White Flint Bill
Sergeant
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2017
- Location
- Southern Virginia
Nowadays Warrenton is a sleepy little town in eastern North Carolina. But in the two decades prior to the Civil War it was one of the wealthiest towns in the state, thanks to the prosperous tobacco and cotton plantations that surrounded it.
Thomas Bragg was a contractor in antebellum Warrenton. Although not among the local aristocracy, three of his six children went on to achieve significant prominence. John Bragg was a congressman and Alabama Supreme Court justice. Thomas Bragg, Jr. was governor of North Carolina, a U.S. Senator and Attorney General of the C.S.A. Braxton Bragg graduated from West Point, won fame in the Mexican War and, of course, went on to become a Confederate general.
Warrenton has an exceptional historic district with many beautifully preserved homes. I expected to find the Bragg residence, built by Thomas Bragg and the place where his famous children were born, to be one of the town's gems. I was surprised by what I found instead.
The home is evidently privately owned, but unoccupied and badly deteriorating. Obviously it has been altered over the years, but it surely deserving of a better fate.
I peeked into a window and got this shot of the interior foyer.
Restoring the place would be quite a task at this point, but I can't help hoping someone gives it a try.
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