practice in 1855. It was originally located at the corner of University Drive and Main Street across from Rose Bower. Moore sold the building to Judge David A. Barnes, who later moved the building to the Roberts-Vaughan property. It is the former law office of David Collin Barnes.
Today the building houses a number of early printing presses. One section is devoted to the work of F. Roy Johnson (shown in the attached photograph), a local newspaper editor who authored and published numerous books on the history of Northeastern North Carolina. The Murfreesboro Historical Association has five of his books for sale in our office. Johnson was extremely instrumental in capturing a lot of the history, legends, and lore from the Murfreesboro area and preserving it for future generations.
Next Tour Stop - Continue on Williams Street crossing 3rd Street to 320 and 318 Williams Street.
The Murfree-Williams House built by William Hardy Murfree around 1801.
318 Williams Street and 320 Williams Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
William Hardy Murfree built this house around 1801 and lived here; then later at Melrose (another home on this tour) before moving to Tennessee in 1823. The wooden gutter and some interior woodwork are original. Brick walls are 18 inches thick. If you would like to stay in this historic property on your next visit to Murfreesboro, the home is available for rent on VRBO.com (Vacation Rental by Owner). This property is privately owned.
Built by the Murfree Family circa 1800, the Murfree-Smith Law Office was used by William Hardy Murfree and later W.N.H. Smith. It has also served as a post office, school, and jail. Noteworthy features of this structure are its Flemish bond walls and original dentil work. Some original interior woodwork remains. Owned by the Murfreesboro Historical Association.
Professor Thomas Parramore, Professor Emeritus of History at Meredith College, wrote in NCPedia.org - "William Hardy Murfree, attorney and congressman, was born at Murfree's Ferry (now Murfreesboro), the son of Hardy and Sally Brickell Murfree. He graduated from The University of North Carolina in 1801. After reading law for a year at Edenton, Murfree opened a law practice in Murfreesboro, where he was also a partner in a mercantile enterprise. Murfree entered politics in 1805, when he was a successful candidate for the state House of Commons. He served a second term after his reelection in 1812. In the latter year he also served as Democratic elector in the Edenton District for the Madison - Gerry ticket. In 1813 he was elected to the first of two terms in Congress."
It was also the law office of W.N.H. Smith who was born in Murfreesboro in 1812, graduated from Yale Law School in 1834, and practiced law here. In 1840 he was elected to the House of Commons from Hertford County, and in 1848 was elected to the North Carolina Senate. In 1859 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he was present at the first inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
Some of Murfreesboro's worst days were in 1831 during the time of the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion in neighboring Southampton County, Virginia. An escaped enslaved man was killed and his head was placed on a post as a warning against any further attempts at rebellion. Since that time, some say that a ghost without a head haunts the ravine next to the law office.
The building served as the Murfreesboro Historical Association gift shop in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the ladies who volunteered in the shop said that they would sometimes hear voices coming from the basement when they knew no one else was in the building. The basement was rented as an apartment for many years, and some of the tenants said that they would hear men's voices murmuring from upstairs late at night, and would hear footsteps walking back and forth on the main floor above.
Next Tour Stop - Crosse Williams Street to the Murfreesboro Historical Association Agriculture and Transportation Museum at 317 Williams Street.
The Agriculture and Transportatiom Museum
317 Williams Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
Our last stop in the historic district is the Murfreesboro Historical Association’s Agriculture and Transportation Museum. The building is a warehouse converted into a museum. It contains early carriages similar to the one General Lafayette rode when he arrived in Murfreesboro in 1825. The agricultural section contains two antique peanut pickers, one built by the Ferguson Agriculture Implement Company, and an early cotton gin owned by the Vann family.
One of the most interesting items in the museum is the replica of the Turkey Buzzard. James Henry Gatling was an inventor and brother of Richard Gatling who invented the Gatling Gun (which can be seen at the Rea Museum). Before the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, many inventors tried to build a machine that would allow man to fly. Henry tested his in the summer of 1873; however the machine crashed after being launched off the Gatlin barn roof. They say it “flew” about 100 feet and never flew again. Gatling’s original aeroplane burned in a barn where it was being stored.
Henry was murdered on September 3, 1879 by a deranged local man – shot in the face with a shotgun and then clubbed to death. Three more deaths at the Gatling Farm occurred in a short period of time – a worker cut by saws of a cotton gin, the son of the new plantation owner fell into a peanut picker, and an intoxicated servant froze to death.
