Rigsbee's Rock House

Built around 1929 about two miles east of Hillsborough, this one-and-a-half-story Tudor Revival house is made of white flint rubble rock with half-timbered gables and dormers. The 1.84-acre lot also holds a garage, pump house, swimming pool, planters, an arch and a low rock wall, all of the same stone. The architect and builder are unknown, though the stonework resembles that of Durham bungalows, which suggests Black stone masons may have worked on it. The house was built for Mack Rigsbee and his wife, who bought the lots in 1927 and 1928 and lost the property to default in 1931. Rigsbee was later convicted of illegal possession of whiskey, and local lore links the roomy attic spaces, a reinforced bathroom floor and a concealed faucet tank to bootlegging. The property is considered locally significant for its architecture and as a rare documented site associated with Orange County's Depression-era bootlegging. A careful restoration in 1986-87 preserved most original fabric.