Rowan

Rowan Museum, Inc.
Old Stone House
The Old Stone House, a two-story Georgian house with stones on the facade, was completed by Michael Braun in 1766. Each December or early January, the weekend following Christmas, there is an 18th century Folk Christmas celebration featuring trades, customs, cooking and decorations of the period.

Rowan Museum, Inc.
Utzman-Chambers House
The Utzman-Chambers House is a 1819 Federal townhouse built by Jacob Stirewalt, master builder of the period, and reflects the lifestyle of the more affluent citizens of the early 1800s with its carved staircase and interior moldings and details. One of the few surviving Federal period townhomes in piedmont North Carolina, it features period rooms with Hepplewhite and Chippendale furniture as well as furniture made by Rowan County craftsmen. The house and garden are open to the public regular hours.

Rowan Museum, Inc.
Courthouse Facility
The Rowan Museum is located at 202 North Main Street in the 1854 Courthouse which survived Stoneman's raid. An example of pre-civil war architecture, it houses the collections of the Museum. Its rooms, including the second floor court room and public gathering place, reflect the life and history of Rowan County through displays and interpretive exhibits. The Courthouse facility is open M-F 10am-4pm, Sat and Sun 1-4pm. The Utzman-Chambers House and Old Stone House are open Saturday and Sunday, 1-4pm, April through November.

North Carolina Transportation Museum
The North Carolina Transportation Museum is located on the site of Southern Railway's steam locomotive repair facility in Spencer. Buildings open to the public include Barber Junction Depot (1913), the site reception center; the Master Mechanic's Office (1911), with museum offices, the Gift Station, and the Wagons, Wheels, and Wings transportation exhibit; the Flue Shop (1924), home of the Bumper to Bumper automobile exhibit; and the Bob Julian Roundhouse (1924), a 37-bay 100,000-square-foot railroad exhibit. Structures viewable from the exterior but not open to the public include the Paint Shop (1902), Oil House (1913), Storehouse #3 (1896), Roundhouse Office (pre-1940s), Powerhouse (1913), Car Repair Shed (1917), Wheel Balancing Shed (pre-1940s), Sand House (1913), and Backshop (1905).

Historic Salisbury Foundation, Inc.
Dr. Josephus Hall House
Individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Dr. Josephus Hall House was built as a school in 1820. It became a residence in 1825 when local businessman Maxwell Chambers and his half-sister Rebecca Troy purchased the house and made it their home. Successful medical doctor and businessman Josephus Hall purchased the house in 1859. The house remained a home to three generations of the Hall family. Historic Salisbury Foundation, Inc. purchased the house and furnishings from Dr. Hall's great granddaughter and maintains the house as a museum.

Rowan Public Library
Edith M. Clark History Room
Rowan Public Library's Edith M. Clark History Room concentrates primarily on Western North Carolina genealogy and history including all areas of old Rowan County. Their holdings include over 19,000 books, 5,700 microforms, 268 manuscript collections, dozens of genealogical journals as well as a solid collection of civil war and civil war prison materials. Genealogy materials include abstracts, indices, and guides to primary source material used by genealogists as well as popular online databases - Ancestry and Heritage Quest. Book collections are comprised of the Archibald Henderson Collection of books on drama, literary criticism, and American history; the Craige Collection of North Caroliniana including the two volume set of Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, and the Christian Reid Collection of books by local author Francis Fisher Tiernan. Additionally Jo White Linn, noted genealogist, recently left her collection of books and research materials to the History Room. Local and regional oral histories, films, and maps supplement the collection.

Historic Rockwell Foundation, Inc.
Historic Rockwell Museum
The Historic Rockwell Museum, housed in Rockwell's second Post Office, collects, researches, documents, preserves, and exhibits tangible objects that relate directly to the historic and social evolution of the Rockwell Community. The museum, through its public exhibitions and programs, seeks to provide opportunities for learning and enjoyment through effective use of ideas, concepts, and objects.

