Town Of Milton
Milton was incorporated in northeast Caswell County, North Carolina, in 1796, as a center for warehousing and for the inspections of tobacco and flour. By 1810 the young town had two stores, a saddler’s shop, a hatter’s shop, a tavern, and 15-20 homes. Warehouses were constructed, Thomas Day had a successful cabinetry business, and around 1825, a two-story twenty-room hotel began operating. Milton was a commercial hub. In 1820 the Milton Female Academy opened, soon followed by the Presbyterian Church of Milton and the Milton Baptist Church. Both churches remain in service today, both display works of Thomas Day.
In the book Plain Tales from the Country, Book One, 1942, Tom Henderson describes Milton:
Years ago the village of Milton was a place of renown, with a far larger population than she possesses today. There was much wealth and more aristocracy. Fast horses ran on her race track, down on the bottoms of Dan River, beautiful and well-educated women graced her parlors and private dance rooms, and dashing, daring young
gentlemen drank convivially at her numerous public saloons and played poker for high stakes in the game, in the old hotel which yet stands as a ghost of the glory it once knew, which went on continuously form New Year’s Day until Christmas Eve…Milton had a State bank, a newspaper, three tobacco warehouses, manufactories of varied sorts, and other enterprises, two drug stores, several tailors and saddlers, antique furniture artisans, including Tom Day, and many finely outfitted general merchandising emporiums. Her fame had gone all over the world…
Quoted portion taken from rootsweb.ancestry.com.
Alas the Civil War decimated Milton’s economy, and the railroads were built around Milton, instead of through, thus cutting her off from trade. Milton essentially became a ghost town. Since Milton was at a standstill as far as growth, there was no tearing down to make way for the new. However, Milton’s loss in trade and commercial gain was certainly a great gain to historical preservation. Unfortunately many structures have been lost to fire over the years, making the buildings which remain a rare gift in time, a well-preserved example of Victorian commercial buildings and architecture.