COOLEEMEE
The Cooleemee Plantation House, located off Highway 64 between Mocksville and Lexington, North Carolina, was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1979. A memorial plaque from the U. S. Department of Interior and State of North of Carolina is located at steps leading to the house.
Cooleemee was under construction from 1853 to 1855 and represented a
complete departure from any prior architecture of the area. It was designed by
New York architect W. H. Ranlett and called "An Anglo-Grecian Villa"
by Godey's
Lady's Book.
The house was built in the shape of a Greek Cross with four equal wings
radiating from the hall, which has a fine spiral stair ascending in wide,
sweeping curves to a high glazed cupola on the roof. The dimensions of the house
in comparison with other house of the era are immense. It is fifty-feet high and
required well over 300,000 bricks on top of massive stone foundations. The
bricks were burned in a kiln set up on the plantation, and stonemasons cut
foundations and gutters of native rock. The cost was $10,438.31. The house
contains a fine collection of 18th and 19th century furniture, china, etc. -
some brought by the first Peter Hairston from Virginia, some ordered in 1855 by
the builder of the house.
The grounds at Cooleemee were landscaped in broad terraces to the river,
with double walks of English boxwood, stone gateposts and a wrought iron fence.
The outbuildings consisted of a smokehouse, separate kitchen, dairy, icehouse,
carriage house, office, stables and milk barn, chicken house, granary, corn crib
and kennel.
Major Peter Hairston, who had served in the American Revolution from Henry
County, Virginia, acquired the land for Cooleemee Plantation. In 1817 he bought
two tracts totaling 2,570 acres from General Jesse A. Pearson for $20,000. These
tracts were already called Cooleemee. On a military campaign against the Creek
Indians, Pearson had camped with an Indian by that name and so named his home.
Cooleemee received recognition as a National Historic Landmark because of
its architecture and because the Hairston family has owned it since 1817.
Robert Ervin Hairston, Judge Peter Hairston and wife Lucy.
The late Judge Peter Hairston wrote an excellent book on the history of this plantation, "The Cooleemee Plantation and its People", Hunter Publishing Company, 1986. Copies are available at the Business Office, Davidson Community College, Lexington, NC, 27293. The last I heard it was $29.50 plus 6% sales tax for NC residents and $5 shipping & handling.
by Carolyn Henderson, Libba Johnson and Robert E. Hairston, Jr.