The JACOB HENRY/EASTON HOUSE circa 1800

Although plaqued the Easton House 1771, this is actually the Jacob Henry House - on the National Register of Historic sites. Jacob Henry was elected a member of the North Carolina Legislature in 1808. In 1809 he was challenged to step down because, as a Jew, he denied the Divine Authority of the New Testament. The debate, and Henry’s speech in his own behalf, was widely reported and important in the American fight for constitutional religious freedom.

It was also, at some point, the town house of Colonel John Easton. Easton led the town forces when the British landed in 1782. Easton, a delegate to the Provincial Congress at Hillsboro in 1775, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the American Revolutionary army and was prominent in town and county government.