Mulberry Island Plantation

Mulberry Island was a large plantation located along the Dan River in Rockingham County, near Stoneville and Leaksville.^[1] The house was built by Nathaniel Scales (1756–1824) and his wife, who was a niece of Colonial Governor Josiah Martin.^[1] It faces south, looking down on the river valley.^[1] The plantation sat on 1,298 acres.^[1] Scales left Mulberry Island to his son, Alfred Moore Scales, upon his death.^[2] It adjoined Deep Springs Plantation on the Dan River, which was home to another one of Nathaniel Scales' sons, James Madison Scales.^[2] Nathaniel Scales' daughter inherited another nearby farm, High Rock Farm.^[2] In the 1850s the plantation came into the Settle family.^[1] It was the home of North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice and United States Minister to Peru, Thomas B. Settle II.^[1][2] After the Settles, the plantation was owned by the Trogden family and then by John Moore.^[1] In 1930 the farm was purchased by Charlie Penn of Reidsville, North Carolina who remodeled the house, adding a large porch and other additions.^[3][2] Edrington Penn sold the home to Horner Grogan, who leased it to his son Wendell Grogan.^[1] The Grogan family sold the plantation to Charles Stone of Kinston for $130,000.^[1]