Major John Davidson Memorial Wall, Huntersville
The memorial wall to Major John Davidson was constructed from rocks taken from the foundation of his Rural Hill Plantation house that had burned in 1886 and the Catawba River. The wall was constructed in layers of different colored stones. The bottom layer is of dark stone, the second layer of light stone, and another layer of dark stone with a thinner top layer of smaller light colored stones. Two stone pillars with an iron gate form the entrance. Each pillar is topped with a large white rock. A large pillar, also topped with a white rock, forms each corner and the wall rises as it nears the outside corners. Outside of the wall at its right corner (when facing entrance) stand two boulders, one stacked upon the other, to which a bronze plaque is attached. In relief at the top of the plaque is a yew tree holding a hornet’s nest with hornets buzzing. Below is the inscription along with the insignia of the Sons of the American Revolution. At the bottom is a larger hornet’s nest attached to a tree branch with hornets in flight. The wall was the project of E.L. Baxter Davidson who in 1923 undertook the project of building the wall and restoring and landscaping the Davidson family cemetery. Construction of the wall took two months
Images:
Cemetery entrance |
View towards graves
THIS WALL ERECTED / IN MEMORY / OF / MAJOR JOHN DAVIDSON / A SIGNER OF / THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION / OF INDEPENDENCE / MAY 20TH, 1775 / AND HIS WIFE / VIOLET
WILSON DAVIDSON / AND THEIR DESCENDANTS / ERECTED BY / EDWARD LEE BAXTER DAVIDSON
HOMESTEAD BUILT 1788 – BURNED 1886
The Davidson Family Trust
May 20, 1931
35.383520 , -80.948810
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"MAJ John Davidson," Find a Grave, findagrave.com, (accessed January 25, 2017) Link
"Signer of Declaration Rests Sleeps at Rural Hall,” Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), May 8, 1927
Barefoot, Daniel W. Touring North Carolina’s Revolutionary War Sites (Winston Salem, NC: John F. Blair Publisher, 1998), 174-175
Davidson, Chalmers G., 1986; Revised by Jared Dease, Government and Heritage Library, December 2022. "Davidson, John," NCPedia.org, (accessed May 28, 2023) Link
“Davidson Family Cemetery,” Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, www.cmstory.org, (accessed January 23, 2017) Link
“E.L. Baxter Davidson House,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, (accessed January 11, 2017) Link
“Gives Life to Preservation of Mecklenburg History,” Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), May 17, 1931
“S.A.R. Honor Mecklenburg Heroes,” Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), May 21, 1931
Yes
Stone and masonry, iron gate
Edward Lee Baxter Davidson
Rural Hill serves as a historic site, nature preserve, farm and location for cultural events. It was the 1760 homestead of Major John Davidson, a Revolutionary War hero and signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Several porch columns are all that remain of the brick plantation house which burned in 1886 although many other buildings from the period remain and are in use by the historic site. Rural Hill is also home to The Bethesda Schoolhouse, one of the area’s first African-American schools built in 1900.
Edward Lee Baxter Davidson was proud of his ancestry and also placed and paid for several markers in the Charlotte area to relatives who were prominent during the American Revolution including General William Lee Davidson and Major John Davidson. He was a member of the North Carolina Historical Society and served as a District Vice President of the Sons of the American Revolution.
[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]
The cemetery where the wall is located is part of the Rural Hill Historic site at 4431 Neck Road in Huntersville, NC. The cemetery entrance is across the street from and west of the historic site entrance.
The memorial wall is surrounded by a well-maintained lawn and beautifully designed landscape.
Yes
Burials still occur at the cemetery.
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