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Early History
Among the original pioneers from Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Maryland who settled on the east side of the Catawba River
were George Davidson (1-home destroyed), Reverend John Thomson, Moses
White, Hugh Lawson, John Oliphant, John Brevard, Alexander Osborne,
William Morrison and Andrew Allison. The Thomson, White and Lawson home
sites were located on the waters of Catawba (2) now under the waters of
Lake Norman. John Oliphant’s grist mill (3-underwater), located on
Oliphant’s Creek, served the needs of these and other early settlers.
Both Davidson College (4-ppreserverd) and Davison County, North
Carolina, were named for George Davidson’s son, William Lee Davidson,
Revolutionary officer killed while resisting Cornwallis’ advance at
Cowan’s Ford on the Catawba River. John Thomson was co-founder of the
University of Delaware, twice moderator of the General Synod of the
Presbyterian Church, contributor to Benjamin Franklin’s publications and
a leading advocate of the “Old-side” Presbyterian position in the
Carolina back country. Stones commemorating Lawson and Thomson may be
seen in the cemetery at Centr Church (5-preserve, not original
building), one of the oldest places of worship in western North
Carolina.
Hugh Lawson White, grandson of Moses White was born on Davidson’s Creek
in 1773. He later moved to Tennessee, where he became a United States
Senator and in 1836 presidential candidate on the Whig ticket. The home
place of John Brevard, who migrated from Cecil County, Maryland, was
known as “Purgatory” (6-destroyed). His tombstone may be seen at Centre
Church. He was one of the Rowan County’s three representatives in the
North Carolina Colonial Assembly and father of five sons who fought in
the Revolution. Two of them, Alexander and Joseph, were officers in the
Continental Line. Two miles south of Brevard lived Alexander Osborne
(7-home destroyed), originally of New Jersey. Osborne was a colonel in
the colonial militia and side to Governor Tryon in suppressing the
Regulator movement. He, too, rests in Centre churchyard. His son, Adial
Osborn, a graduate of Princeton, was one of the original trustees of the
University of North Carolina. Andrew Allison (8-home destroyed) and
William Morrison (9-grave preserved) received the earliest land grants
issued to settles along Forth Creek. Morrison referred to himself as the
“first inhabitor of the country.”
During the Cherokee uprising of 1755 Fort Dobbs (10-destroyed), named
for Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs, was built under the supervision of
Captain Hugh Waddell of Wilmington. The fort was 55 feet long, 40 feet
wide, and 24 ˝ feet high. There were three floors, the top two each
overhanging the other below. The fort was subsequently allowed to decay.
Among the Revolutionary soldiers of the region were Robert Simonton,
John Reid, Hugh Torrance and John Davidson Simonton (11-home preserved),
Rufus Reid (12-home preserved), son of John Reid, and James G. Torrance
(13-home preserved), son of Hugh Torrance, built interesting plantation
homes. Rufus Reid, whose home “Mt. Mourne” was built in 1836 on the site
of “Purgatory”, was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons in
1844 and 1846. James G. Torrance was one of the original trustees of
Davidson College and operated the only store in the vicinity. John
Davidson, an officer in the Continental Line and a pioneer in the iron
industry, lived at “Rural Hill” (14-destroyed)
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