According to author Daniel W. Barefoot in his book "Seaside Spectres", "“In the aftermath of Henry's murder and the other deaths, reports of strange goings-on around the old homeplace began to circulate. Farm workers reported being followed by a ghost that sometimes touched their shoulders. Local residents became convinced that the ghost was that of Richard Jordan Gatling, who had come home to avenge his brother's death.”
“Others have encountered the spirit of Henry Himself. They believe that the restless soul walks the old plantation grounds to ensure that no further violence occurs there. Night after night, the ghost patrols the lane that led to the house. On one cold winter morning, Henry's ghost is said to have smashed a glass jar over the head of a plantation worker in the barn. Still another time, an opossum hunter heard Henry's voice coming from the cemetery. Other folks have seen Henry, as a headless horseman, ride up and down the road near the spot where he was slain.”
Next Tour Stop - Cross the footbridge located at the end of the Murfree-Smith Law Office, or drive around the block to the Southall Cemetery.
The Southall Cemetery in the historic district contains the graves of many of Murfreesboro's founding families.
200 East Broad Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
The Southall Cemetery has many of the graves of people you have or will hear about on the tour - the Wynn Family, the Southalls, Myricks, Winbornes, and Vaughans. B. B. Winborne is buried here. Uriah Vaughan, former owner of the Robert's-Vaughan House, is buried here. Also look for the Colonel Wynn family, former residents of Melrose. Fannie Myrick Southall is buried here and has a beautifully carved headstone. Note the unmarked graves next to Colonel James Madison Wynn’s monument, as you will hear a story about them later in the tour.
Next Tour Stop - Continue next door to the Hertford Academy at 200 East Broad Street
200 East Broad Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
Built in 1811 as an academy where Reverend Jonathan Otis Freeman taught reading, spelling, arithmetic, Latin, Greek, philosophy, English grammar, natural philosophy, logic, and the use of gloves. Around 1822, Harriett Sketchley (Mrs. James Banks) purchased the building and opened a school for young ladies. In 1848, the building was the first location of the Chowan Baptist Female Institute where classes were held until the Columns Building was opened on the Chowan campus in 1851. Noted builder and architect Albert G. Jones, who built the Columns Building and created many of the Greek Revival edifices seen today throughout Murfreesboro remodeled the building into a residence. In 1949 the Murfreesboro Women’s Club purchased the building and restored it. It was given to the Murfreesboro Historical Association in 1983.
Next Tour Stop - Continue going west on Broad Street to Melrose, located at 101 East Broad Street
Melrose
100 East Broad Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
Melrose was built around 1805 by Congressman William Hardy Murfree (1781-1827), son of Hardy Murfree (1752-1809). “Melrose is a ‘rare locational name’ of Scottish origin and derives from the town of Melrose in the border county near Galashiels.” It was listed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The Murfree family were the founders of the town name. It was later owned by Militia General Joseph E. Dickinson, commander of US Naval forces during the War of 1812 in the Norfolk area. The wings and portico were added by Dickinson before his death in 1822, and his addition also reoriented the front of the home to face Broad Street to the south instead of its original eastern orientation. The Greek Revival elements were added in the second half of the 19th century probably by John W. Southall who owned the house between 1842 to 1874.
In 1874 the property was acquired by Colonel James Wynn. His family owned the house into the 1900s.
Legend says that Col. James Madison Wynn’s daughter, Meta Ashburn Wynn’s spirit haunts the house. She died at the age of ten in 1879. Colonel Wynn (1834-1906) was the son of William B. and Mary Pipkin Wynn, and his family was one of great prominence in colonial North Carolina. He had a cotton farm and bred horses for trotting purposes. He also operated the Petty Shores Fishery for many years.
There are other stories that another Wynn daughter died after falling down the stairs. She had wrapped herself in a tight corset in an attempt to hide an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and she and her unborn baby are said to be buried in unmarked graves in the Southall Cemetery.
Former owners Richard and Lavinia Vann (who restored the home in the 1960s) confided that sometimes they heard unexplained noises in the house. Family members in the basement would hear the front door open and close as if someone had just entered the home. They would then hear footsteps on the floor above and the sound of a dress rustling. When they would go upstairs to see who was there, there was no one.
Lisa Turner, the current owner, says that her dog senses a presence in the house. The dog stops, stares at something that is unseen by humans, and then runs out of the room.
Next Tour Stop - Head north on Wynn Street one half block to 408 North Wynn Street.