Ashe Plantation on the Fear River

By Jeannette Holland Austin

John Baptiste Ashe owned a large plantation on the northwest branch of the Cape Fear River in Bath County, North Carolina which he called "Ashwood". Also included was another plantation called "Turkey Point" which was located on the north side of the river; a plantation called "Stumpy Island" on Stumpy Sound, and 2,560 acres on Rockfish Creek. Ashe was doubtless the wealthiest landowner in the district. His children were well educated in Latin and Greek and sent to the best schools in Virginia to learn French. At the time of his death, his wife had already predeceased her so he ordered that a brick vault be built at Grovely and his wife's body taken up out of the earth to lie there. When Bartram's Travels was written "Ashwood" still stood because the home was eloquently described in that book and the Bartram family owned it and it later fell into Bladen County. To see more information on the Ashe family, go to North Carolina Pioneers

Index to North Carolinians in the American Pioneer Series by Jeannette Holland Austin