Historic Gold Hill and Mines Foundation, Inc.
Gold Hill Mines Historic Park
Gold Hill was the richest gold mining town east of the Mississippi around the turn of the century. The Historic Gold Hill and Mines Foundation was established in January of 1992 with the goal of restoring and developing Gold Hill Mines Historic Park. The 70-acre park includes the Bernhardt Barn, which was built around 1845 on the Bernhardt farm near Gold Hill, and the Gold Hill Jail. The Russell-Rufty Memorial Shelter houses the Historic Foundation Office, a conference room, and meeting hall.

Thyatira Presbyterian Church
Thyatira Heritage Museum
The Thyatira Presbyterian Church Museum preserves and maintains the history of Thyatira Presbyterian Church and the surrounding community of Millbridge. Artifacts on display included the table from the first medical operation performed in Rowan County, items from a local blacksmith shop, the church's original steeple, and prints of King George and Queen Charlotte that hung in a local tavern during the Revolutionary War, among other items. The museum is open by appointment.

Catawba College
Corriher-Linn-Black Library
The Corriher-Linn-Black Library collects the archives of Catawba College and is also home to the archives of the Southern Chapter of the Evangelical and Reformed Church Historical Society, United Church of Christ. Most of the information in the archives is about the churches in North Carolina that were former Reformed Church in the United States/Evangelical and Reformed Churches.

Livingstone College
Heritage Hall Archives and Research Center
Heritage Hall is the repository for the records of Livingstone College, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and some papers from Hood Theological Seminary. The building was donated to Livingstone College by Bishop William Jacob Walls and his wife and was dedicated in 1969. It contains special documents, books, newspapers, and artifacts depicting some of the struggles of Black Americans, the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the history of Livingstone College.

Horizons Unlimited
Horizons Unlimited is a supplementary education center owned and operated by Rowan-Salisbury Schools and Davie County. Horizons Unlimited offers over 50 different programs emphasizing hands-on educational activities in science, history, and health. The facility consists of nearly 20,000 square feet of exhibit and classroom space, including a planetarium, a large touch tank, aquariums, a Native American museum, and a health museum. The grounds include 32 acres of natural wetlands preserve and the 1842 Setzer School, a one-room log schoolhouse.

National Sportscasters and Sportwriters Hall of Fame
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and Hall of Fame is the only organization dedicated to the crafts of sportscasting and sportswriting in the United States. Our more than 700 members are the most accomplished and talented sports media in the industry covering professional, collegiate and amateur sports both in the U.S. and abroad. More than 80 sports media legends have been inducted into the organization's Hall of Fame, which began in 1962 with the induction of Grantland Rice.

Historic Salisbury Foundation, Inc.
Grimes Mill
This Second Empire style Victorian roller mill, built in 1896, contains five floors of early mill machinery. Historic Salisbury Foundation purchased this unique property in late 1982. It is open for tours by appointment only.

Historic Salisbury Foundation, Inc.
1908 Salisbury Railway Passenger Station
The Salisbury Railroad Passenger Station was built in 1908 from a design by Frank P. Milburn in the Spanish Mission style. The Station served as one of the Piedmont's gateways to the world and was a mainline station between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, GA. At least 44 passenger trains passed through daily in 1911. As the automobile surged, train travel declined and the Salisbury station was ignored. It lay vacant for years, a victim of weather and neglect. In 1976 it was recognized in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1984 Historic Salisbury Foundation, Inc. took on the challenge to resurrect this unique landmark and purchased it from the NC Railroad Company and Norfolk Southern Company. It was done in 3 phases. The first phase in 1990 opened four office spaces. The second phase in 1993 opened the Grand Waiting Room with its special events spaces. And, in 1996, the Foundation completed the third phase of work for additional office space. The Station is open for tours by appointment.

Kerr Mill at Sloan Park

The Historical Society of South Rowan, Inc.
China Grove Roller Mill and Museum
For one hundred years, the China Grove Roller Mill was in continuous operation and was a meeting place for the agricultural community surrounding the town of China Grove. Farmers came to sell their grain for flour and corn meal production, to purchase farm necessities and to socialize. When visitors enter the roller mill, they are transported to an earlier time, where wheat and corn were turned into flour and corn meal. The story of the community and the roller mill are told in pictorial exhibits, artifact displays and video.