Update: The listing was withdrawn without a sale in March 2023.
The Holt family is one of the most prominent in the history of Alamance County and of North Carolina as well. Charles T. Holt was a third-generation member of the textile family, and the mansion he built is quite the monument to the Holts’ stature.
“The Charles T. Holt House, the most ornate nineteenth century mansion in Alamance County, is located in the town of Haw River overlooking the Granite Mills complex, on twenty-five acres of lawn, grazing pasture, and farm land,” the property’s National Register nomination states.
For all the extravagance of its Queen Anne exterior, it’s actually a bit modest in its dimensions — five bedrooms, two bathrooms, 4,454 square feet. The property is more than 21 acres, which accounts for much of the $2.4 million price ($539/square foot).
“The house represents the emergence of a wealthy class whose fortunes came from business and industry rather than the soil and is associated with the prominent Holt family who pioneered the textile industry in Alamance County and became one of the leading textile producers in the South,” the nomination says.
“The Holt House, one of the finest surviving Queen Anne style mansions in North Carolina, was completed in 1897 … It was designed by George Franklin Barber (1854-1915) of Knoxville, Tennessee, probably the most prolific architect of the upland South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Barber published his work in various publications, including American Homes which was issued under his direction from 1895 until 1901.”
Charles T. Holt was a the son of Thomas Holt, governor of North Carolina. Charles’s wife, Gena Jones Holt, had a similarly prominent heritage, being a daughter of the daughter of Thomas Goode Jones, a governor of Alabama.
“The Holt family’s immediate association with the house was brief for by 1908 the house had passed into the hands of the Long family where it remains today [as of 1982]. The Charles T. Holt House has been remarkably well maintained and preserved by the Long family and stands today as a visual reminder of a lifestyle generated by the Industrial Revolution of the late nineteenth century.”
228 Holt Road, Haw River, Alamance County
The Charles T. Holt House
Sale pending February 14 to March 27, 2023
Listing withdrawn March 28, 2023
- $2.4 million
- 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 4,454 square feet, 21.10 acres (per county)
- Price/square foot: $539
- Built in 1897
- Listed July 18, 2022
- Last sale: $650,000, October 2007
- Note: A second home on the property dates to 1905 and has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2,431 square feet.
- The property also includes a pond, a barn and a two-car garage with additional upstairs and downstairs rooms.
- County records show 5,653 square feet as the “finished area” of the house, which may be larger than the “heated area” typically listed.
- The listing shows 23 acres.
- The house has a Graham mailing address but is in Haw River.
Piedmont Historic Homes 