"Colonial Commerce Once Thrived Through Area Where Power Plant And Its Lake Will Be Built"
The Bee (Danville, Virginia), 13 April 1963
Roxboro, N.C. -- A region in Person and Caswell counties, favored by commerce in this nation's early history, is again emerging as one of prominence.
Hyco River, which wends its way through the two counties to the Dan, is the scene of one of the locale's biggest economic moments, construction by Carolina Power & Light Company of a huge steam-electric generating plant and 3,750-acre cooling lake. The project eventually will cost some $325,000,000 and add 3,800,000 horsepower to the state's power supply.
The proposed plant will be situated northwest of the little community of Ceffo in Person County, an area referred to in the early days as the "Big Woods." The dam will be to the northeast, near historic McGhee's Mill where waters of the Hyco ground corn and wheat long before the Civil War.
Water will rise behind the earth-filled dam to form a lake 10 miles long. It will be used to cool condensers at the coal-fired plant, the first unit of which will go into service in 1966.
In Colonial days, McGee's Mill (formerly spelled McGehee's) was a way station on a stage line that angled northeast to Virginia and westward through Semora to Hillsboro and beyond.
The remains of the old McGehee home, built about 1765, stand overlooking this route. Across the road, in a tangle of briars, is the family graveyard, resting place for pioneer Mumford McGehee, his wife Sarah, their daughter, Elizabeth and her husband, Revolutionary War Captain Robert Moore.
A few miles west of the McGehee homestead, at Semora, stands perhaps the only log post office in North Carolina. Mrs. Caroline McAden Winstead has been postmaster since 1942.
Mrs. Winstead is a fifth generation descendant of the Rev. Hugh McAden, who established churches throughout the Cape Fear region and died here in 1781. He was buried at nearby Red House Church. His epitaph reads "Rev. Hugh McAden, Pioneer Missionary to North Carolina in 1755, the first Presbyterian missionary to settle in the State. Pastor in Duplin County, 1757-1769, pastor of Red House and other churches from 1763 to the day of his death, January 20, 1781."
British General Cornwallis camped at the site of Red House Church just three days after McAden's death. History relates that Cornwallis ordered his troops to dig up and mutilate remains of the missionary and then burn the church before departing.
The first Red House Church was erected in 1750, was rebuilt in 1806, and the present handsome structure was erected in 1913.
James M. McAden, great-grandson of the missionary, was Semora's first postmaster. The office was established in 1877 and the community given the name of McAden's young daughter, Semora. Mrs. Winstead's father, John Henry McAden, was also postmaster, as was his widow following his death.
Semora was the crossroads of two major stage lines, one running east and west and the other rom Danville south to Milton, Semora and on to Roxboro.
Near North Hyco creek stands one of the most imposing antebellum homes in this part of the state, the Phifer home owned by Mrs. S. H. Scheib of Richmond, Va., granddaughter of Mumford McGehee. Built about 1848, it has much the same appearance it had when Mrs. Sheib moved away several years ago. Its outbuildings include a cookhouse with giant fireplaces, carriage house and privy complete with cupola and shutters. A circular driveway features an ancient stone mounting step erected for the convenience of passengers alighting from carriages.
One arm of the CP&L cooling lake will come within a mile or so of the palatial home.
Such homes are monuments to the locale's early glory. The region was one of the state's top producers of tobacco.
So close is it to the Virginia line, in fact, that the leaf grown here was commonly known as "Virginia bright leaf." Hogsheads of the tobacco were trundled along plank roads to Virginia markets.
In 1852 bright yellow or lemon leaf tobacco was grown for the first time in the United States in Caswell County by Eli and Elisha Slade. Milton was the only tobacco market to make appreciable use of the auction system in the early days of marketing.
Arrival of the railroad in 1890, after a long and discouraging effort by Roxboro pioneer J. A. Long, is mentioned in the same breath with the CP&L project for sheer impact on the region's economic progress.
Person County traces its origin to 1741 and its name to General Thomas Person, delegate to the General Assembly in 1764.
Among other notables, Person produced a North Carolina governor, W. W. Kitchin, who was inaugurated in 1909. Archibald D. Murphy [Murphey], "father of North Carolina public school education," was reared near Semora in Caswell County. R. L. Harris of Roxboro was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1940.
Against this historic backdrop, Person County of today is astir with industrial growth. Industrial expansion in the Roxboro region has been notably rapid. This condition, plus increasing power loads in other regions served by CP&L along the Carolina-Virginia border, and economical coal freight rates prompted CP&L to choose this historic site for what will be its largest steam-electric generating facility.
The first unit of 435,000 horsepower will cost approximately $40 million. Other units will be added to boost total capacity to 3,800,000 horsepower and the ultimate cost to $325,000,000.
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Mentioned
North Carolina
Person County
Caswell County
Hyco River [Creek]
Dan River
Carolina Power & Light Company
Ceffo
McGehee's Mill
Virginia
Semora
Hillsborough
Mumford McGehee
Sarah McGehee
Elizabeth McGehee
Revolutionary War Captain Robert Moore
Semora Log Post Office
Caroline McAden Winstead
Reverend Hugh McAden
Red House Presbyterian Church
British General Cornwallis
James M. McAden
John Henry McAden
Milton
Danville
Roxboro
North Hyco Creek
Phifer Home
Mrs. S. H. Sheib
Mumford McGehee
Bright Leaf Tobacco
Eli Slade
Elisha Slade
J. A. Long
Thomas Person
W. W. Kitchin
Archibald D. Murphey
R. L. Harris
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