Scotland Harris House

Courtesy Beryl Hannon Dade.

A native of eastern North Carolina, Scotland Harris came from Halifax County which has distinguished architecture going back to the colonial era. In the late 1800s, rapid industrialization brought wealth and stylish Queen Anne residences to such towns as Roanoke Rapids and Scotland Neck, and biracial government. Harris was elected to the legislature in 1896; the district was the last in the nation to send a black Representative to Congress after Reconstruction.

A graduate of St. Augustine College in Raleigh, Harris was invited by Episcopal leaders in western North Carolina to head the new Colored Industrial School at Tryon. He used proceeds from the sale of his property in Halifax County to erect this example of the late Queen Anne in 1907. As the young men were training in building trades, and Harris was experienced in technique, its quality construction has stood the tests of time. Many of its black builders went on to careers as highly-skilled carpenters, masons, and plasterers.

A circa-1913 photograph shows the Harris family, the original porch and ornamentation. In 1918 Harris took another position in Charleston and sold his house to business owner Clarence Jackson who named it Stoney Crest, but returned in 1924 to help his son-in-law Oren Hannon build a Tryon home in the log-cabin motif, then the newest rage. This dwelling remains in the Jackson family and has been updated in a Craftsman style.

Photographs by Robin S. Lattimore & Lesley Bush.

Gable window with original colored glass.

Hilltop site has a sweeping view of the mountains.