The old house has been sitting on the corner of Nixonton and Salem Church Road in Weeksville for as long as anyone can remember. These days only a shell of its historical past survives. But it is a shell that has revealed a very storied past that harkens back to the days when North Carolina was a wild British colony, it turns out.

The Greek Revival façade seems to be falling apart and the house barely looks like it's worth saving. Turns out, however, that it's well worth saving and Harvey Harrison is the man for the job.

The Woodley House, as it's known these days, sits tucked away behind a small grove of trees, across the road from the Weeksville Grocery. It had been in the Berry family since 1964, according to Marjorie Berry, before Harrison purchased it.

Berry says her family purchased the house from Scott and Halstead, produce dealers, at an auction. The house came with a tract of land the farming family had decided to add to their inventory of fields.

The house was habitable back then. It was used as a rental up through the 1990s.

The old house was thought to date back to the 1820s. That would make it historical enough, putting it in the much-lauded antebellum architectural period. The Greek Revival façade told that much of the story.

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(The Daily Advance, 11/12/2012)