Dalkeith

Dalkeith is located in the Fishing Creek area of southeast Warren County, North Carolina where the locally dominant Alston family has held property in the area since the late 1700’s. The eldest daughter Caroline Alston received a tract of 535 acres. In 1819 Caroline married Doctor Solomon Williams and sold her tract on Dec. 15, 1824 for $3,050 to Thomas Bragg. Bragg is the father of Braxton Bragg

and the building contractor for the 1835-1840 North Carolina State Capitol building. On Aug. 23, 1825, after holding the property for only eight months, Bragg sold the tract for $3,750 to John Burges of Halifax County. Burges married Martha Jane Alston of Warren County in 1824. They built a small house to live in while the larger house was being built by Bragg. It was Burges who named the plantation, “Dalkeith.”

Dalkeith (Scottish Gaelic: Dail Cheith) means, “meadow by the woods.” The name may refer to the Scottish castle and village with the same name south east of Edinburgh. In 1825 the house was completed. It is a two-story temple-form frame dwelling of the late Federal style. It has a gable roof and brick basement. The front facade features a pedimented entrance porch, with four fluted Doric order columns. Burges lists Dalkeith for sale in 1852 and again in 1858 but it did not sell. By 1860 Burges was producing 20,000 pounds of tobacco. In 1864 Burgess was finally able to sell the property to Asa Biggs for five bonds of $1,000 each, bonds issued by the State of North Carolina before 1860. representative, a U.S. senator, as well as a federal judge. During the war, he took refuge at Dalkeith where he wrote his autobiography in 1865. In 1871 Biggs moved to Texas and sold the property to Henrietta Daugherty of New Jersey for $4,039. In 1884 Daugherty sold the property to George and Rebecca Davis for $4,000. In 1909 Davis bequeathed the property to his daughter Mattie Davis Hunter, who lived there after her marriage to Joseph Hunter in 1896 and Dalkeith has remained with the Hunter family for over 100 years. In 1948 the house was connected with electricity, before that time light was provided by burning kerosene lamps. Dalkeith is still a private residence and is currently undergoing restoration. The house was put up on jacks so that the foundation could be restored and new siding has been added secure the house from weathering.