209 Main St. – Peter Ringware House – 1778

Capt. Peter Ringware was one of a number of early settlers of French descent.  Near the end of the Revolution, he requested permission of Governor Thomas Burke to name a privateer vessel in his honor.  He lost his home through mortgage foreclosure in 1784, possibly due to failure of his privateering venture.  It is believed he moved to New Bern but by the 1790 census was living in Baltimore County, Maryland.  Subsequent owners included Col. Reuben Grant, Solomon Eliot Grant, Isaac Lipsey, Brice Bender, William P. Ferrand, Daniel A. Hargett, Sr., and J.M. Jones.  Ultimately, James and Eleanor Tudor bought the house and saved it from destruction, living in the house until ca. 2010.

The Peter Ringware House was built on original Lot 23 of the town plat Theophilus Weeks laid out in 1771.  In 1774, the owner of the lot was Archelous Weeks, son of Theophilus, probably an inheritance since this was about the time of Theophilus’ death.  He sold the lot to William Wrenn who sold it to Benjamin Reeves, a bricklayer, on October 13, 1777 for 22 pounds.  Archelous Weeks bought the lot back in January of 1778, built a house and resold the property to Peter Ringware on September 15, 1778 for almost three times the previous price of the lot (Ringware had just married Sarah Greenbarge on August 28, 1778).