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14
<br /> The Robersons could not pay on the deed of trust and Walker repossessed the
<br /> property.13
<br /> In 1923,Walker sold the 127-acre farm to D.W. Pass for$4,000. In 1943, he sold the
<br /> property to Luther Garland Watson and his wife, Ida Frances Slaughter Watson.14
<br /> The Watsons worked the farm with their children.After their son, Luther Watson Jr.
<br /> returned from service in World War II he built a house across NC 86 North from his
<br /> parent's farm.
<br /> The 1945 farm census reported that L. G.Watson owned 127 acres, of which 50
<br /> were cultivated.Tobacco, planted on 15 lh acres,was the main crop,followed by
<br /> corn, and small grains that were cut green for hay only.Another 3 acres contained
<br /> the home garden. Watson practiced progressive farming techniques by plowing up
<br /> twelve acres for soil improvement and using fertilizer on his crops. Ten fruit trees,
<br /> most likely apple, grew on the property. Eleven people lived on the farm in 1945.15
<br /> The Watson children,who had inherited the farm following the death of their
<br /> parents, sold the property to John C.Woods in 1984.16 In 1990,the farm was sub-
<br /> divided into three properties. The 26.51-acre parcel containing the Hester
<br /> farmhouse and its associated outbuildings went to Karen Baum.17 In 2000, Mimi
<br /> Logothetis bought the house, outbuildings, and 18.17 acres from Baum through
<br /> Preservation North Carolina. Ken Dawson bought the remaining eight acres of
<br /> farmland. Since her purchase, Logothetis has restored the house and outbuildings.
<br /> Sources Consulted
<br /> 1830 Slave Population Census, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh,NC.
<br /> 13 Karen Love Jessee, "Architectural Description and Commentary: The Nicholas
<br /> Corbett Hester House," paper for History of North Carolina Architecture, North
<br /> Carolina State University School of Design, 1994. In the Nicholas Corbett Hester
<br /> House survey file, Orange County Department of Environment,Agriculture, and
<br /> Parks and Recreation, Hillsborough, NC.
<br /> 14 Orange County deed book 117, page 332, March 8, 1943, Orange County Register
<br /> of Deeds, Hillsborough, NC.
<br /> 15 1945 Farm Census Reports, Cedar Grove Township, Orange County, North
<br /> Carolina, North Carolina Department of Agriculture. North Carolina State Archives,
<br /> Raleigh, NC.
<br /> 16 Orange County deed book 486, page 26, October 1, 1984, Orange County Register
<br /> of Deeds, Hillsborough, NC.
<br /> 17 Orange County deed book 857, page 140,June 11, 1990, Orange County Register
<br /> of Deeds, Hillsborough, NC.
<br /> 8
<br /> October 26, 2015
<br /> Orange County Local Landmark Application: Nicholas Corbett Hester House
<br /> 9501 NC 86 North
<br /> Cedar Grove, NC 27231
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