Mount Vernon

Near Woodleaf in northwest Rowan County, North Carolina, Mount Vernon is a two-story, three-bay weatherboarded frame house built around 1822 for Jacob Krider. Its most striking feature is a pair of single-shoulder chimneys joined by a brick pent on one gable end, laid in one-to-seven common bond. Inside, a center-hall plan, Federal mantels and vernacular woodgraining survive, including graining with Krider's initials. Krider, born in 1788, captained a militia unit in the War of 1812 and helped found the Western Carolinian, an influential western newspaper. The house also served as a post office. The farm included a mill, a general store and later outbuildings such as a log smokehouse, a barn, and structures from about 1917. The property was listed as the best preserved Federal plantation seat in Rowan County, reflecting the medium-scale plantation economy of the western Piedmont. The nominated 29.5 acres also take in the house, outbuildings, and the archaeological remains of the mill and dam.