Historical Park

Adjacent to the High Point Museum is our Historical Park which features 3 historic buildings including the John Haley House (1786), the Hoggatt House (1801) and a working blacksmith shop (1841). Centered among the 3 structures is a historically authentic herb garden, featuring many commonly recognized herbs. Visitors can discover how herbs were used for treating illnesses, dyeing cloth, deodorizing rooms and repelling bugs.
High Point Museum Historical Park

Blacksmith Shop


The Blacksmith Shop is typical of those used by North Carolina Piedmont blacksmiths in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The building dates to around 1841, and it was originally located in Davidson County. The shop was relocated to the Museum's Historical Park in 1970 to demonstrate John Haley's trade as a blacksmith.
Blacksmith Shop
Hoggatt House
The Hoggatt House is a rare example of houses built by the early settlers of the Piedmont back-country. Originally a single room log cabin with a large stone fireplace, the house was built around 1801 and enlarged with a second room around 1824. It was moved to the Historical Park in 1973 from its original location at the corner of Phillips Avenue and Rotary Drive in High Point.  The Hoggatt House was restored after a fire caused by a lightning strike in December 2004. Visit the Park Staff here to learn about the everyday lives and activities of settlers in the early 1800s.
Hoggatt House
To learn more about the Hoggatt House’s history, architecture and restoration, see a presentation by Salem College student Victoria Chaffers.

Haley House


The Haley House is the earliest surviving documented structure on its original foundation in Guilford County, and it is significant as an example of early Piedmont architecture, a style known as the Quaker Plan. John Haley and his wife Phebe Wall Haley completed the house in 1786 - a stone medallion in the west gable indicates the year of completion and the Haleys' initials. The house stood on the important Petersburg (Virginia)-Salisbury (North Carolina) Road and was one of roughly 20 landmarks noted in Guilford County on the earliest official survey map of North Carolina.
Haley House
Restoration
After continuous occupancy and a Williamsburg-style renovation in the 1940s, the house underwent a total restoration by knowledgeable and professional consultants with the intent that it be opened to the public as a historic house museum. Today, it provides a focal point for visitors to learn about High Point's early history.

To learn more about the Haley House’s history, architecture and restoration, see a presentation by Forsyth Tech Community College student Allison Carithers.

Growth of Cities
Since the Fayetteville and Western Plank Road was built in the early 1840s and the railroad was established in the 1850s, most of the 1740-1840 back-country history of Guilford County and this area of the Piedmont has been obliterated by the growth of cities like High Point. In addition to its architectural significance and its connections to early Quaker settlers, the 1786 Haley House – along with the Historical Park – represents both the beginnings of High Point and a lifestyle which is far-removed from the city’s current cultural landscape.

Little Red Schoolhouse

The Little Red Schoolhouse was the first home of the High Point Museum. Originally built in downtown High Point, it served as an annex classroom for first graders at Ray Street Elementary School. Thirty years of students passed through its doors before the main school building was destroyed by fire. Though unscathed by the tragedy, the Little Red Schoolhouse was abandoned as a classroom. A couple years later a group of High Point citizens decided to turn the building into a community history museum. Then when a new museum building was constructed on East Lexington Avenue, Little Red was abandoned again. Eventually the Museum moved it to its Historical Park, and it was restored to use as a programming space for young children. Today past and present generations connect through their shared experience with this beloved building.  

Little Red Schoolhouse