Orange County NC Website
NN Form 10 -900 -a <br />(Rev. &8d) <br />United States Department of the Interior <br />National Park Service <br />National Register of Historic Places <br />Continuation Sheet <br />Section number 8 Page 12 <br />1- <br />OMO Approna[ Na 102¢0018 <br />Holden - Roberts Farm <br />Grange County, NC <br />story wing to the north facade of the farmhouse, making a bedroom and bath for Vesta Bacon, <br />Carrie's sister, who came to live with them also. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Martin <br />children assisted their uncle in raising tobacco on a four -acre allotment, planting and harvesting <br />300 bushels of wheat, oats, and barley, and two to 300 bushels of corn, nAkin, six to eight <br />cows, feeding the chickens, and gathering several thousand dozen eggs annually. During this <br />period, the number of chickens and egg production on the farm continued to exceed Orange <br />County averages. The agricultural census of 1940 lists Orange County with 1,870 farms that <br />had an average forty -four chickens per farm and 1,733 farms that produced an average 377 <br />dozen eggs per farm.60 <br />When Cain Roberts died in 1943, his will directed that "my entire estate of real and personal <br />property" be 'conveyed "to my beloved wife, Carrie B. Roberts!" After her husband's death, <br />Carrie did not stay on the farm but moved to .Hillsborough with Vesta Bacon and Vance Martin. <br />Aubrey Martin o�erated the farm for several years before it was leased to Bud and Della <br />Garrard in 1947,6 <br />The Garrards remained at the farm for sixteen years, making a specialty of chickens and eggs as <br />the Roberts family had done . In 1950, with production slightly greater than that of the <br />Roberts's, the Garrards also surpassed Orange County averages. In that year, 1,777 Orange <br />County farms had an average seventy -three chickens and 766 farms produced an average 1,093 <br />dozen eggs " Assisted by his sons, Victor and Joseph "Julian," Bud Garrard constructed a large <br />concrete block chicken house west of the farmhouse and two pole barns near the southern end <br />of the farm during 1950.65 <br />After Carrie Roberts's death in 1963, her heirs divided the farm, selling a twenty -acre parcel to <br />the Garrards' sons, a fifty -eight -acre parcel containing the house and outbuildings to Thomas <br />Bacon, Jr., and the remainder of the land to Wallace Bacon " Two years later, Thomas Bacon <br />sold his property to James Rae and Betty Freeland who constructed the large gable - roofed pole <br />barn in the northeast field, and sold the property to Drs. Nels and Nancy Anderson, the <br />present owners, within a year. 17 In 1970, the Andersons purchased one half of the Garrard <br />brothers' land, thus acquiring another portion of the original Holden - Roberts farm.68 <br />Around 1970, the Andersons made sensitive and practical alterations to the farmhouse that <br />included enclosing a portion of the ca. 1900 porch as a bathroom; renovating the ca. 1930 wing <br />with sheetrock on interior walls and new bathroom fixtures, and dividing the space to include a <br />small kitchenette. The Andersons also replaced a front porch post and rotted decking on the <br />front and south porches. <br />Under the Anderson' ownership, the outbuildings have been preserved and utilized in farming <br />activities that have included raising sheep and cattle, keeping horses, and cultivating grass <br />hay.69 The Holden - Roberts Farm thus retains an intact and rare Reconstruction- period dwelling <br />