January 06, 2008
A trip to Wilkesboro is worth the time
By O.C. Stonestreet
Click here for a slideshow narrated by O.C.
Too often we think we have to travel long distances to see interesting sights. Sometimes, there are places closer to home that deserve a visit.
Wilkesboro, the county seat of Wilkes, that large county to the northwest of us, is a case in point. With its varied geography, it has sometimes been referred to as “the Great State of Wilkes.”
When Wilkes was settled, the closest market town was Statesville, reckoned as a six-day round trip by wagon.
Today, it is about 45 miles and 45 minutes from downtown Statesville to downtown Wilkesboro. Take Interstate 77 north, then go west on U.S. 421 and follow the signs.
The first thing you will see in the center of Wilkesboro is the old Wilkes County Courthouse, built in the Classical Revival style in 1902. It looks familiar because the architects were the same ones who designed the old Iredell County Courthouse on South Center Street.
The old Wilkes Courthouse has recently been restored and transformed into a county heritage museum. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Call (336) 667-3171.
In front of the old courthouse is a piece of artillery from World War I. In the ground around the cannon are the names of more than 400 Wilkes County veterans. This area is known as the Veterans Brick Honor Walk.
There is also a memento of an earlier war nearby. Behind the courthouse, is the remains of the Tory Oak Tree.
The patriot Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, for whom Cleveland County was named, lived in what is today Wilkes County.
In “The Land of Wilkes” by Johnson J. Hayes (1962), the standard work on Wilkes history, we are informed that the popular Cleveland was the head of the local Committee of Safety during the American Revolution. He was also one of the leaders of the successful Battle of Kings Mountain against British Col. Patrick Ferguson, a fight that some have regarded as the turning point of the War for Independence in the South.
Back to the Tory Oak Tree.
The story is that Cleveland was captured in April 1781 by a Tory, a supporter of the British, named William Riddle. Rather than execute Cleveland on the spot, Riddle planned to take him to South Carolina and place him into the hands of the British army and perhaps collect a bounty. In the meantime, Cleveland was not ill-treated.
Soon, however, the tables turned and a group of patriots freed Cleveland and took Riddle and two associates, named Reeves and Goss, prisoner.
As Hayes tells us, “Cleve-land had no tolerance for the American who took sides with England against the Sons of Liberty, nor did he respect much more those who were neutral.”
Rather than show clemency, Cleveland promptly had the three Tories strung up from the sturdy oak tree.
The same oak tree served the same purpose for James Cole and John Brown, infamous Tories who were committing depredations in northwestern North Carolina. In particular, these two had robbed the house of a patriot officer, Maj. George Wilfong of Lincoln County.
Hurricane Hugo and several ice storms sent the original oak to tree heaven, but there is a replacement, known as “Tory Oak Junior” to locals, growing where its parent used to stand.
A rustic 1975 statue of Cleveland stands near the courthouse, with sword upraised. Nearby is the two-story 1779 log home of Robert Cleveland, his brother. Robert served under his brother as a captain of militia in the War for Independence. He also sired 17 children, and if he cannot be called “the father of his country,” he might well lay claim to being the “father of Wilkes.”
Not far from here is the old Wilkes County Jail. Completed in 1860 just before the Civil War, it once held as its guest Thomas C. Dula, better known as “Tom Dooley,” and his paramour, Ann Foster Melton. The duo’s lawyer, former Gov. Zebulon Vance, had their trials moved to Iredell County.
Dula was not hanged from the Tory Oak in Wilkesboro, as some believe, but from a gallow on May 1, 1868, on Depot Hill in Statesville, for the murder of Laura Foster.
A very young Otto Wood, “the one-man crime wave” of the 1920s, was also once incarcerated in the old Wilkes Jail for stealing a bicycle.
This building, which served as a jail until 1915, is now used as a museum.
There are two frescoes by Statesville’s Ben Long in the 1849 sanctuary of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Cowles Street. To arrange a tour, call (336) 667-4231.
Wilkesboro has several downtown antique establishments near the courthouse. The Wilkes Antique Mall & Emporium is at 125 W. Main St. Besides antiques and collectables, the store also features several varieties of homemade fudge.
There are several good eateries within walking distance. “The 50’s” at 109 W. Main St. serves breakfast from 7-10:30 a.m. and is a popular lunch spot, known for its sandwiches, homemade desserts and “nearly world famous chicken salad.”
Beside the old courthouse is the 1891 Smithey Hotel Build-ing. The building now houses Dooley’s Grill and Tavern (11 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday through Friday), the Tory Oak Room and Mother Earth Foods & Spirits with 350 varieties of wine and 85 varieties of beer.
A Wilkes County Visitor Guide can be obtained from Better Communications, Inc., P.O. Box 211, Wilkesboro, NC 28697, or call (336) 667-0222.
Take a trip to Wilkesboro in Wilkes County, once known as “The Moonshine Capital of the World.”
Remains of Tory Oak wind up in good hands
What do you do with the wood from a centuries-old historic oak tree? Well, it would make excellent fuel for a wood stove or the principal ingredient for a whale of a bonfire. Or, better yet, sell it to folks who would like to own a souvenir from what is, arguably, Wilkes County’s most famous tree.
Charles Roope, 69, of Statesville but originally of Wilkesboro, knew the story of the Tory Oak, so when his brother, who still lives in Wilkes, called him and told him they had cut down the dying tree and were selling cardboard boxes of wooden blocks from the tree, he knew he wanted some of it.
For years he had been making odds and ends out of scrap wood in his shop in the back of his house. Roope had worked for Statesville Chair Company and later Classic Leather, Inc. of Conover until his health forced him to retire. With his employer’s blessing, for years he had taken home scraps too small to be used at work and with the eyes and hands of a craftsman fashioned bowls, coasters and other objects.
Professionally, he designed and constructed chair samples which were taken to the big furniture show in High Point. And so he bought several boxes of wood of the Tory Oak at $10 a box and brought it home and began to fashion the wood into something beautiful.
“I told the man at the Wilkes Museum what I was doing with the wood, and he was interested in showing some of my pieces there. I’ve had some offers, but I really don’t want to sell them, I’d rather pass them down to my children,” said Roope.
He said that mahogany was his favorite wood, but he still does pretty well with old oak.
Don’t you agree?
