Tom Dula: Ann Melton Grave (2020)

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Tom Dula, Women's History

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Ann Melton, Appalachia, cemeteries, crime, Elkville, genealogy, history, James Melton, Laura Foster, Melton Cemetery, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County

Ann Melton, a married woman, was involved in a love triangle with Tom Dula and her cousin, Laura Foster. Up this way to Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

Anne Melton was charged with the Laura Foster murder, but was cleared by Tom Dula’s note shortly before his execution. Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

Ann Melton died a few years after Tom Dula. A Foster descendant suggested that I not put flowers at Ann Melton’s grave, but I did anyway. 7 January 2020

Sources disagree as to Ann Melton’s cause of death. Family members recently placed this headstone. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Dula Cemetery (2020)

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Civil War, Tom Dula

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42nd North Carolina Regiment, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, civil war, Confederate Army, Dula Cemetery, Elkville, history, Iredell County, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Whippoorwill Academy and Village, Wilkes County

Looking for Tom Dula’s grave in Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

Up this way to the Tom Dula grave! 7 January 2020

The Dula family cemetery is located here, but only Tom Dula’s grave is marked by a headstone. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula was a Confederate veteran. 7 January 2020

Sadly, visitors have chipped away part of Tom Dula’s headstone. Note: His death date is erroneously recorded as 1866. 7 January 2020

This was the highlight of my trip. Tom Dula’s original headstone is housed at nearby Whippoorwill Academy and Village. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula’s correct year of death is noted on his footstone. 7 January 2020

Here is a glimpse of the landscape near Tom Dula’s grave. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Trial and Hanging in Statesville, NC (2020)

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Depot Hill, fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, history, Iredell County, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, sheriff, Silas Alexander Sharpe, Southern Railway Depot, Statesville, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, William Wasson

Iredell County Courthouse, Statesville, NC. The courthouse that hosted Tom Dula’s trial between 1866 and 1868 is gone; this courthouse was built in 1899. 7 January 2020

Col. Silas Alexander Sharpe House. Spectators here saw Tom Dula ride by from the courthouse to the gallows…supposedly playing a fiddle. 7 January 2020

Col. Sharpe House. 7 January 2020

Southern Railway Depot, built c.1911. Tom Dula was taken to a gallows near the original depot at what is called Depot Hill and hanged in 1868. The original depot stood 300 yards to the northeast. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Perhaps as many as 3000 spectators attended the hanging. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Sheriff William Wasson had never executed anyone prior to Dula. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. For some reason, no historical markers are here to help tourists find the spot. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Zebulon Vance Home (2020)

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Tom Dula

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Ann Melton, Appalachia, civil war, Confederate Army, history, Iredell County, lawyer, North Carolina, photos, Statesville, Thomas Dooley, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Zebulon Vance

Zebulon Vance (1830-1894), Confederate officer and wartime governor of North Carolina, briefly occupied this home in 1865. Federal troops arrested him here at the end of the Civil War.

The Vance house is currently located at 501 W Sharpe Street in Statesville, NC. It does not stand in its original location.

Gov. Vance was Tom Dula’s attorney between 1866-1868.

Because Dula and Ann Melton did not believe they would receive a fair trial in Wilkes County, Vance had their trials relocated to Iredell County.

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 2 (2020)

16 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, crime, Elkville, history, justice of the peace, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Pickins Carter, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County, Wilkes County Jail, Wilkesboro

The Wilkes County Jail was built in 1859. Here’s our guide showing us the jail cell on the lower floor. 8 January 2020

All three cells have the original doors, wood, and iron bars. The keys still operate the door! 8 January 2020

The jail was used until 1915, when it was converted into apartments. It was scheduled for demolition in 1968 but a local group saved it. It began operation as a museum in the 1970s. Here’s the lower floor cell before restoration… 8 January 2020

