The last owner of the land at Hayes was John Rieusset, who purchased the plantation in 1757 from descendants of Frederick Jones, viz., Thomas his son and Harding Jones his grandson. It was John Rieusset that gave the plantation the name it bears today.

The second owner of the land at Hayes was Frederick Jones, who purchased the tract from Edward Smithwick around 1708. Jones first arrived in this country in 1702 with his brother Thomas and both initially settled in James City County, Virginia, near Williamsburg. Frederick Jones’ plantation there was known as Tutter’s Neck.

The first owner of land that later became part of what is now known as Hayes plantation was Edward Smithwick, who obtained a Proprietary land grant dated January 1, 1694 for three hundred and eighty acres of land there. However, Smithwick is probably best known today for the fact that at the first vestry meeting of St. Paul’s Parish held on December 12, 1701, he offered an acre of land out of this tract as the site for the parish’s first church or chapel.

In 1765 Samuel Johnston purchased the land that is called Hayes plantation today. However, there were previous important owners of the land there. This 4-part series of papers will introduce these 18th century owners and their importance to early Edenton. Part 4 will also reveal how the plantation came to be called by the name it still bears today, “Hayes.”

William Nichols, Sr. (c. 1777 – December 12, 1853) was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States around the turn of the 19th century and became most famous for his early Neoclassical-style buildings in the American South. He designed statehouses for North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi and much more. While a great deal is known about his life in this country, little has heretofore been published about him and his family before he left England. This prese

"Shortly before the American Revolution, no more than two percent of the population of North Carolina lived in the few small towns of the province. However, towns and urban areas provided greater opportunities for women maintaining independent households. It is known that three women in Edenton kept taverns for a dozen years each during the eighteenth century: Dorothy Sherwin, Mary Wallace, and Elizabeth Wallace. This is Elizabeth Wallace’s story..." Read the full article her

"It is well known that the present dwelling house at Hayes plantation was designed and its construction overseen by the English architect, William Nichols. The house was built for James Cathcart Johnston on land he had acquired from his father, Samuel Johnston, by deed of gift dated December 29, 1814. Although Samuel Johnston lived at Hayes from time to time after he purchased the property in 1765, he did not reside there after 1793, when he and his family permanently moved t

"The first known member of the Johnston line of Hayes Plantation in Edenton, North Carolina, was the Rev. Samuel Johnston, who was born in 1655. He earned his M.A. at Edinburgh University in 1677. Records indicate that in 1690, he was admitted to the Presbytery of Southdean, Roxburgh, in the Borders area of Scotland. While living there, he and his wife, Isobel Hall, had two sons baptized: Gabriel Johnston (Bapt. in 1698) and Samuel Johnston (Bapt. Mar. 1699). .." Read the ful