The following information is from the Rutherford County Historical Society, Pillars of the Past, A Tour of the Washburn Historic Distric, Saturday, September 26, 2009. Photos are courtesy of Jeanne Hicks.

The Washburn General Store

The Washburn family operates what is possibly the oldest continually run, family owned business in North Carolina. The general store, started by the family in 1836, is housed today in a brick building completed in 1925. Period architectural trim and fixtures can be found throughout the building. The business has been featured in Our State magazine and on UNC-TV.

The Washburn Barn and Stables

This two-level agrarian support building was completed in 1915. It was recently restored and is still used by the Washburn family. The lower floor contains a series of stables and the ground floor is used for hay and feed storage. There are many interesting stories associated with this original farm building.

The E N Washburn House

The 14-room Colonial Revival style brick home, which has seven bedrooms, nine fireplaces and two great halls, is the largest historic home in Rutherford County. It was built for cotton broker and merchant E N Washburn and his wife Grace. The most notable exterior architectural features are the first and second story wrap-around porches, grand columns, dormers and widow's walk.

Inside, the parlor showcases the most elaborate mantel in the home, with scrolled colums, beveled mirrors and molded shelf. Dark oak architectural moldings and paneled trim accent most of the rooms. An impressive staircase, ornamented with heavy oak newels and turned balusters, rises in two levels from a side hall to the second floor. The library features built-in bookcases. Rich oak flooring can be found throughout. The home is owned today by Edward and Catherine Washburn, who also own the Washburn General Store and nearby properties.

The Salem United Methodist Church

This classic revival church building was erected in 1929 on land donated by E N Washburn, who also donated $5,000 toward construction of the building. This church was erected with materials salvaged from an earlier framed church building that had served the congregation shince the 1880s. The stained glass windows that ornament the sanctuary were placed in the church as memorials. Other original furnishings and ecclesiastical objects from the church's past are still used today.

The Ben F W Andrews House

Few historic homes in Rutherford County sit as majestically in the landscape as the Colonial Revival style home built for the Ben F W Andrews family along Roberson Creek. The house was completed in 1908. A pedimented, two-tier, center-bay porch is the home's most dramatic feature. It is inset with a single-story porch that runs along the front facade and the full length of the east and west elevations. The wooden columns have molded terra cotta capitals. The main entrance door is ornamented with a stained glass transom and sidelights.

The interior of the home is dominated by a grand center hall with a vaulted ceiling sheathed in bead-board. An elaborate multi-tiered staircase fashioned from golden oak rises along the west wall. All of the ten principal rooms have period moldings, mantles and other trim. The home remains in the Andrews family and is owned today by Mr and Mrs James Milton Andrews Jr and their three daughters, Bonnie Fisher, Carol Winesette and Gail Tarlton.

The Carson-Andrews Mill

The mill, erected between 1830 and 1835 by James Withrow Carson and purchased by the Andrews family in a series of conveyances between 1878 and 1886, is a two-story-with-attic heavy timber frame grist mill which stands on a high mortared stone foundation. The structure is the oldest known frame grist mill in North Carolina west of the Yadkin River. The cupola was added by the Andrews family in the 1880s.

The Miller's House

A substantial home that once served as the residence of the miller who operated the grist mill along Roberson Creek still stands on the hill above the mill. Standing on stone piers, the two-story house, with handsom brick chimneys and a single-story service wing at the rear, is typical of the finer homes built in Rutherford County during the decades following the Civil War. Ghost marks of the original hip-roof shed porch are visible on the front facade.

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