Into the LIGHT: Louisburg Road Trip

Friday, April 17, 2020

Louisburg Road Trip — and a Birthday!

That's me, socially distanced, as I talked with the current occupants of the William R. King house, in Louisburg.

Today, I took a quick trip down to Louisburg, NC to check on my family's property. While there, I took my usual ride through the northern part of town, where most of the beautiful historic homes are. For the first time, I met the owner (not pictured) and current inhabitants of the KING family home, which was the original property of William R. King, the one-time enslaver of my great-grandmother, Precilla Shaw Yarborough. The house, which apparently has some paranormal activity going on, will be featured on an upcoming episode of the show, “Ghost Nation,” which airs on The Travel Channel. It turns out that the young lady pictured has been doing research on the King family, so we will be collaborating in the future! (To read about my great-grandmother's connection to the King family, click here.)

The next two pictures show my ancestral property, which was built by my grandfather, Calvin Yarborough, Jr. and his brother Samuel, back in 1911, and a side shot of St. Paul’s United Presbyterian Church, founded in the 1870s, just across the street. My great-grandfather, Calvin Yarborough, Sr., was one of the church’s founding trustees.

Though she died in 1977, this will forever and always be "my grandma's house" to me. :)

St. Paul's United Presbyterian Church, or, as it was previously known,
"The Colored Presbyterian Church"

I was not really in the mood to take the almost 3-hour ride to Louisburg, today, but something was pulling and tugging at me to go. Once I started on my way, I realized what it was. Today would have been the 100th birthday of my sweet aunt, Susie Yarborough Hawkins, my father's sister. She was the last to live in the family home (shown above), until her death in 2013, at 93 years old.