Source: Nathaniel Macon, Littleton
Nathaniel Macon, Littleton
The marker to Nathaniel Macon features a bronze plaque inset into a large roughhewn granite block. The plaque was cast as the front elevation of a Greek revival architectural style building. In relief on the building’s pediment are several components from the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina, to include the state motto” Esse quam videri” meaning "To be, rather than to seem". Also prominent are the figures Liberty and Plenty facing towards each other. A bas-relief eagle in flight is directly below the pediment with the inscriptions appearing below the eagle’s spread wings. Although dated 1919, the year the memorial was approved by the NC Historical Commission, it was not placed and dedicated until 1923.
Images:
The memorial marker and graves at Buck Spring Plantation Park
NATHANIEL MACON / 1738-1837 / A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION, A STATE SENATOR, / 1782 AND 1784, REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, / 1791-1815, AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, 1801-1807, / UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1815-1828, AND PRESIDENT / PRO TEM OF THE SENATE, 1826-1828, PRESIDENT OF THE / CONTINENTAL CONVENTION OF 1835. “THE STRICTEST / OF OUR MODELS OF GENUINE REPUBLICANISM, / NATHANIEL MACON, UPON WHOSE TOMB WILL BE / WRITTEN, "ULTIMUS ROMANORUM" – THOMAS JEFFERSON
ERECTED 1919 BY THE / NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL COMMISSION / AND / MACON NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY CLUB
Warren County
May 25, 1923
36.480700 , -77.997400
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Biennial Report of the North Carolina Historical Commission,” (Raleigh, NC, Edwards & Broughton, 1920), (accessed October 4, 2020) Link
Wilson, Clyde. 1991. “Macon, Nathaniel,” NCPedia.org, (accessed February 26, 2018) Link
“Bronze Marker Unveiled at Nathaniel Macon’s Grave,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 26, 1923
“Nathaniel Macon: 1758-1837,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed September 30, 2020) Link
“The North Carolina Historical Commission History, Forty Years of Public Service, 1903-1943,” (Raleigh, NC, The North Carolina Historical Commission, 1942)
“Warren County Historical Tidbits: Another Forgotten Founding Father and His Plantation,” The Warren Record, (Warrenton, NC), May 25, 2016, (accessed September 30, 2020) Link
Yes
Bronze, granite
NC Historical Commission and Macon NC Community Club
$200
Josephus Daniels was the featured speaker in front of a crowd estimated at 1,000 people. Two of Macon’s great-great grandchildren unveiled the tablet.
Macon's wish was that no grief be expressed at his funeral. He requested that dinner and grog be served and that each friend cast a stone on his grave.
Indeed, Macon’s grave is covered by a pile of stones as he willed that any memorial to him consisted only of “rude stones.”
A
marker in his honor placed in 1902 at Guilford Courthouse Battleground more closely followed his wishes.
[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 memorial marker is located at Buck Spring Plantation Park, 193 Plantation Dr., Littleton, NC 27850. Macon is buried at his homeplace beside his wife and son. The fourth grave is believed to be Macon's grandson. Large mounds of stones cover all the graves.
The memorial marker stands in a wooded area at Nathaniel Macon’s graveside.
Yes
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