Talk:William Theophilus Dortch

William T Dortch purchased 500 acres of land in Nash County North Carolina north of Swift Creek in 1784 for 300 pounds. He built a home, "the Dortch House" as it is referred to now in 1803 near Rocky Mount, North Carolina. In the late 1970s, the area where William T Dortch lived was incorporated as a city named for his namesake, Dortches. The home he built was located on an old stagecoach road named Halifax Road as this road was a link from Elm City, North Carolina and Halifax, North Carolina where a some of the work on the Declaration of Independence was written. Several miles south on Halifax Road was an old grist mill on the Tar River where farmers and plantation owners took their bounty to be milled. The Dortch House still stands today in the heart of Dortches just off of I-95. The house is falling into bad repair and is unoccupied. The home is exceptional with its Federal Style Farm House woodwork. Thomas T Waterman evaluated the house in 1940 for placement on the home on the National Historical Homes Registry. In his book, Waterman describes the woodwork of this Federal Style Farm House as the best in North Carolina. (RA Coats)