Swan Ponds

In 1777, Waightstill Avery, North Carolina’s first attorney general, purchased a 12,000 acre track of land known as Swan Ponds off of “Hunting John” McDowell. Here he established a permanent residence that has since been passed down to Avery’s descendants today, excluding a short tenure it was sold in auction to Judge P.A. Warlick. Following Waightstill Avery’s death, he left the property to his son, Issac Thomas Avery, who rebuilt the original house in 1848, which is the structure that still remains to this day. Issac Thomas Avery had been in charge of running the plantation since he was 16 in 1801. Issac Thomas Avery’s wife, Harriet Eloise Erwin, also came from a wealthy family and grew up on the Belvidere Plantation in North Carolina.

From when Waightstill Avery initially purchased Swan Ponds to the end of the Civil War in 1865, it is estimated that over 100 enslaved people lived and worked at Swan Ponds. In a family account from 1912, Martha Avery Pfifer, who would have been Waightstill Avery’s great-granddaughter, claims that “Everything went like clockwork on the plantation, yet our slaves were never overworked. Each family had its own cabin, garden, fruit trees, and chickens;” None of the homes of the enslaved people remain on the property today, but those who passed away while enslaved at Swan Ponds remain buried in unmarked graves near the Avery Family Cemetery.

Throughout the years, Swan Ponds has been passed down through generations. The land has also been divided out, as the current home only sits on 77 acres of farm land, compared to the 12,000 Waightstill Avery initially purchased. There are four current owners of the property: Jimmy Furr, Mary Lou Avery Furr, Lydia Furr Daniel, and Kathryn Furr Patten. Recently, the owners have entered into a historic preservation and conservation agreement to legally protect the site. This agreement now protects the property from being developed or touched further.

Avery, Isaac Thomas. “Avery, Isaac Thomas.” NCpedia. State Library of North Carolina, 1979. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/avery-isaac-thomas. 

Avery, Issac Thomas. “Avery, Waightstill.” NCpedia. State Library of North Carolina, 1979. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/avery-waightstill. 

Colton, Elizabeth Avery. “Against an Unfair Generalization .” The Farmer and Mechanic. March 5, 1912. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=26351760&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjU3NDg3NTkyLCJpYXQiOjE2MjA1MDcxMDEsImV4cCI6MTYyMDU5MzUwMX0.CeGg5oYeBvInHXXqBgqnvZVHQrNMhxVJDWvmiBfoang. 

Elder, Renee. “Swan Ponds Historic House and Land Gains Protection from Future Development.” The News Herald, January 19, 2010. https://morganton.com/news/swan-ponds-historic-house-and-land-gains-protection-from-future-development/article_d5ce44cd-1c5c-58d6-9b66-010ee82ff5ad.html. 

Jones, H. G. “National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form - Swan Ponds.” Raleigh: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 1973. 

“List of People/Families Enslaved by the Avery Family of Morganton, NC.” Audio blog. Tangled Histories (blog), November 30, 2016. https://tangledhistories.org/slavery/list-of-enslaved-people-and-families-owned-by-avery-family-of-morganton-nc/.