The Hanna-Eastburn Farm

The c. 1908 Ferris Eastburn House

In doing historical research, one of the most frustrating (at times) and exhilarating (at others) things I've run across is the seemingly randomness of what gets recorded and remembered, and what gets lost to time. Very often there's some piece of information that you figure has to be recorded somewhere, or that there's some trace of, but you just can't seem to find. But once in a while, just by chance, you'll find some mention of something that helps other pieces of the puzzle fall into place. This story has both.

The story revolves around two houses -- one likely built over 200 years ago and one erected just over a century ago. The first one we know frustratingly little about, while for the second one I've found a few small clues that seemingly tell much of its tale. This second house seemingly replaced (although maybe not at first) the older one at the same time the property was changing hands from one family to another. In fact, since a descendant still lives on the property (though not in the old house), we can say that at least part of the land has been owned by only two families since 1793!

The land we're talking about lies on the west side of Limestone Road along Ferris Drive in Eastburn Farms, just above the Pike Creek Shopping Center and the Mermaid Tavern. It was actually touched upon briefly and incompletely in a post from 2015 about the Hanna Family, as this property was previously part of a larger tract owned by the Hannas. But long before that, it started out as a portion of a 1000 acre tract laid out and granted on January 29, 1689 to John Champion, John Latham, Christopher White, and John Reynolds. They must have each had a portion, since a later deeds states that a 200 acre part of it belonged to White, and was known as Rosedale.