Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill was the home of North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Richmond Mumford Pearson (1805-1878) and his family. Pearson conducted a law school from 1848 to 1878 in a small building located west of this house. Students lived in log cabins near Pearson's home, or boarded with area families, some across the Yadkin River at Rockford. Pearson reportedly taught a thousand students., Pearson, who served as chief justice from 1858 to 1787, opposed secession. During the Civil War, he championed individual rights over the power of the Confederate government. When Confederate conscription laws were enacted and med were arrested for avoiding the draft or deserting the army, Pearson (who believed the laws were unconstitutional) issued writs of habeas corpus to release several men from the county jail. The writs required a prison official to bring the prisoner into court to determine whether he had been imprisoned unlawfully and, if the judge ruled, to free him. The Confederate government denounced Pearson's stand on conscription and North Carolina Gov. Zebulon B. Vance continued to use the Home Guard to pursue and arrest deserters. Pearson persisted, however, declaring "Let justice be done though the heavens fall.", During Reconstruction, Pearson presided at the impeachment trial of Gov. William W. Holden. Pearson was the only high-ranking state official to hold office during both the Civil War and Reconstruction and to die while still in office. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh., [Inset:] , North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Richmond M. Pearson constructed this house about 1860. It combines elements of the Greek Revival and Tuscan architectural styles and has simple Greek-Revival-style interior woodwork. The Historic Richmond Hill Law School Commission restored the house.