Historic Rural Hill

Historic Rural Hill. Established 1765. Rural Hill was settled in 1765 by John and Violet Davidson after John, a blacksmith, purchased 250 acres of land from his father-in-law. Their first home on their new property was a simple two-room log cabin. Over the next twenty three years they added rooms and modifications as their ten children were born. Eventually the cabin would be known as "Rural Retreat.", Ten years later John would be a signer of the May 20th, 1775 Mecklenburg County Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution John was a Major in the Mecklenburg County Militia, taking part in several skirmishes. After the war Major John made his fortune by investing in the growing iron industry in nearby Lincoln County, building the Rural Hill mansion house in 1788., Major John gave a portion of his land to his oldest son Robert in 1800. Robert and his wife Peggy lived there in a grand plantation home they called Holly Bend. Robert was a very successful farmer and planter and was among the richest men in the county when he died. Peggy outlived him by 11 years, dying during the Civil War. Holly Bend still stands in the Cowan's Ford Nature Preserve that borders Rural Hill to the west., Major John's second son Jacky married Sarah Brevard in 1800. They appear to have lived the first two decades of their marriage at Rural Retreat. In 1823 Major John, now widowed, "broke up housekeeping" and moved into Beaver Dam, the near-by home of his daughter and son-in-law. At that time Jacky "went to housekeeping" and moved into the Rural Hill mansion., Jacky's son Adam Brevard Davidson, who was called Brevard, married Mary Laura Springs (of Fort Mill) in 1836. They moved into Rural Hill with Jacky and Sarah. A year later Jacky and Sarah moved back to Rural Retreat where they lived out their lives., Brevard's son John Springs Davidson and his family were the last inhabitants of the Rural Hill Mansion, which burned in 1886. The Rural Retreat cabin burned in 1898. The family then moved into the former kitchen house of the mansion, modifying and expanding it to fit the family's needs. Major John's great-great-grandson Jo Graham Davidson raised his family in this much improved space, now where Rural Hill's Office is located. His four children, none of whom married, were Jo Graham, Jr., John Springs, Elizabeth, and May. They were the last Davidsons to live on the property., The Davidsons sold the property to Mecklenburg County in 1992. They have since died, leaving no heirs. Although the last branch of the family to live at Rural Hill has died out, Major John, through his many children, grandchildren, and subsequent generations, left thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of descendants., Today Rural Hill is a 265 acre non profit historic site serving thousands annually as a field trip destination, working farm, and a site for public festivals, weddings, and private events. Rural Hill's low-cost field trips are presented to hundreds of students annualy and detail the early years of Major John Davidson and his family's life in the Carolina backcountry.