The Camp - Hill - Gary Home
408 North Wynn Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
This beautiful Greek Revival home was probably built by Benjamin B. Camp in the early 19th century. Camp lived in the area as early as 1818 and was a partner with Joseph G. Rea in the mercantile firm of Rea and Camp by 1827. Camp married Rea’s niece, Mary Ann Rea, in 1822.
The house was later owned by heirs of the Camp family, Kader Biggs. James W. Hill acquired the home and added the Greek Revival features in the mid 19th century. Hill owned 38 slaves according to the 1860 census. He was married to Mary Thomas Wells Hill. The house changed hands several times - The Biggs family, Grimes family, Dr. Eldridge, and then Dr. Roderick Henry Gary. Dr. Gary was born on December 10, 1856 in Garysburg, NC and died on October 24, 1929 in Winton, NC. Dr. Gary had his medical practice in the home in the early 20th century. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Murfreesboro. The house was originally located at the southwest corner of Broad Street and Sycamore Street and was moved to its current location in 1967.
The Murfreesboro Historical Association continues to be the beneficiary of annual donations made by Courtney and Scott Taylor in honor of the Dr. Roderick Henry Gary family. Dr. Gary was Courtney's great-grandfather.
Next Tour Stop - Head south Wynn Street to 207 North Wynn Street.
The Pipkin-Harrell-Chitty House
207 North Wynn Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
This home dates back to around 1825 and was built by Dr. Isaac Pipkin who relocated to New Orleans. The house was then owned by John Harrell who remodeled it in the 1850s and is probably responsible for the Greek Revival features.
Local lore tells us that Ruth Pipkin's mother, Annie Futrell Sewell, died in childbirth on Christmas Eve when Ruth was 10-years-old. Ten days after her mother’s passing, Ruth heard the clock chime the time that her mother used to go to bed. The bedroom door opened, and someone went from bed to bed tucking in the children and kissing them on the forehead. When the figure got to Ruth, she realized that it was the spirit of her mother. She was filled with a warm, loving feeling that stayed with her the rest of her life because at that moment she knew that her mother was always with her.
Next Tour Stop - Head south on North Wynn Street to Main Street and turn left. The Roberts-Vaughan Village Center will be on your right at 116 East Main Street.
The Roberts-Vaughan Village Center.
116 East Main Street, Murfreesboro 27855
Benjamin Roberts built this house in the Federal style before 1814. At the time the house was built, it was the finest home in town and was nicknamed "The Castle" by people in the town. In 1816 the home was the intended site for the wedding of Roberts' daughter, Mary Ann to General Boon Felton; however, she eloped with Matt Brickel Murfree of nearby Melrose Plantation instead. Before the businesses were built on Main Street, the Roberts home had a direct line of sight to Melrose, which is located on Broad Street. Legend tells us that the young couple used to signal each other using oil lamps in the upstairs windows.
In 1835 the home became the property of Colonel Uriah Vaughan, a wealthy merchant. In 1850 Colonel Vaughan enlarged the four-room house and added its present Greek Revival features. The front façade features a large three bay tetrastyle pedimented portico in the Greek Revival style All original woodwork, including doors, mantels, wainscoting, and floors, is intact. Three of the original outbuildings have been restored and the carriage house is reproduced. The building was entered on the National Register of Historic Places on February 18, 1971. and is presently the offices for the Murfreesboro Historical Association and the Murfreesboro Chamber of Commerce.
In the early 1970s the town library was moved to this building and occupied the rooms which are now the MHA office. The librarian's name was Homa Gordon. Mrs. Gordon used to regale young visitors to the library about the things she had heard and seen while working in the building. Things such as mysterious shadows moving past doorways and footsteps coming from the staircase or the second floor when she knew that no one else was in the building. Daryl Williams who is the Executive Director of the Murfreesboro Chamber of Commerce also says he has heard unexplained noises in the building.
If you are here during our office hours, please come in and say hello. We have several books available for sale on the history, legends, and lore of our town.
Next Tour Stop - Go next door to Rose Bower, the home located at 132 East Main Street.
Rose Bower
132 East Main Street, Murfreesboro NC 27855
This beautiful home is named Rose Bower and is privately owned. Built around 1820 by Perry Carter, a landholder and merchant, the Greek Revival features were probably added by builder A.G. Jones in the 1850s. Carter's daughter, Sue, married Charles Henry Foster, a native of Orono, Maine. Foster came to Murfreesboro in 1859 as editor of the local newspaper, "The Citizen". A Unionist, Foster irritated the local townspeople to the point where he was forced to leave town under threat of lynching. He later returned to Murfreesboro in 1863 as a Union officer. Foster was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Second North Carolina Union Volunteers, a position he held until banished from the army and, temporarily, from North Carolina by order of General Benjamin F. Butler in 1864. Butler's actions were taken on the grounds of Foster's inefficiency as an officer and because of complaints to Washington by Unionists close to Governor Stanly. Foster returned to Murfreesboro in the spring of 1865 and remained there until 1878. During these years he was an active but not particularly successful as a Republican political figure, merchant, and correspondent for the New York Herald and various papers in North Carolina and Virginia.
