Cedar Grove Plantation, built in 1831 by James G. Torrance

Item — Box: 1 [F09.157.03.05]

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection consists of pen-and-wash drawings of Mecklenburg county, NC landmarks and historic sites that were created by artists Al Fincher, Gene Love and E. Springs and issued by the Mutual Savings and Loan Corporation of Charlotte in 1966. It contains drawings of such diverse sites as the Hezekiah Alexander "Rock House", The Mint Museum and the Kennedy building at UNC Charlotte.

Dates

Creation: 1966

Creator

From the Collection: Love, Gene M. (Person)
From the Collection: Springs, E. (Person)
From the Collection: Fincher, Al (Person)
From the Collection: Mutual Savings and Loan Association (Charlotte, N.C.) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

Built of brick made on Cedar Grove Plantation, the mansion is located three miles west of Huntersville on Gilead Road. It was built in 1831 by an early Mecklenburg merchant-planter, James G. Torrance. The brick walls are 22 inches thick at their base. The first-floor ceilings have with elaborate plaster moldings and are 13 feet high. There is a central spiral staircase with walnut bannisters and curved walnut rail rising to the third floor. The 10-room house has a windowed basement and a hallway on each floor. Stepped brick shoulders are capped by chimneys at each end of the house and flues inside the walls lead to the nine fireplaces. Tradition holds that the owner had 60 slaves working on his 2,200 acre plantation. He continued to operate the water-powered grist mill that his father, Hugh Torrance, had built. There was also a general merchandise store just east of the garden and cotton was taken as payment (at four cents a pound) to be sold in Charleston. Torrance's widow, Margaret Allison Torrrance, managed Cedar Grove after her husband's death in 1848, until their two sons grew to manhood. Both sons, John and Richard, fought for the Confederacy. Richard held on to Cedar Grove during the Reconstruction period and was a tax collector for Mecklenburg County.