February’s most interesting houses date from 1850 to 1919. Four represent some of the finer homes in the Triad’s smaller communities of Coleridge, Mount Airy, Mount Gilead and Mocksville. Their earliest known owners include a dentist, a mechanical engineer, a physician-turned-mill-owner and a register of deeds, Two of the houses were listed in February; their sales closed in less than a month. Two were listed last summer, and one wasn’t listed publicly.
6056 Jasmine Lane, Coleridge, Randolph County
The Robert and Sarah Caveness House
- Sold for $495,000 on March 13, 2024 (listed at $510,000)
- 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3,422 square feet (per county), 9.74 acres
- Price/square foot: $145
- Built in 1850
- Listed August 16, 2023
- Last sale: $85,000, November 1993
- Note: The property includes four outbuildings with electricity.
- The house has a Ramseur mailing address but is 7 1/2 miles south of town in Coleridge.
- The listing shows only 3,294 square feet.
- “The Caveness home is a lovely example of late 19th century domestic architecture. The two-story center-hall plan house has a projecting entrance bay which is echoed by a projection of the wrap-around porch. The raised porch is carried on coupled short turned posts set on brick pillars; a spindle frieze and sawnwork decoration is used between the posts. The cornice overhang of the roof is bracketed and the central and end gables have sawnwork eave decorations.” (The Architectural History of Randolph County North Carolina, p. 165)
- If the 1850 date is correct, the original ownership of the house doesn’t appear to be documented online. The first known owners, probably in the 1800’s, were Dr. Robert Lee Caveness (1866-1951) and Sarah Florence Cole Caveness (1875-1950). Robert and two of his daughters sold the house in 1951 to his third daughter, Faye Cole Caveness Albright (1901-1956), and Robert Lynn Albright (1908-1988).
- Sarah’s father, James Abram Cole (1840-1902), founded the town and in 1883 the local mill, Enterprise Manufacturing Company.
- Robert practiced medicine for 10 years and then bought the mill from his father-in-law in 1904.
- “From this unobtrusive house tucked away on a hillside behind his brother’s home, Dr. Robert L. Caveness ruled his little mill village. In 1917, the local newspaper observed that ‘Dr. R.L. Caveness is at the head of practically everything in Coleridge. For 10 years he most successfully practiced medicine and his friends assert that he is equally as good as a doctor as he is as a manufacturer. For the past ten years he has been devoting a majority of his time to the duties of the position of secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Enterprise Manufacturing Company.’ …
- “He was directly involved in the operation of the mill until 1922 and served as president of the company until his death in 1951.” (The Architectural History of Randolph County North Carolina, p. 165)
707 N. Main Street, Mount Airy, Surry County
The Reece House
- Sold for $300,000 on March 6, 2024 (listed at $300,000)
- 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 4,616 square feet, 1.13 acres
- Price/square foot: $65
- Built in 1900
- Listed February 28, 2024
- Last sale: $74,000, May 1985
- Neighborhood: Mount Airy Historic District (local and NR)
- Listing: “Has roof damage and water damage to interiors main and upper floor.”
- District NRHP nomination: “Two-and-one-half story brick veneer Colonial Revival style house …Two tall corbelled chimneys and hipped and gabled dormers pierce the moderately high hip roof; the central dormer is lighted by a Palladian style window.
- “A sweeping wrap-around porch is carried by Doric columns set on granite plinths; granite is also used in the lintels and sills of the one-over-one sash windows. The handsome entryway is composed of an oval bevelled glass door, topped with a leaded glass transom, and flanked by twelve-light beveled glass sidelights.
- “The house was constructed by 1910 for Dr. R.W. Reece, a local dentist.”
- Dr. Robert Wilson Reece (1865-1926) was born in Yadkin County and graduated from the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery. He practiced for 33 years, mostly in Elkin and Mount Airy. He was remembered as “one of Surry County’s most prominent citizens” in an obituary in The Charlotte Observer. He had been in poor health for eight to ten years, suffering four strokes.
