Location: NC 4 (Mosby Avenue) at Warren Street in Littleton
County: Halifax
Original Date Cast: 1968
The oldest landmark in the Halifax County town of Littleton, Person’s Ordinary is a restored, one-and-one-half-story house with a three-room plan which once served as a tavern owned by Thomas Person (1733-1800). Active in the Regulator movement and in time a prominent Anti-Federalist leader, Person was also a planter. His nephew and adopted son, William Person Little, inherited Person’s plantation, which took the name “Little Manor.” The town of Littleton, in turn, took its name from “Little Manor.” The town’s first mail service originated at the ordinary and Little served as the first postmaster.
Person’s Ordinary, in operation by 1770, was a stagecoach stop between Hillsborough and Halifax. It became a popular stop for many travelers. The following advertisement appeared in the Virginia Gazette in 1779: “Stolen from the subscriber in Warren County, near Thomas Person’s Ordinary, a sorrel horse, etc. The thief has been seen with the above horse in his possession near the Butterwood Ordinary in Amelia County. Reward $100 etc. signed, Unity Coleman.”
In 1925 the old inn became the property of the Warren County Board of Education. In 1957 the Littleton Women’s Club leased the building from the school board and subsequently restored the structure. Staff of the Department of Archives and History advised on the restoration and state funds were appropriated for the purpose.
References:
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996)
Rebecca Leach Dozier, Looking Back on Littleton, North Carolina (1994)
(Williamsburg) Virginia Gazette, June 9, 1779