Ruffin-Roulhac House (Little Hawfields)

In the chronology

1. about 1821 A small Federal house is built on East Orange Street for Martin Hanks The three west bays of the house later called Little Hawfields and the Ruffin-Roulhac House were built about 1821 for Martin Hanks. In the 1830s Francis L. Hawks and Frances C. P. Blount Hill bought it and added the east rooms. People: Francis L. (Francis Lister) Hawks
2. March 1823 Martin Hanks sells his lot and house at Churton and Orange streets to William H. Phillips Martin Hanks sold town lot 181 to William H. Phillips for $650, a price that shows a house already stood there.
3. 1825 Francis L. Hawks buys the house at Churton and Orange streets William H. Phillips sold the house to Francis Lister Hawks, then reporter to the state supreme court. While living there Hawks left the law to study theology under William Mercer Green of St. Matthew's and was ordained deacon in 1827; he later became a noted Episcopal clergyman and historian.
4. 1830 Frances Blount buys the Hawks house and the lot beside it Walker Anderson, acting for Francis L. Hawks, sold the house to Frances Blount, who is thought to have been renting it. She also bought the neighboring lot 180 that year.
5. about 1830 Frances Blount enlarges the house to a center-passage plan Soon after buying it, Frances Blount added two rooms to the east side of the one-and-a-half-story house, turning its side-hall plan into the center-passage form it keeps today.
6. 1865 Thomas Ruffin buys the Hillsborough house he called Little Hawfields The house on East Orange Street, built about 1821 and enlarged in the 1830s, was sold to Thomas Ruffin in 1865. He named it Little Hawfields. The Town of Hillsborough acquired the property in 1972 and made it the Town Hall.
7. Early 1866 Thomas and Anne Ruffin move from the Haw River plantation to Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin and his wife Anne left their Haw River plantation early in 1866 and moved to Hillsborough, where he had bought the house he called Little Hawfields the year before. People: Thomas Ruffin
8. November 1866 Thomas Ruffin buys six lots next to his Hillsborough house from Pride Jones Thomas Ruffin bought lots 177, 178, 179, 204, 205 and 206, which adjoined the house he had acquired the year before, from Pride Jones. People: Pride Jones
9. 1870 Anne Ruffin buys the last two lots and the Ruffin place fills a whole town block Completing a purchase begun before her husband's death, Anne M. Ruffin bought lots 202 and 203. The Ruffin property then took in an entire block of about ten acres, which was still intact in 1971.
10. January 15, 1870 Thomas Ruffin dies at his Hillsborough home Ruffin died in the northeast room of the house on January 15, 1870, and his widow Anne inherited the estate. He was buried at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough, on ground he had given for the church, where he had served on the vestry.
11. October 28, 1875 Anne Ruffin dies and Little Hawfields passes to her heirs Anne Kirkland Ruffin, who had inherited the Hillsborough house on Thomas Ruffin's death in 1870, died on October 28, 1875. The estate passed to her children and a grandchild.
12. March term 1904 The superior court orders the old Ruffin place sold to Nannie Russell Roulhac Under a superior court judgment, Allen J. Ruffin was named commissioner to convey the ten-acre Ruffin place to Mrs. Nannie Russell Roulhac of Rockingham County for $100 in cash and a mortgage note of $1,455. People: Allen Jones Ruffin
13. about 1908 Nannie Roulhac remodels the Ruffin house Mrs. Nannie Russell Roulhac remodeled the house after buying it, though the main block kept its 1830 form.
14. 1909 Nannie Roulhac dies and her son William Sterling Roulhac inherits the Ruffin house At the death of Nannie Russell Roulhac the house and block passed to her son, William Sterling Roulhac.
15. 1954 William Sterling Roulhac dies and leaves the Ruffin house to his wife Charlotte William Sterling Roulhac died and left the property to his wife, Charlotte Trant Roulhac, who owned it when the town of Hillsborough began negotiating to buy it for government offices.
16. August 5, 1971 The Ruffin-Roulhac House is listed in the National Register On August 5, 1971 the National Park Service listed the Ruffin-Roulhac House in Hillsborough in the National Register of Historic Places.
17. 1972 The Town of Hillsborough buys the Ruffin-Roulhac House for its town hall The Ruffin-Roulhac House and its outbuildings, empty since the 1920s, were sold to the Town of Hillsborough in 1972. The town rehabilitated them as its town hall complex by 1975.
18. by 1975 The Ruffin-Roulhac House and its outbuildings are fitted up as Hillsborough's town hall After the Town of Hillsborough buys the Ruffin-Roulhac House at 101 East Orange Street in 1972, it rehabilitates the house and its outbuildings, empty since the 1920s, as a town hall complex by 1975.

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