- “Dr. ‘Bob’ Reece, as he was familiarly called by his friends, was one of those men whom it was a privilege to know, for he always met the world with a pleasant word and a friendly smile and his life was an inspiration to all with whom he came in contact,” the Greensboro Daily News said.
579 S. Salisbury Street, Mocksville, Davie County
The Benjamin and Marie Morris House
- Sold for $400,000 on March 19, 2024 (originally $420,000, later $399,999)
- 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3,103 square feet, 0.73 acre
- Price/square foot: $129
- Built in 1905
- Listed July 22, 2022
- Last sale: $85,000, April 2018
- Neighborhood: Salisbury Street Historic District (NRHP)
- Note: The historic district’s National Register nomination mistakenly lists the house number as 544.
- District NR nomination: “three-bay, single pile frame house with projecting gabled bay centered in front; full-width hipped front porch with projecting, pedimented bay, narrow Tuscan columns; small brackets in cornices; rear one and two-story ell; tin-shingled roofs; rear chimneys; two over two sash; vinyl sided [the listing says the house now has aluminum and wood siding].”
- The house is believed to have been built by Benjamin Owen Morris (1857-1940), register of deeds and later clerk of court and Mocksville postmaster. He also worked as secretary-treasurer of the Mocksville Building and Loan Association. At his death, he was the oldest deacon of the Mocksville Presbyterian Church. His wife was Marie Wailes Morris (1864-1934).
200 S. Main Street, Mount Gilead, Montgomery County
The Haywood-Taft House
- Sold for $22,500 on March 5, 2024 (listed at $40,000)
- 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 2,074 square feet, 0.75 acre
- Price/square foot: $11
- Built in 1910 (per county)
- Listed February 9, 2024
- Last sales: $30,000, March 2021; $5,000, January 1973
- 2021 listing: “The Haywood-Taft House requires a comprehensive rehabilitation including all new systems (HVAC, plumbing, and electrical), significant carpentry repairs, and updates to the kitchen and baths.”
- State Historic Preservation Office: “c. 1905 1-1/2-story side gable center passage double pile frame Queen Anne house w/ weatherboard siding”
500 N. Mendenhall Street, Greensboro
- Sold for $265,000 on March 4, 2024
- The buyer is a Greensboro LLC that owns other properties in the neighborhood.
- 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,604 square feet, 0.23 acre
- Price/square foot: $165
- Built in 1919 (per county, but probably a bit later; see note)
- Not listed publicly for sale
- Last sale: $9,500, June 1978
- Neighborhood: Westerwood
- Note: The property had only four owners from 1919 to 2024, but it has been empty for many years. With its unusual design — it doesn’t have a conventional front side — distinctive masonry and wood-shingled roof, it has a striking presence on a prominent corner in one of Greensboro’s most notable historic neighborhoods.
- The original owners were Ersell Freeman Neale (1890-1969) and William McCormick Neale Sr. (1885-1947). They bought the lot in 1919 and were listed in the city directory in 1921. Only Ersell’s name was on the deed, which is unusual for the time but not unique. A 1925 mortgage, though, was issued to “Ersell F. Neal etvir.” William was a consulting mechanical engineer. Ersell lived in the house until she died in 1970.
- The house was sold in 1972, 1974 and then in 1976 to the owner who now has sold it after more than 46 years.
- Preservation Greensboro: “The house was likely designed by Will Neale, for it originally had an eclectic appearance that blended several styles within a front-gabled roof house. Features include a steep pitched roof, colonial boxed eaves with returns, paired six-over-one windows, and masonry battered post-on-pier porch supports. The house is sheathed in ROWLOCK and SHINER brick bond and sports heavy granite windows sills. The 1924 photo [in Art Work of Piedmont Section of North Carolina, seen above] shows awnings on west-facing windows and a tile roof. Interior appointments include an unconventional and compact floor plan with ‘engineered’ built-in cabinets and closets.”
- Photo 1 above courtesy of Preservation Greensboro
Piedmont Historic Homes 