The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-26

eranrs of the STATE OF North Carolina
Governor Abner Nash. Governor
Hichard Dobbs Spaight. and Cover
nor Richard Dobbs Spaight. his son.
The last resting place of these three
great mel. is little visited ana al
most unlrC yn and their tonbs ale
perishing in decay. Yet they We're
men w h were famous in their day
aE.i generation. The s."-o "i,ts
fields are ernong the most bistor': i
the country: they con.a;1 las.irG
marks Of goat epJ~h. in the nat. ,ns
i't-t~c The mounG Eu:ldcrs te'i tiIei'
monuments upon /. ~. .ani: III The
early S~ ISIS Colonisf, arc III tho creeks
.ii'i 'i.f+c am / c 1iNf.
War lcest cur fratricidai Struggle.
Let one drive across iron river
bridge, past the shanties and saw-
mills IF James City and there lies be-
fore him hundreds Of acres of cleared
land, extending from Trent river to
the woods at the south. The road is
extremely sandy and hard to travel
upon. Wire grass thrives in this scan
ty soil, but there are a few flowers.
1t might possibly seem desolate TO
some, but to him who has eyes to see,
there is rare beauty in the landscape.
the bright blue sky and the wide and
majestic Trent flowing in its reedy
hanks. In the olden days all this
LAND was cultivated plantations titled
by the b Of slaves.
Between the sandy road and the
banks Of Brice's creek, which flows
parallel with, before entering into,
Trent river, is seen a dense clump of
trees. A way has to be pushed
through the dense growth of firing
ing bushes, and there, under several
aged trees, a brick tomb is found. 1t
is twenty feet in length and fifteen
feet in width and about ten feet high,
with a curving roof. The whole was
once covered with plaster but little
of this now remains. In the front is
a clan white marble slab, two by four
| feet. inscribed: General Richard
Dobbs Spaight." In this brick sepul-
chre were placed the bodies Of the two
Governors, father and sou. The elder
| Spaisht was the first native Governor
Of the State, and the younger Spaight
the Legislature n not by the people.
The elder served in 1872 and the
| ung in 1885.
There is a great mystery
ing this curved sepuichre of brick,
with it's staring white plate of mar
bic and its moss covered sides, for no
| man certainly knows its contents.
| When all these fields and woods were
| filled with Northern soldiers. and the
moa1 surrounding the earthworks
nearby commanded with its guns the
/ river Trent, a strange thing is said to
have occurred. The tomb of the
Spaights had been opened and the
leaden collins seen. Death came to
two high officers of the Federal force,
and the bones of the long time dead
were cast into the nearby waters
of Brice's creek, and the coffins pre-
served the remains of the strangers,
to be carried to their homes in the
! North by the Federal feet. This is
the story as told and believed today.
but the walls of the tombs are now
solid. seemingly untouched and tell no
! tale.
4. About a. mile to the westward,
some distance from h travelled road,
but close to the river bank. is an
other clump of trees. 1t is hard to
force a way in On account Of the vines
and brambles. and there is but little
to see. for the last resting place of
Governor Nash is indicated only by a
brick wall. nearly even with the
ground, two sides of the former square
remaining. The tomb was destroyed
during the war, how or why is UNI
known. There is nothing to indicate
whether the emains were removed
or now rest below the surface of the
ground. There is no monument to
mark the grave OF the second Govern
or Of the State. a revolutionary Gov
ernor of the year 1880, who served
the. people with no small danger to
himself. A huge mulberry tree over
shadows h place, crepe myrtle, NIL
mosa and china trees planted long
ago still survive. An inscribed plate
from the tomb is said to be in exist
ence. out cannot be traced.
When these fields were we'll titled
plantations large brick houses stood
close to the river and remained up
to the time of the war. when they
were destroyed. The Nash home
stead was built in the Elizabethan
style. with a hip roof. The front and
rear were OF wood. the ends of brick