"When the Hoyle Historic Homestead opens its doors to the public on Saturday for its annual open house celebration, it will give residents the opportunity to check out a piece of Gaston County history.

“It’s a survivor,” says board member and descendant, Wilma Ratchford Craig, of the house which is at least 217 years old and is the only remaining home of that time period in the county. “It has remained standing all these years.”

The site, on the Dallas-Stanley Highway — located between the two towns — was purchased by Hoyle Historic Homestead Inc. in 1991 for the purpose of restoring the property to its original style and character. In 1993 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site was also the site of Hoylsville, the first federal post office in present day Gaston County.

Nobody knows the exact year the Hoyle Historic Homestead was built. Best calculations indicate it was sometime before 1794 when the country was in infancy."

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Gaston Gazette (9/7/2011)