Next Tour Stop - Continue south on University Drive and on your left is the American George Masonic Lodge at 303 University Drive.
American George Masonic Lodge
303 University Drive, Murfreesboro NC 27855
American George Lodge #17 is chartered through the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, AF&AM, which in turn, is recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England. It was organized at Murfreesboro on June 24, 1789 under the leadership of “the worshipful Hardy Murfree, Master”, according to the bylaws of the lodge which are digitized in the University of North Carolina’s North Carolina Collection. The designation of “American George” in the name was to distinguish between George Washington and King George III of England.
Next Tour Stop - Continue south on University Drive to the campus of Chowan University, Drive to the other end of the circular campus drive to the McDowall Columns Building at 1 University Drive.
The McDowell Columns Building at Chowan University.
1 University Drive, Murfreesboro NC 27855
One of the crown jewels of Murfreesboro is the splendid McDowall Columns Building, constructed by Warren County builder Albert Gamaliel Jones in 1851 and made of locally sourced bricks. It originally housed students, classrooms, and offices, but now serves as the Administration Building. It also has a fine auditorium which hosts programs and concerts that enrich the culture of the community. It is a registered National Historic Landmark. The building is named for Archibald McDowall, the first president of the Chowan Baptist Female Institute. The Chowan Baptist Female Institute was founded by Dr. Godwin Cotton Moore, a Baptist Deacon, and his associates over a dinner at his home. Within the year, a Board of Trustees had been elected, and the first students were arriving at the Hertford Academy Building which had been secured as the first home of the new school.
Renamed in 1910 as Chowan College, it began admitting male students in 1931. The college became a two-year junior college in 1937; however, it returned to four-year status and became Chowan University in the 1990s. Current enrollment is approximately 1000 students each year.
Archibald McDowell, educator and clergyman, was born in Kershaw District, S.C., the ninth of twelve children of the Reverend Archibald and Mary Drakeford McDowell. His parents are believed to have emigrated from Scotland around 1800. In the late summer of 1848, McDowell was elected principal—or president—of the newly established Chowan Female Institute, in Murfreesboro, which opened on 11 Oct. 1848. He remained in the post until late April or early May 1849, when driven away by a smallpox epidemic that threatened the town and the vicinity. McDowell returned in 1855 to the Chowan Female Institute as professor of mathematics and natural sciences. He became president of the institution in 1862 and served until his death. In addition, he was pastor of the Murfreesboro Baptist Church from 1855 to 1872 and from 1876 to 1879.
The portraits of Archibald McDowall and Godwin Cotton Moore hang inside of the Columns Building. The building is owned by Chowan University.
Chowan continues to make history. In 2024 the Board of Trustees hired Dr. Rosemary Thomas to be the University President - the first female president in the history of the university. Under her dynamic leadership, drive, and outgoing personality, the university is thriving and the future looks very bright.
Next Tour Stop - Leave the Chowan campus the way you came in, and make a left turn onto High Street. The Brady C. Jefcoat Museum will be on your left at 201 West High Street.
As you go, take note of the cornerstone that is preserved in a brick display just beyond 105 East High Street. It was the cornerstone of the Wesleyan Female College, another school for young ladies that was located in Murfreesboro. This school was opened by the Methodists, perhaps in answer to the Baptist school that had already opened. Wesleyan Female College, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, opened in Murfreesboro in 1853. It closed temporarily during the Civil War but reopened promptly in 1865. During the war, it was used as housing for confederate soldiers.
About 1500 students had attended the college by 1877, when the building burned. Due to difficulties with obtaining insurance payments, the college was unable to rebuild and reopen until 1881. The second facility was constructed of brick with a tin roof and was described in the Journal of the North Carolina Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1892 as “three stories high, large and comfortable, heated throughout by steam; situated in a beautiful campus, in a quiet and moral village, and among a cultured and refined people.” Wesleyan Female College burned again; however, the following year, and was not rebuilt.
Past residents of 105 High Street reported finding brick foundations when digging in their yard. A local resident, John R. Evans, remembered the second building faced what is now University Drive (east) at that location.