Orange County NC Website
NPS fu m 10.900-a OMa MWaraj No.1024-0018 <br /> (8-86) <br /> United States Department of the Interior 13 <br /> National Park Service <br /> National Register of Historic Places <br /> Continuation Sheet <br /> Section number 7 Page —1— <br /> Alexander Hogan Plantation <br /> Orange County,NC <br /> Description(continued) <br /> Alexander marred Matilda Robson in 1854. The couple had 8 children, probably two of which died at a <br /> young age. Alexander apparently also fathered at least one child by one of his slaves. As was typical for the county, <br /> only a small number of slaves were ever present on the plantation. In 1840, 3 slaves were recorded for the property. <br /> By 1850 Hogan had 8 slaves working on his plantation, most of which were under the age of 12. By the end of the <br /> decade the slave presence grew to 13,most of whom were under 20 years old. <br /> After the Civil War significant changes took place on the plantation as portions of it were rented to <br /> sharecroppers. Alexander died in 1872 leaving Matilda in charge of the farm until her death sometime after 1890. <br /> Some of the surviving children inherited the farm and subsequently sold or deeded portions of the property to former <br /> Hogan slaves. At least one such descendent, Essie (Hogan) Leak, lives near the site today and has provided some <br /> oral accounts of her childhood recollections of the plantation site. <br /> Little is known about the disposition of the site during the early twentieth century. Duke Forest acquired the <br /> former Hogan tract in several parcels from 1944 to 1945. Although there is some mention in Duke files of an <br /> abandoned house site on the property, no standing structural remains were apparently present. Today the site is <br /> primarily marked by the foundation remains of at least four and possibly five structures and a cemetery marked by a <br /> low stone wall enclosure with unmarked fieldstones denoting burial locations both inside and outside the stone <br /> enclosure (Daniel 1994). Together these remains cover approximately 12 acres. The site has received some <br /> preliminary archaeological work in the form of a general survey, mapping, and augering. It should be emphasized, <br /> however,that other less obvious remains might still be unrecorded. A more intensive and systematic survey is needed <br /> to make this determination. <br /> As described below, site integrity is unusually good. Because Duke Forest guidelines mandate that <br /> archaeological and historic sites on University property be left undisturbed, the site has been well-preserved. <br /> Excluding the presence of a powerline right-of-way that runs through the southern end of the site, it has suffered no <br /> significant disturbances. In fact, with the exception of forest regeneration, the site probably appears much as it did <br /> when acquired some 50 years ago. <br /> The most apparent features of the site are the stone foundations. One of these foundations (Al)tentatively <br /> has been identified as the location of the main house. Oral accounts have described it as a large two-story white <br /> plank house with approximately 10 to 12 steps leading to a front porch. Foundation Al certainly appears to have <br /> been a dwelling and it exhibits the largest dimensions of any of the known foundations on the site. The foundations <br />