Editor’s Note: This is part II of a two-part series. The first column is available HERE.

BY SHELLIE TAYLOR

I had a huge response to the first article in this series, which was published in May. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and expressed their concerns and gratitude about saving historical sites.

Davidson Slave Cemetery at Hidden Lakes Development

I am proud to say that the developers behind the Hidden Lakes community off Arey Road and Wallace Springs Road did their job properly and respectfully. If you drive through the neighborhood, you will see a grove of trees surrounded by a black fence. The area is big enough for two lots, but the developers protected the cemetery located there and built around it. This property first went before the city council for annexation and rezoning requests in 2007. I was unable to find any discussion about the cemetery in the city council minutes during this time, but it’s clear that they had knowledge of the site early in the development plans.

There were (and still are) several branches of the Davidson family tree in Iredell County. The property on Wallace Spring was owned by Captain Thomas M.C. Davidson and passed down through the family for several generations. The Davidsons were a prominent family in Statesville. Born in 1839, Captain Davidson earned his rank from his service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was promoted upon the death of Captain Simonton. After the was, he served in several leadership capacities, including Register of Deeds in Iredell County for eight years, county commissioner, and legislative representative in 1905 and 1907. The Davidson family is recorded in the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules as owning several enslaved people. The majority of the family burials are accounted for, with mostly being at Oakwood Cemetery. The possible (and most likely) slave cemetery has been well-documented over the years, so it is encouraging to see it being preserved at Hidden Lakes.

Historic McKee House at Northpoint Industrial Development

The property in the southeast corner of the I-40/I-77 interchange is prime real estate. Northpoint Developers have been working on building an industrial park off Crawford Road and Jane Sowers Road. A dirt road known as Peppercorn Lane runs through the southern part of the property and leads to an old house. This house was built by the McKee family. Family lore suggests that the patriarch, James McKee, purchased property here in the early 1750s while still living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I have not been able to find records documenting that, but we do know that after his death in 1760, his widow Margaret purchased land here in what was Rowan County at the time. Margaret bought the land from Robert Allison, whose plot was originally part of the Lord Granville land grant. This transaction took place in 1762. She then split part of the land and gave it to her son William in 1777. William and Mary McHenry married in 1779 and lived on this land. The earliest known dwelling structure on the property was a log cabin.

Margaret McKee died in 1790 and her son William passed away in 1820, but not before he was able to start the construction of a Flemish-bond brick house. The chimney dated the house to 1818, and it was said that McKee slaves made the bricks by hand. The enslaved people of the McKee family had skills for creating beautiful architecture and their talents were respected even across county lines. They were supposedly sent to Davie County to help with the construction of the Cooleemee Plantation. Based on family records, it appears that the McKee family treated their workers with respect. The family cook, Ibby, was said to be one of the best. Names and births of slaves were recorded in the family Bible.

Many slave-owning families were known to keep this information for tax purposes but putting it in the family Bible was more personal. There is also discussion among family correspondence about being hesitant to lend out workers to people outside the family for fear of mistreatment. Several descendants of McKee slaves are buried at the historic Green Street Cemetery in Statesville.

There is a chance that this property also contains a slave cemetery. The first volume of the Iredell County Heritage Book references a slave cemetery and says that it was still visible at the time of publication (1980). New South Associates, an archeological research company based in South Carolina, was hired by the developers to conduct a survey of the property and to assess the historical importance of the house and other structures. New South’s final report stated that there is the potential for burials of slaves on this property. The cemetery has not been located yet, but research is ongoing. New South also recommended that the McKee House be eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places based on certain criteria that they felt the house was able to meet.

Unfortunately, the State Historic Preservation Office rejected the recommendations. The house caught fire in 1913 and suffered significant interior damage. Sarah Jane McKee Sharpe (wife of Silas A. Sharpe and mistress of the Historic Sharpe House in Statesville) was the last direct descendant to live in the McKee House. Two of her children were born there. Before her death in 1923, she oversaw the renovations and repairs to her grandfather’s house. Although the house and property were rented out to tenant farmers following the Great Depression, the house continued to be used by the family as a summer retreat. The property was sold to the Hawthorne and Grier families in the decades to come, but the house was used as entertainment for social events well through the 1960s.

Although the house has gone through several renovations and the integrity of the original style of the home has been lost, this house is tied to so much Iredell history. The house was built by the hands of skilled enslaved artisans; potentially the same hands that played a role in the construction of Cooleemee Plantation, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The foundation of the McKee House is original, and the structure has never moved off the site of the first land grant. This house is tied to a prominent Iredell family. Oral tradition says that the McKee House even held a few meetings as a temporary courthouse after the Statesville fire of 1854 destroyed government buildings in town. This house should be protected from the potential development that surrounds it.

The properties I have discussed in my articles are just a few examples of progress that this county is experiencing. I think the general consensus from residents is that they know progress is coming and while they are not completely against it, they want to make sure that it is not at an overwhelming pace to where the current infrastructure cannot handle the growth. Most people in the outlying areas of the county chose to live there because of its more rural and agricultural way of life. They want to preserve the integrity of the landscape and continue to provide farmland for local farmers, and not be surrounded by cookie cutter houses and/or apartment complexes that are typically seen in larger towns and cities.

Currently, the Scotts Creek community is concerned about a huge development moving forward. I do not have any cemeteries listed in that area that are currently threatened, but library staff is researching the area and property history. If you have any information regarding this property, feel free to contact us at the library. We would love to learn about the heritage of these sites.

If anyone has additional information about any property in Iredell County that is in jeopardy of being developed, especially if a cemetery or historic structure is known or suspected to be present, please contact us. We also want to preserve the integrity of the historic landscape in this county while safely making way for the inevitable progress of our growing community.

Shellie Taylor is the Local History Program Specialist at the Iredell County Public Library. She can be contacted at michelle.taylor@iredellcountync.gov or 704-878-3090, Ext. 8801.