Jethro Brown's Store
- Western Caswell County
- Developed Around Brown's Store
- Now Locust Hill Township
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Jethro Brown's Store
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Locust Hill, in the western part of Caswell County between Country Line Creek and Hostler Branch, was grouped in 1940 in the larger Yanceyville Community, but it has long had an identity of its own. It developed around Jethro Brown's Store (owned by Herbert and Elizabeth White in 1977)1 and the post office established in 1804 was called Brown's Store. In 1810, Bartlett Yancey noted that a society had been organized there for "intellectual improvement." Rose Hill, the home of Senator Bedford Brown, is there. In 1846 the names of the post office and the community were changed to Locust Hill for the locust trees that flourished in the vicinity. Locust Hill is on a long ridge that extends southwest from Yanceyville and in an area of large farms many of which have large, old, and attractive homes. There are several churches in the community (Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist). Home demonstration and women's clubs have flourished in the Locust Hill area for many years. Source: When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777-1977, William S. Powell (1977) at 322.
1Brown's Store was built around 1780. It is a small one and one-half story frame structure constructed for the Jethro Brown family as a country store, stagecoach stop, and post office. It remains standing and retains much of its original federal trim, including an exterior end stone-and-brick chimney, full fieldstone basement, some beaded siding, two front batten doors, molded surrounds, and some original hardware. It is believed to be one of the oldest commercial structures in North Carolina. Source: An Inventory of Historic Architecture: Caswell County, North Carolina, Ruth Little-Stokes (1979) at 92.
