James Rowe House and Store (c. 1880)

This is a private residence. Please do not enter the property.

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Across the street from the Cheese House is a quaint white cottage. Underneath the white siding is a log cabin built by James Rowe (c. 1880). The home's location on a main road entering town (Image 2-see house in background) made it a perfect spot for one of the original general stores in the area. The small, unpainted structure by the stream is that once-bustling store which also supplied apple trees to many of the area's apple orchards. Apples were part of many families' livelihood and today the NC Cooperative extension runs a "Heritage Apple" program which identifies and preserves rare apple varieties, even in the front yard of the Banner House Museum! They have actually have found a number of "lost" varieties on old homesteads in the county--quite a feat for agricultural heritage efforts. Step off the boardwalk and follow the dirt path over the small hill towards the red building in front of you, the Cheese House.