What an eventful few months this has been as we continue working to save the Vincent Allen house! We are meeting fascinating people and so much hidden history is being uncovered! I am very close to sharing the story about Austin Allen, who is buried at the Watson Homeplace. When you read this story you will probably have to lift your jaw up. I have become obsessed with him and trying to uncover everything I can about him. Bill, Jeremy, Mark and I have all been like, “what in the world?!” Brief update about the Vincent Allen house will be at the end of this article.
The house I am showing you is the Eula Allen house, see up above for video of the exterior today. We believe she was daughter to Walter and Minnie Allen, who was brother to Vincent. I might end up being corrected by Bill on this one, but trust me, we have been scouring the internet and resources so much the past few weeks that all of the Allen’s are merging and becoming one. Seriously, Bill and I kept correcting each other today as we talked.
Mr. Amato told me about Eula and her house. He kept telling me about a huge old house tied to the Allen’s. We finally found it! Mr. Amato and his wife would visit Eula once or twice a week. Mr. Amato’s wife, Catherine, is an Allen descendant. He said Eula was 100 when she died. He was pretty close. She died in 1993 at the age of 102! I don’t believe she ever married and had no children. I know she had at least one sibling as her nephew looked after her when she was alive. I think he is elderly now, so could not keep up with the house. I do know where he lives and will be reaching out to him.
We believe the back portion of this house was the original and oldest portion, aside from the summer kitchen that was attached at some point. Not sure if the picture does it justice, but that is a massive chimney!
The interesting thing about the Allen houses is that they were all connected by an old road. From the Watson/Allen place, to Eula’s, to Captain Allen’s and then onto Vincent’s. We still have so much to uncover and sadly, it has been a challenge!
Let me give a brief Vincent Allen house update. The last roofer we had lined up, did not show. Quite a disappointment since we had 5-7 inches of rain in NC last week! So Bill and I were pleasantly surprised today that we didn’t have any new damage! You can watch that Facebook Live video here.
I am meeting on Wednesday at the Vincent Allen house with a lady from the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office! Their office actually did a survey write up of the Vincent Allen house in 1975! She wants to see it in person and to see exactly what we are dealing with. Hopefully this will lead to something. Fingers crossed for me!!!
I happened to hear from the current owner of the Watson House tonight! You can watch the interior video of the Watson House here. So glad he called me as Bill and I were out there at the cemetery today. He is in town from Maryland and wants to meet with me out there. He has no relation to the Watson’s or the Allen’s, but loves history and wants to learn more. He said my excitement over the history of that area was intriguing to him. So I am meeting him on Wednesday also! And he randomly mentioned to me that they were cutting grass today on the property with several tractors and uncovered a log cabin. My heartrate sped up immediately!!!! We are looking for something to tie Austin Allen to this property. A log cabin would do it. I can’t wait to share that story with you all!!!
Thanks for reading and supporting us! It’s fun to write about this history when we know people are interested in it! Your comments and shares on social media are all so helpful. We need the right person to see what we are doing to help us save this house and all of the history this area has. So thank you!!!
