Mendenhall House

Jamestown NC was settled in the 1700's by a Quaker family from Pennsylvania, the Mendenhalls. This house was built by Richard Mendenhall in 1811, and has come to be known as the Mendenhall Plantation. It was not ever a plantation, Richard was not a slave owner. He and his Quaker family and friends were an integral part of the underground railroad before the Civil War. It is amazing to me how a well built house has withstood 200 years!  You can see the hand hewn beams, orginal doors, windows and hardware through out the house. I have been to a lot of historic houses and this one is by far the best in my opinion!


Upstairs in the main bedroom is a small access door to the porch. A similar Quaker home 5 miles away has a documented underground railroad hiding place exactly like this. There is no record of the Mendenhall's being a part of helping escaped slaves to freedom, it was illegal and no written records were kept. It is known that the Mendenhall's were abolitionists. Interestingly we learned that  not all Quakers were against slavery.  Beneath is the door from the outside under the porch. Of course there would have been a ceiling on the porch creating a small, hidden room. I read a slave memoir where a women hid in this exact spot in a home in northern North Carolina.

 

There are several original outbuildings including the barn, smokehouse, spring house (of which I envious, things spoil so quickly here! A building that was used for a school is now a small museum. It has amazing things, just in this little back shed. The kids LOVED this pump organ. I loved the the historian doing our tour let them play it. I laughed when I heard Olivia and Grace playing the Star Wars theme!  It was sobering to me to see slave shackles and common coins with notched edges - how a family would know who to take in and hide.

This bell is original to the property, again the kids all got ring it! Richard was a tanner, he and his wife Mary built  a general store, a pottery, a milliner and something else I don't remember on their property. Richard's brother George inherited slaves through marriage to his first wife. Many of these slaves learned trades from the Mendenhall's and then were driven to Ohio to become free. I think up to 60 ish.  There are records of George buying slaves in order to keep families together and at the request of the slave, but never selling them. I am sure it is not all clean and tidy. But I have never heard of a family like the Mendenhalls and how they fought slavery on such a personal level. 

 This is one of the few remaining false bottomed wagons documented as being used to carry escaped slaves. This wagon was not owned by the Mendenhalls, but another local Quaker family. It was driven to Ohio by young men several times. It was thought that the young drivers would not be thought of as carrying slaves. It is so important to me that we remember and learn from our history. Besides sweet Olivia Powell , my kids were not all that interested in all of this. Maybe as they mature they will recognize the significance.

When the girls were 4 and the boys 2 we had pictures taken on this bench. Of course I had to recreate it ! If, when, my stupid printer will talk to my computer I will add the original.