The Mordecai House (also called the Mordecai Plantation or Mordecai Mansion), built in 1785, is a registered historical landmark and museum in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...
that is the centerpiece of Mordecai Historic Park, adjacent to the
Historic Oakwood
Historic Oakwood is a neighborhood in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, on the National Register of Historic Places, and known for its Historic Oakwood Cemetery, its many Victorian houses and its location close to the Mordecai P ...
neighborhood. It is the oldest residence in Raleigh on its original foundation. In addition to the house, the Park includes the birthplace and childhood home of President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
, the Ellen Mordecai Garden, the Badger-Iredell Law Office, Allen Kitchen and
St. Mark's Chapel, a popular site for weddings. It is located in the
Mordecai Place Historic District.
The oldest portion of the house was built by
Joel Lane
Joel Lane (1963 – 26 November 2013) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, critic and anthology editor.Chris Morgan, "Lane, Joel", in David Pringle, ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers'' (London: St. James Press, 1998 ...
for his son, Henry. At one time, the
plantation house
A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...
was the center of a
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...
, one of the largest in
Wake County
Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...
. Lane is considered a founder of Raleigh, as 1,000 acres was sold from his
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...
as the site of the city.
The house was named after Moses Mordecai, whose first wife, Margaret Lane, had inherited it from her father Henry. After she died, Mordecai married her sister Ann Lane. In 1824, Mordecai hired
William Nichols, State Architect at the time, to enlarge the house. The addition was considered a significant work of Nichols, who had also been responsible for remodeling the original building containing the
State House. With the addition of the four new rooms in 1826, the Mordecai house was transformed into a
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
mansion.
The Mordecai family, descended from immigrant grandfather Moses Mordecai (1707–1781) of
Bonn, Germany
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...
, became one of the original three hundred
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
families in the United States and one of the few of
Ashkenazic Jewish descent. The family members were prominent in local and state affairs.
Jacob Mordecai
Jacob Mordecai (April 11, 1762 – September 4, 1838) was an educational pioneer in Colonial America, having established the ''Warrenton Female Seminary'', also known as ''Mordecai’s Female Academy''.
Biography
Mordecai was the son of Moses, ...
, Moses' father, founded a girls' school in
Warrenton, North Carolina
Warrenton is a town in, and the county seat of, Warren County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 862 at the 2010 census. Warrenton, now served by U.S. routes 158 and 401, was founded in 1779. It became one of the wealthiest towns ...
. A prominent lawyer, Moses Mordecai was a member of the 1805 Court of Conference. With his first wife Margaret, Moses Mordecai had two sons, Henry and Jacob, and one daughter, Ellen. He and his second wife Ann had a daughter, named Margaret after his late wife, Ann's sister. Henry Mordecai became a prosperous
planter at Mordecai House and was elected to the
State Legislature
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
. The family were also prominent slave owners, and many slaves, both those who worked in the home and those who worked the fields, lived on the former plantation. Th
State Historic sitenarrates the stories of both the free and enslaved residents, including moving testimonials from three former slaves . His daughter Margaret Mordecai married and inherited the mansion; her descendants owned and occupied Mordecai House until 1967.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Mordecai family sold off land, which was subdivided for the continuing expansion of Raleigh. In 1867, George Washington Mordecai donated land east of the city to establish a
Confederate cemetery; he donated another plot for Wake County's first Hebrew Cemetery. (The adjacent
Oakwood Cemetery, chartered in 1869, became the namesake of the large suburb that developed in the adjoining wooded land, which was earlier known as Mordecai Grove. In 1974, Oakwood became the first neighborhood in Raleigh to be listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.)
Mordecai descendants owned the mansion property until 1967, when the house and its surrounding block were put on the market. Local
preservationists Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation u ...
protested and the city purchased the property, turning it over to the Raleigh Historic Sites Commission to supervise and develop as a historic park. The commission was able to obtain many original Mordecai furnishings, as well as preserve the family papers and library. Mordecai Historic Park is now managed by the City of Raleigh's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department. The Mordecai House is a designated Raleigh Historic Landmark.
See also
*
List of Registered Historic Places in North Carolina
*
List of reportedly haunted places in N.C.
*
List of the oldest buildings in North Carolina
This article attempts to list the oldest extant buildings surviving in the state of North Carolina in the United States of America, including the oldest houses in North Carolina and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and ba ...
References
External links
Mordecai Historic Park website*
ttp://www.mordecai.org/ Mordecai Community websitebr>
The Ghost Guild website
{{Raleigh, North Carolina , state=autocollapse
Ashkenazi Jewish culture in the United States
German-American culture in North Carolina
German-Jewish culture in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Raleigh, North Carolina
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Museums in Raleigh, North Carolina
Houses in Raleigh, North Carolina
Historic house museums in North Carolina
Jews and Judaism in North Carolina
Judaism and slavery
Lane family residences
Mordecai family
Presidential homes in the United States
Plantation houses in North Carolina
Presidential museums in the United States
Biographical museums in North Carolina
Reportedly haunted locations in Raleigh, North Carolina
Houses completed in 1785
William Nichols buildings
Andrew Johnson
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in North Carolina
1785 establishments in North Carolina