White House

White House, as a community, appears on present-day maps, including US Geological Survey maps. It is located at the very north of the Nelson Quadrangle, as it connects with the Buffalo Springs Quadrangle. The community no doubt derived its name from the two houses, White House I and White House II, previously owned by the Overby family. These two houses are no longer standing.

Front

West End

Back
Fred Puckett said that the room attached to the back of the main house was older than the main house.

East End

White House Number One, was a well-known landmark in the Buffalo Creek Section of Mecklenburg Co., VA, White House Community. It was said to have been built and first owned by Peter Z. Overby (b.1759, d.1824, son of Zach) survived until recent years when it was sold and dismantled, the pieces numbered to be moved and reassembled. White House I previously stood on Hwy. 602. All that remains at the site today is a low rock wall, maybe the remnants of a fence, just by the roadside on White House Road. It is near the intersection of State Rts 602 and 735. White House I passed to the ownership of Robert Yancy Overby, son of Peter Overby, who built White House No. 2 about 1836.

Land records of Peter Overby usually show "Peter son of Zach" to distinguish him from others in the area of the Peter Overby name. These are seen later as just (Zach) in parentheses after his name; eventually the "Z" became his middle initial.

It is thought the houses, about 100 yards apart, were so-called because they were large white houses, when many houses were unpainted. The oldest house stood for many years after the later-built house was torn down.

2000 Reconstruction

2000 Reconstruction

2000 Reconstruction

2000 Fred Puckett

In more recent years White House I was owned by Boulin Terry. About 1988, Fred Puckett dismantled the house and moved it to his land on Cornwall Road, Granville, Co., NC. The house is being carefully and authentically reconstructed. It is situated on a hill, facing south as originally. The house was once again dismantled by Nov 2000.

White House II, demolished 1950-60, was built by Robert Yancey Overby ca 1836. It is said to have been about 100 yards from White House I.

The Overby Cemetery is nearby, 3/10 miles from the intersection of Routes 735 & 602, according to the Cemetery and Tombstone Records of Mecklenburg Co., VA, v2, Munsey Moore.

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Photographs by Fred Puckett [Mr. Puckett died 13 Mar 2000]
Contributed by JoLee Gregory Spears

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