Cates, Charles F. and Howard, Farm

Located several miles northeast of Graham in Alamance County, North Carolina, this farm centers on a two-story double-pile house set at the end of a long gravel drive, with outbuildings grouped behind it. The house began as a hall-parlor dwelling and was enlarged in the early 1850s in a Greek Revival and Italianate form. Charles Fletcher Cates bought the farm in 1905 and moved his pickle and preserves business there, which operated from the farm until 1929 when it relocated to Faison. Cates was also a farmer, cooperative organizer, county school board member, and a Master Farmer named in 1927. The farm's dairy operation, led by his son Howard from the late 1920s, is represented by surviving buildings including a milk barn, well house with an insulated milk cooler, and a multipurpose barn. Extensive Mangum-style erosion-control terraces in the fields also remain. These features explain the nomination's reasons for recognizing the property.