Old Stone House

Yesterday we went out for a drive after breakfast. Our intent was to locate and explore the Dan Nicholas Park, but poor signing or a lack of signing found us driving through the small town of Granite Quarry, North Carolina instead. As we were driving down Hwy. 52 I noticed a historical marker and the name Braun and Stone House caught my eye but we were already past the street to turn off so we continued on. We finally gave up on finding the park and decided to stop in at the Old Stone Winery to partake in their free wine tasting.

The lady manning the bar was part of the family who owned the winery and as it turns out, the family was descended from Michael Braun who built the Old Stone House. As we chatted she gave us a little history of the area, the family and the house and she recommended we stop by there on our return to Salisbury. We decided if nothing else to stop by to take a picture of the house.

Michael Braun came to this country in 1738, settling in the Pennsylvania Dutch country where he trained to become a wheelwright. He married and later moved to Rowan county in North Carolina where he purchased a couple hundred acres of land and built his stone house. The house is built of granite mined locally and sits on a foundation that is 15 feet deep. The walls are two feet thick and the house itself is the oldest house in North Carolina west of Raleigh. Eventually Michael increased his land holdings to 3000 acres, built a print shop, became town constable, married three times (the first two wives died) and sired eleven children.

The house is open for tours at a cost of $3 per person. We just missed the Harvest Heritage celebration of the 240th anniversary of the house, where there were demonstration of early crafts, food cooked on the open hearth and other festivities. The tour guide also explained that they open the house to school children as part of history week where the kids learn to weave on the loom on the second floor of the house and they can search for artifacts in the kitchen garden at the rear of the house.

Curiosity about a home built by a man with the same last name as ours led us to an interesting afternoon exploring a bit of North Carolina's history. We recommend that you stop by sometime, even if you're not lost.