LEXINGTON
More than 140 years ago, Louisa Holt allowed U.S. Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick to use her house as a Union Army headquarters on one condition -- that he not burn it down.
The gamble worked, and The Homestead remains one of Lexington's best-known historic homes. Today, its owners, Norma Buttke and her husband, Arlin, will open their house to the public as part of a yearly fundraiser for Pastor's Pantry, a nonprofit food bank for seniors on fixed incomes.
The organization provides monthly groceries to 365 seniors who are 60 and over, said Bill Keesler, the executive director of Pastor's Pantry. The agency has a budget of about $250,000, he said.
"Since we moved here, there's been a strong community interest in this house," Buttke said. "I just think it would be the perfect opportunity to open the house up to people who might be interested and had not had an opportunity to see it."
Buttke has allowed the house to be used for private events for other community organizations, but this is the first time she has made the house available for tours.
Buttke is the president of the board of directors for Pastor's Pantry and has been involved in the organization for the past five years. She and her husband bought The Homestead in 2000.
The house is on the National Register of Historic Places and has an N.C. Civil War Trails marker.
The Homestead was built in 1834 by Dr. William R. Holt, a prominent physician who owned a plantation six miles southwest in Linwood. Holt also had served as a state senator and county commissioner, and was recognized as a pioneer in scientific agriculture, according to a history published by the Davidson County Historical Museum.
By May 1865, the Union Army was headed toward Lexington. Many Lexington residents feared that the only thing that the Union Army would bring was destruction because of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth tactics.
"Signs of panic appeared in the town's population, as many of the townswomen launched their own ‘raids' into all places where whiskey was kept and smashed or poured the bottles out, and hid all types of valuables," according to the history written by local historian Christopher Watford.
Holt rushed off to his plantation to protect his cotton, stock and mules, leaving Louisa Holt and his three daughters -- Claudia, Frances and Amelia -- at The Homestead.
Louisa Holt sent her slave, Jerry, to Kilpatrick with a note extending an invitation to be guests at the house while in town.
The one stipulation was that the Union soldiers not destroy it.
"It was a ploy to save the house," Buttke said. "She did the only thing she knew to save it."
That doesn't mean that things went smoothly. The three girls refused to talk or eat with the Union soldiers, even when Kilpatrick offered the services of his French chef.
And Louisa, fearing for her safety that of her children, installed iron bars on the doors of the upstairs bedrooms.
But at the end of two months, Kilpatrick gave the family gold and sugar. Amelia got a black pony that she named after the general.
Ownership of The Homestead passed down from one generation of Holts to another over the years until Richard Barentine, the former chief executive of the International Home Furnishings Marketing Association, bought it more than 10 years ago, Buttke said.
Each owner has contributed a silver spoon to a collection that will be at the open house today. Buttke said she doesn't know how that tradition started.
The house has changed over the years. It expanded from eight rooms to 12, and a wraparound porch that was built in the 1900s was torn down and replaced with a smaller porch.
The Buttkes have added a bathroom, but the architecture, which has elements of Greek Revival, remain.
And so do the iron brackets that Louise Holt installed so long ago, a small yet poignant reminder of The Homestead's history.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
If you go
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, people can tour The Homestead, 408 S. Main St. in Lexington. Admission is $10.
Visitors will also be able to buy items from such vendors as Art's Place and Pandora's Books. If it rains today, the tour will be from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call 249-8824.
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