This old house: Historic Mocksville home demolished

Published 10:45 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

By Alice Smith Hanes
For the Enterprise

The week of July 21, 2025, a beloved old house on North Main Street in Mocksville was demolished.
Many people looked upon this stately old home with love and many had dreams of it being restored to its original grandeur. Unfortunately, it sat for decades succumbing to being empty and having no family to enjoy living there. It fell victim to the ravages of time and it was too far gone and too expensive to renovate.
I wondered about the history of this old house and found two sources of information and wanted to share my findings with readers while the thoughts of this grand old home are still fresh on our minds.
One of the sources of information came from an old book called ‘The Historic Architecture Of Davie County” by Kirk Franklin Mohney. It was published in 1986.
The Ephraim L. Gaither House was at 337 N. Main St. in Mocksville near First United Methodist Church’s family life center and across from Eaton’s Funeral Home.
“This large two-story L-shaped frame dwelling has a wrap-around porch and a pair of gable-roofed ells. The larger of the two is a much older one-story house which was repositioned about 1890 when the front block was added. The additions were made by prominent local attorney Ephraim Lash Gaither (1850-1943).
“Ephraim Lash Gaither attended Old Field School and from 1868-1873 studied at Davidson College. He received his A.B. degree in 1873 and subsequently studied law at the Richmond Hill Law School in Yadkin County.
“Gaither married Florence Clement (1855-1943) in 1880. In 1886 Gaither established his own practice in Mocksville after a five-year partnership with his father-in-law, John Marshall Clement. Mrs Gaither was given the small house and lot by her father John M. Clement in 1885. The house that stood here was turned and used for an ell. Its builder and early history are not definitely known. However, a deed recorded in 1849 refers to the lot as that “upon which John A. Lillington resided.” A.G. Carter owned the property at that time but whether he built the dwelling is not clear.
“About 1890 the Gaithers undertook the expansion of their house. They continued to occupy it until their deaths. The property descended to their daughter Sarah Gaither, who until 1986 made it her residence.
“The Gaither house is covered in weatherboards. Its asymmetrical three-bay front elevation is composed of a projecting gable front bay at the south end and the porch which extends across the front and along the north and south side elevations. A bracketed cornice carries around the house. On the south elevation the porch has been partially enclosed but it also retains two of its original chamfered posts and bracketed cornice. A gable frames the center bay on this three-bay south elevation. The rear elevation forms a picturesque appearance through its two-story gable-roofed ells, the shed-roofed porch, and the older one-story ell with its gable and chimneys, and nine-over-six double-hung sash window. The interior remains unaltered. It has a central opening stair, two-leaf door, and a wide variety of mantlels. Most impressive is the parlor mantel that features a bold tripartite frieze.
“In the original house one six-panel raised-panel door survives as does the Federal style mantel. Sometime later the enclosed staircase was moved to its present position. To the rear of the house is a detached kitchen, a garage, and a brick building of unknown use.”
A little more information about the Gaither family was discovered online at NCpedia. “Ephraim Lash Gaither, lawyer and businessman, was born in Mocksville, the son of Ephraim and Sarah Hall Johnston Gaither.
“His early education was provided by private schools in Mocksville. After three years at Davidson College, Gaither’s education was interrupted by illness in 1871. He returned in the fall of 1872 and was graduated the following year with the degree of bachelor of arts with honors. In September 1873 he enrolled in the private law school at Richmond Hill, in Yadkin County, taught by Chief Justice Richmond M. Pearson. After two years of study, he was admitted to the bar in June 1875, appearing before the supreme court with Chief Justice Pearson presiding. In 1876 he was the commencement orator of the Philanthropic Society at Davidson College.”
Ephraim Lash Gaither led an interesting life. Here is a story from his youth.
“An incident of his early days was the Battle of Lisha Creek. When he was a lad of 15, he joined a hurriedly assembled patrol of ‘old men and boys’ and helped repulse a group of “Bushwhackers” later identified as a part of General Stoneman’s Federal soldiers headed for Salisbury. That happened in April 1865, a short time after General Lee’s surrender ending the Civil War.
“Gaither practiced law independently in Mocksville for five years before forming a partnership with his father-in-law, John Marshall Clement, in 1881. The firm of Clement and Gaither was dissolved upon the death of Clement in 1886. Throughout his long career, spanning nearly 65 years, Gaither built a statewide reputation as a meticulous student of the law who prided himself on hard work and diligent preparation for the many cases he represented in court. Early in his practice, as counsel for several Confederate soldiers and formerly enslaved people, he was frequently commended by presiding judges for his handling of the cases.
“In the business community, he was a longtime president of the Bank of Davie and a director of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company, Winston-Salem.
æGaither was a member of the American Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Association, of which he was president for a term. During World War I he was chairman of the Davie County Board of Defense, and throughout his active years he served on numerous community boards. Like his parents, who had been active in the local Presbyterian church, Gaither became a church leader locally, serving in the presbytery and the general assembly of the church.
“On 1 Dec. 1880, he married Florence Adelaide Clement, the daughter of John Marshall and Mary J. Hayden Clement and a graduate of Salem College, her mother’s alma mater. The Gaithers had four daughters: Adelaide Marshall (Mrs. Rufus B. Sanford), Sarah Hall, Jane Hayden (Mrs. David Murray), and Dorothy Sophie (Mrs. Edwin Cecil Morris). All four daughters also were graduated from Salem College.”
Out of the four daughters, the property descended to their daughter Sarah Gaither, who resided there until the mid 1980s. I have been told by several sources that Sarah Gaither willed the house to a niece, Dorothy Horn, and the property was sold several decades later to the current owner.
The Ephraim L. Gaither home was a beautiful home many of us will remember fondly for years to come.