In 1990, William H. White, Jr, DVM, purchased the Calvin Graves homeplace from the heirs of Woody Yarborough in Boston, Massachusetts, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Growing up across the road from the plantation house in the home currently owned by Bob and Sally Cone, the young Dr White would spend summer evenings lying in the tall grass and listening to the music eminating from the "dance hall" across the road and watch the party goers having fun and fellowship after long work days on the farm. He wished so very much to be a part of the festivities. His dreams were realized with the purchase of "Mr. Woody's" home, surrounding out buildings, and 60 acres on the "other" side of the road. He actually had little knowledge of the Calvin Graves on the historic marker in front of the home, but, he was soon to learn all about him.

     Dr. White had already purchased the surrounding, contiguous properties on the North, South and West sides of the sixty acres. In the early 70's, he built what he called "the cabin" directly behind the Calvin Graves home. His original idea was to preserve two remaining tobacco barns. He wanted to put them together, with a "dog trot" in between, put them on a concrete slab and make the barns two story. In his mind he would be creating a rustic cabin while saving two original tobacco barns.

     It was all a valiant effort, but air inside the old tobacco barns made breathing practically impossible. The strong odor  (some would say, great aroma) of cured tobacco was unbearable, not to mention hazardous to the health of those who dared to take a deep breath. Anticipating spending a great deal of time in this "cabin," Dr White dispensed with the idea of saving the tobacco barns and opted to build the same plan, but to utilize "board and batten" for the exterior.

     The White family, (Dr White had three sons) would spend practically every weekend at the "cabin" until the children were grown. He soon added a swimming pool and a tennis court. He worked very hard maintaining the grounds which meant lots of mowing. He soon purchased three, ATV's. They were the old, now illegal, three wheelers. Numerous hours were spent grooming the trails. Many people begged to hunt the abundant wildlife on "the farm" as Dr. White referred to it, but he often said that as a veterinarian, hunting "went against his grain" as he spent his life trying to save animals and make their lives better. He very much enjoyed the wild life and would frequently report sightings of different species to his family. Once he was mowing and ran over a wild turkey nest in the tall grass. He was quite disturbed and felt responsible that he had destroyed wild life. Some of the wildlife that calls the farm home are wild turkey, deer, red fox, grey fox, many varieties of birds, feral pigs and even an occasional bob cat. 

     Having purchased the Calvin Graves home and much of the land of the original plantation, he was quite anxious to restore the original home which was in unusually bad shape. There were weeds growing in three of the five fireplaces. There were large spaces between the original boards in the floor. The family has no idea how much money Dr White spent restoring the home to "liveable" conditions.

      Many of the granite stones on the property such as road markers and the stairs out front for ladies to mount their horses side saddle, and the stone table in front of the smoke house, were actually quarried on the property of the plantation now located across the road from the homeplace.

            About four years ago, stepping stones were unearthed just under the ground surface forming a path from the back porch to the well. There are also stones on the southside of the well leading to what would probably have been the original kitchen.

      There is an out building just in back of the big house that has been used as a stable for live stock over the years. However, Dr. White's mother, Elizabeth Fowlkes White, had said many times that it had actually served as slave quarters. In all probability, the old kitchen would have been detached and located in the area between the old well and the old slave quarters.

       The Graves family certainly owned slaves. Research has not been completed to determine just how many, but it was a tobacco plantation which required a large amount of "help" to get the crops planted, harvested, cured and to market. Therefore, it is presumed there would have been a large number of slaves. There is a slave graveyard located southwest of the big house. Sadly, there are no names...just unhewn stones with no markings denoting the graves. It is a sad, meditative spot in the shade of the pines and silence of the countryside.  The White family hopes to improve the area to honor their lives for the hard work they all contributed to make the plantation a successful one.

        The little mustard color building across the road was the old post office and a stage coach stop along 150 which had been a trail from Baltimore, MD to Winston-Salem, NC along which Cornwallis marched with his troops. A few Revolutionary War artifacts have been found in the area.

         Jesse James, the famous bank robber of the late 19th century, married a girl from North Carolina although he was from Missouri. The oral history goes that he would bring her frequently from Missouri to visit her North Carolina family. They would stop at the stage coach shop for supplies, but would not be allowed to stay overnight because of the likelihood that he would be recognized. Therefore he (Jesse James) was given shelter in the falling down cabin in the pasture across the road, on the west end of the big field.

          For more on the history of Calvin Graves and his brave political career, click on the link below:

                    http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncccha/biographies/calvingraves.html