Ayr Mount, Hillsborough, NC; some hidden features and obscure history
Trading Path Association's October 2011 First Sunday Hike will be at Ayr Mount , a private historic site east of Hillsborough, NC. "Ayr Mount" is a nineteenth century brick structure preserved and restored with a goodly part of the grounds immediate to the structure protected as well. We are interested in Ayr Mount, not because of the house or its plantation airs, but rather because before it was Ayr Mount it had another, and from our perspective, far more interesting history altogether. We'll look at some of the remnants of that earlier history during our hike. The site of Ayr Mount had a lengthy, though obscure, history when Ayr Mount came into being. This isn't surprising given the quality of the site. It sits on a well drained knoll, above a river and alongside a good mill stream. It also sat astride one of the primary road channels East of what became Hillsborough. It was a potentially valuable holding for whomever owned it. The earliest actual rec