Dr. J.J Rone House

Dr. J.J. Rone built his mansion in 1880 on land given by his parents in 1878 as a wedding present when he married Mary Lavinia McIlwaine. His father, Loyd K. Rone, had earlier given land for Marvin Methodist Church just east of the six-and-a-half-acres J.J. received. Loyd lived across Newton Road in an 1840 house that still stands.

Her father, Dr. William McIlwaine had given land just west of the house to Banks Presbyterian Church. A decade later, J.J. and his family moved to Pineville and then to Missouri, where he practiced medicine until he died in 1899. His widow moved back to North Carolina with their daughter Blanche.

After two other owners, the Ross family – Maggie, Sallie, Dennis, and Mittie Bell – moved into the house in 1892. Maggie and Sallie bequeathed the house to Banks Presbyterian Church in their 1907 will. In 1964, J.J.’s grandson Sam Rone Ardrey bought the house from Banks Presbyterian and moved it to his farm in Mecklenburg County. In 2003, Sam’s daughter Sally Ardrey Patterson moved the house to the banks of Sixmile Creek just inside Mecklenburg County at the Union County line. 

The house is

listed with Charlotte Mecklenburg Landmarks Commission and has a preservation easement through Preserve Mecklenburg, Inc.