Local figure
Alfred David Barbee Sr.
Alfred David Barbee Sr. (1909–1993) was an African American stonemason and bricklayer from Carrboro. He learned the trade from his father, Fred Barbee, and his grandfather Toney H. Strayhorn, helping Strayhorn finish a stone dam across Morgan Creek in 1928. From 1945 to 1947 he built his own fieldstone house on Jones Ferry Road. With his brother Willis and his son Alfred Jr., he built walls, dams and chimneys around Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
Source: NC State Historic Preservation Office
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Alfred David Barbee Sr. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Alfred David Barbee Sr.’s life and work. Suggest a source.
Life and Orange County connections
Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →
- Mason Toney Strayhorn and his grandson Alfred Barbee finish a stone dam across Morgan Creek Toney Strayhorn, a formerly enslaved Carrboro mason and preacher, completed a thirty-foot-wide stone dam spanning Morgan Creek near University Lake with his grandson Alfred Barbee, whose first masonry job it was. Alfred and his brother Willis Barbee went on to build walls, dams and chimneys around Chapel Hill and Carrboro for sixty years. People: Alfred David Barbee Sr., Toney Strayhorn Place: Morgan Creek near University Lake, south of CarrboroSearch the index · NC Historic Preservation Office: Heather Fearnbach, Troy M. and Roberta C. Andrews House, National Register nomination (draft, 2026)
- Mason Alfred Barbee builds his own house on Jones Ferry Road After working at the Carrboro munitions plant during the war, the African American mason Alfred Barbee spent three years building his own house on Jones Ferry Road near the Strayhorn family homes, using his carpentry as well as his masonry skills. People: Alfred David Barbee Sr. Place: Jones Ferry Road, CarrboroNC Historic Preservation Office: Heather Fearnbach, Troy M. and Roberta C. Andrews House, National Register nomination (draft, 2026)
- Black masons build Troy and Roberta Andrews's Sidler-designed house on the family farm Working from plans by Swiss architect Franc Sidler, a former Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice, builder Carl Ellington and the African American masons Willis, Alfred Sr. and Alfred Jr. Barbee raised the Andrews House from stone gathered on the farm, starting in 1965 and finishing in 1967. It is Sidler's only building in the United States and one of the few architect-designed Modernist houses in rural Orange County. People: Roberta C. Andrews, Alfred David Barbee Sr. Place: Troy and Roberta Andrews House, 600 Bolin Brook Farm Road, Calvander (Chapel Hill vicinity) · Also named: Troy M. Andrews, Franc Sidler, Carl Ellington, Willis Edward Barbee, Alfred David Barbee Jr.Search the index · NC Historic Preservation Office: Heather Fearnbach, Troy M. and Roberta C. Andrews House, National Register nomination (draft, 2026)
Places in this person’s story
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.
- Bolin Brook Farm (Troy and Roberta Andrews House) Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Calvander · 1 event here
People named in the same events
People named in the same dated entries as Alfred David Barbee Sr., those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.
- Roberta C. Andrews 1 entry: Black masons build Troy and Roberta Andrews's Sidler-designed house on the family farm (1965 to 1967)
- Toney Strayhorn 1 entry: Mason Toney Strayhorn and his grandson Alfred Barbee finish a stone dam across Morgan Creek (February 28, 1928)
Research sources
Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.
Collections and databases
- NC LIVE: prepared search for Alfred David Barbee Sr. Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
- Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries
Local help
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form
Search further
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Books about Alfred David Barbee Sr.
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- Chapel Hill Public Library (opens in a new tab) Public library in Chapel Hill
- Durham County Library (opens in a new tab) Public library next door in Durham
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- NC Cardinal (opens in a new tab) The State Library of North Carolina and public libraries across the state
Photographs, papers, and newspapers
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Historical records and collections
- Chronicling America (opens in a new tab) Historical newspapers from across the country, through 1963
- Internet Archive (opens in a new tab) Digitized books, directories, and local histories
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- ArchiveGrid (opens in a new tab) Papers held by archives across the country
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