Nancy Jones House

The Nancy Jones house was built on a 2,000-acre (810 ha) estate on Chapel Hill Road in 1803 by Nathaniel Jones, father in law of Nancy Ann Jones. Henry and Nancy Jones started a stagecoach stop and a tavern out of the home. Henry left running the tavern and stagecoach stop to Nancy while he tended to the farms on the property. When Henry died in 1841, Nancy Ann Jones continued to run the tavern/stagecoach stop for another 30 years. The house was the supposedly the setting of one of North Carolina's legends. In 1838, it is said that Governor Dudley and South Carolina Governor Butler consumed Brandy and said "Its a damned long time between drinks". Other notable people have visited the house such as President James K. Polk with William Alexander Graham while on their way to a speech at University of North Carolina in 1847. In 1865, Union General William T. Sherman bivouacked on the property with his soldiers for a brief amount of time.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[1] In 2019, the town of Cary bought the Nancy Jones House from Sri Venkateswara Temple of North Carolina, a Hindu Temple, for $100,000 in order to move it off their property.[3]

Nancy Jones House is a two-story, single pile, Federal style frame dwelling. It sits on a brick foundation and has two exterior end chimneys. It has a hall and parlor plan and features a double front portico topped by a broken pediment gable roof.[4]