This way to the two cells upstairs… 8 January 2020

Was a knife like this one used to kill Laura Foster? 8 January 2020

In June of 1866, Justice of the Peace Pickins Carter wrote the warrant for Tom Dula’s arrest from this desk in Elkville, NC. 8 January 2020 For more info, go here: http://www.kronsell.net/the_story_3.htm

No known photographs of Tom Dula exist, but here is one local artist’s rendition of him. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020 For information about the fake Tom Dula picture, read this article: https://www.statesville.com/news/local/joel-reese-column-who-s-the-soldier-in-the-photo/article_48eb0f0c-4c93-11e8-8455-abac2bbbaf82.html

Through these bars is Tom Dula’s jail cell. 8 January 2020

Looking inside of Tom Dula’s cell… 8 January 2020

Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell with the guide. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Tour happening! Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

Side window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Looking out of the front window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 1 (2020)

11 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, crime, history, jailer, North Carolina, Old Wilkes Jail Museum, photos, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Wilkesboro

Wilkes County Jail (built 1860) in Wilkesboro, NC. The jailer residential space was to the left. Tom Dula was kept in the top right corner cell. Dula was kept here from July to October 1866. 7 January 2020

The Wilkes County Jail before renovation… The entrance door to the jailer residential quarters is shown at right.

Here’s the entrance door to the jail. Just inside, at left, is the jailer’s living quarters. At right and upstairs are three cells. 7 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, front room). 7 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, front room). 8 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, dining room). 8 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (stairs). 8 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, back bedroom). 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Caldwell County, NC (2020)

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Caldwell County, crime, Elkville, history, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Yadkin Valley

Laura Foster’s murder in the vicinity of Reedy Branch at Elkville, NC, resulted in Tom Dula’s hanging. Driving from Elkville (Wilkes County) toward Yadkin Valley (Caldwell County) on Highway 268, the Laura Foster grave is located at left; the Laura Foster memorial is located up ahead at right. You park at the memorial. 8 January 2020

Laura Foster Memorial near Yadkin Valley in Caldwell County, NC. 8 January 2020. The marker is located across Highway 268 from the Foster grave.

Laura Foster’s grave is located at the edge of a field. The pasture is surrounded by an electric fence. 8 January 2020

Laura Foster’s grave. A white fence encloses the grave so as to protect it from cattle. 8 January 2020

When Laura Foster was buried here, locals marked her grave with white stones from the creek. Today, white gravel still marks her grave. 8 January 2020

Laura Foster’s headstone shows an incorrect death date and includes the name of her killer, Tom Dula. Since her burial, the grave site has been nearly lost and her marker disappeared for a time. Thankfully, the grave site is well-preserved today. 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Ferguson, NC (2020)

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Music, Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, civil war, Confederate Army, Elkville, Ferguson, fiddler, Frank Proffitt, Grayson and Whittier, history, Kingston Trio, music, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Sharyn McCrumb, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Wilkes County

Reading Sharyn McCrumb’s masterpiece “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” sent us down to find historical sites in the vicinity of Ferguson in Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020. Most anyone will remember this 1958 mega-hit by the Kingston Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhXuO4Gz3Wo

Tom Dula (1845-1868), a Confederate veteran and fiddler, lived in Elkville, just above Ferguson, NC. Few sites remain from his time; most of the old buildings are gone. 7 January 2020. Here’s the first recording of “Tom Dooley” by Grayson and Whittier (1929): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWd1rNmDAgg

Finding this sign in Ferguson meant that we were basically at Ground Zero. More discoveries to come! Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020. Here’s a personal favorite version of “Tom Dooley” by Frank Proffitt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfPdCveqQRw

Brandon Ray Kirk

~ This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of history and culture in my section of Appalachia.

Category Archives: Tom Dula

Tom Dula: Ann Melton Grave (2020)

Tom Dula: Dula Cemetery (2020)

Tom Dula: Trial and Hanging in Statesville, NC (2020)

Tom Dula: Zebulon Vance Home (2020)

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 2 (2020)

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 1 (2020)

Tom Dula: Caldwell County, NC (2020)

Tom Dula: Ferguson, NC (2020)