Wake Forest College Birthplace

Built before 1820, this simple provincial house was for some years the home of Dr. Calvin Jones, a founder of the North Carolina Medical Society, a major general in the War of 1812, Grand Master of the Masonic Order in North Carolina, and for 30 years a trustee of the University of North Carolina. In 1832 Dr. Jones sold his home and plantation at Wake Forest to the Baptist State Convention. On February 3, 1834, Wake Forest Institute, as it was called until 1838, opened in the building with an enrollment of 16 students. The dwelling house served as the residence of the college's first president, Samuel Wait, and for classroom purposes, the carriage house was used as a chapel, and seven good substantial log cabins were used as dormitories. In 1835 the house was moved from its original location in the center of the campus to make way for The College Building, and later to a third location on Wingate Street. It is now on its fourth site and restored to the 1830 period.

Wake Forest, North Carolina · United States