Beaver Dam
(ca. 1829)
Beaver Dam, the antebellum estate of William Lee Davidson, II, factors prominently in the history of both the town of Davidson and Davidson College.
19600 Davidson-Concord Rd, Davidson, NC 28036
The extant main house at Beaver Dam was built by William Lee Davidson, II (1781-1862), the son of General William Lee Davidson who was killed in the Revolutionary War battle of Cowan's Ford on the Catawba River on February 1, 1780, while attempting to slow the northward progress of Lord Cornwallis. The younger William Lee was only one month old at the time of his father’s death. In 1808, he purchased the original 451 acres of the Beaver Dam estate, part of an original grant from the King to his mother's uncle Robert Brevard. Later expanded to 785 acres, the estate relied heavily on the use of enslaved labor.
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William Lee II’s first home at this location was a three-story log house. He built the present house in September 1829 according to markings on the east chimney. The structure is one of the finer Federal Style plantation houses remaining in Mecklenburg County. Shortly after completion of the house, William Lee II married Elizabeth “Betsy” Davidson, the youngest daughter of Major John Davidson of Rural Hill plantation in Mecklenburg County. No children were born from this union. Major John Davidson, the last surviving purported signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, made his final home with his daughter Betsy and son-in-law William Lee II. Major John Davidson died at Beaver Dam on January 10, 1832, and was taken back to the family burying ground at Rural Hill for interment.
Beaver Dam is also intimately connected with the founding of Davidson College. William Lee II was a Presbyterian elder and a member of the committee of the Concord Presbytery charged with selecting the site for a “Manual Labour School” to be founded by the Presbytery. At a May 13, 1835, meeting at Beaver Dam, the committee decided to purchase 469 acres from William Lee II for $1,521. Three months later, the Presbytery decided to name the new school “Davidson College” in memory of General Davidson. Some sources suggest that William Lee II may have donated the land for the school in appreciation for the tribute accorded his father by the school’s naming. In 1839, William Lee II contributed $2,000 to the college for the endowment of a professorship. He also served as one of the vice-presidents of the college’s first board of trustees and as treasurer of the school. In his old age, William Lee II sold his North Carolina and moved to Alabama, where he died in 1862. His will generously provided additional financial support for Davidson College.