Edward J. Hale House
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 35° 03.348 W 078° 53.275
17S E 692615 N 3881270
The Hale House was the home of pro-Southern local newspaper publisher, Edward J. Hale. The newspaper plant where Hale's newspaper was published was destroyed by Union forces in 1865, but Hale's home was spared. The posted coordinates will take you to the North Carolina Civil War Trails interpretive sign for Hale House which faces the home.
Waymark Code: WMEGP
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 06/09/2006
Views: 63
The Hale House is notable for the variety of architectural styles it incorporates as well as for the prominence of its builder, Edward Jones Hale. Hale bought this property in 1847 and constructed the house in the 1850's.
Hale was born in Chatham County on September 9, 1802 and received an education in journalism while on the Raleigh Register and the National Intelligencer in Washington, DC. From 1825 to 1865, he published the Fayetteville Observer, which Francis W. Waldo had launched in 1817 as the Carolina Observer (North Carolina's oldest newspaper still published). During the years before the Civil War, the paper became a leading political journal, with Hale acting as a major spokesman for the Whig party. Because of the newspaper's strong pro-Southern tone and its editorial policy supporting Gov. Zebulon B. Vance during the Civil War, the destruction of the newspaper plant was among Union Gen. William T. Sherman's objectives when he occupied Fayetteville in March 1865. Brig. Gen. Absalom Baird, military governor of Fayetteville during the occupation reported, "Before leaving the town, I destroyed 2 foundries of some importance, 4 cotton factories and the printing establishments of 3 rebel newspapers." Although the Observer office, a large three-story brick building on the corner of Hay and Anderson Streets, was destroyed, the files had been sent to Pittsboro and were saved. Hale's home, however, was spared from the torch.
In 1865, Hale moved to New York and established the E.J. Hale publishing house, then sold his home in Fayetteville in 1869. In 1882, he returned to Fayetteville, where he died on January 1, 1883. His sons resumed publishing the Fayetteville Observer in 1883.
The Hale House is a private residence and is not open to the public.
To record your own visit to this waymark, take your own photo of the marker and/or home and post it with your log. A photo is required as proof of your visit, please.