Stepping across the threshold of this pioneer mountain home, the visitor has an immediate sense that here, history is tangible.

Built in two parts-1815 is the date established for the construction of the first part of the house-this mountain crafted Federal and Greek Revival architecture private home has remained in virtual unaltered condition for almost two centuries.  It is the oldest known standing frame house west of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  The original two-story federal -style three-room plan house was later enlarged to 2200 square feet with a Greek revival style addition and on the front of the house double-engaged porches.  This style and size3 was unique to the mountains of Western North Carolina.  The house and its 5,117 acres were a statement of the prosperity achievable in the mountain economy.

Fortunately for today's visitor, the Allison-Deaver House was never, in the intervening years, structurally altered for extensive electric wiring, plumbing or for heating and insulation.  Not even closets were added.  Still observable is working fireplaces and the original paneling.  The interior contains surviving early paint finishes, hardware, and intact original molding and trim.  Here it seems that time has just stood still.

Two Building Periods

The initial house construction is credited to Benjamin Allison who is believed to have moved from the Old Fort area, a well-established community about twenty-five miles east of Asheville.  With and expanded family and a damaging house fire, Allison moved his family west to Jackson County, selling the house to William Deaver in 1830.

Deaver first visited the Davidson River community helping his grandfather, Andrew Miller, lay out a road from Mills River.  With some inherited money and an association with a linsey-woolsey mill, Deaver was a land speculator, merchant and a farmer.  He enlarged Benjamin Allison's house, raised a family and eventually had over 1,000 acres under cultivation at different locations.  Deaver owned seven slaves.  It is believed that they were housed where the present-day Forest Gate shopping center is now located.

Dendrochronology studies have established that timber was used in the first period of construction was hewed and sawed from southern yellow pine and oaks that were felled following the growing season of 1815.  The barn lumber was felled after the growing season of 1827.

Like all old houses, the one, too, has its legends.  Davy Crockett, one story tells us, visited the house.  Since both Crockett and William Deaver married Patton women, the story may well be true.  A document found in 1995 shows Col. D. Crockett and William Deaver signing a notarized debt together.  It was recorded in Buncombe County in 1833.  Another story became part of early Transylvania County lore.  While William Deaver's son, James, a captain in the Confederate army, was home on leave, the senior Deaver was shot and killed in his own home.  James Deaver, it seems, was responsible for rounding up deserters during the war, so a band of just such deserters bent on revenge shot William Deaver, believing him to be the Confederate captain.

Preserved For The Future

In the fall of 1987, the Transylvania County Historical Society saved this property from demolition intended to make way for a new shopping center.  An anonymous gift towards the purchase of the house and its 3.7 acres of premium land made its rescue possible.  At the turn of the twenty-first century, a figure of $350,500 tells us how much has been spent for the restoration to date. Almost invisible is the cost of stabilizing nearly every part of the home, both very old and much neglected.  Highly visible are the siding, roof, porch, window, and chimney rehabilitation.  This National Register of Historic Places property now takes its place among the architectural treasures of North Carolina.

The cooperation of the North Carolina Historic Preservation Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation has been important in fund raising.  Private foundation grants and some federal and Transylvania County funds seem to have come just at the right times.  However, individual membership fees and contributions from the Transylvania County Historical Society members along with individual gifts continue to be the lifeline of this historic preservation effort.

HOME