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List of Owners of the Joel Lane House

This page is currently under construction - please pardon our mess.

Below is a timeline of the ownership of the Lane house:

  • 1769: The House was built and owned by Joel Lane.
  • 1795 - 12/31/1808: Thomas Lane, a minor son aged 10 years, inherited the house which was then rented. Thomas lived with his cousin, Martin Lane.
  • 1809 - ca. 1813: Dr. Allen W. Gilchrist, husband to Col. Lane’s daughter Dorothy, bought the house from Thomas Lane.
  • Ca. 1813 -1818: Peter Browne, a local attorney, bought the house. Tradition maintains that he removed the Lane headstones in order to plant cabbages in the family burial plot.
  • 1818 - 1919: William Boylan purchased the house from Peter Browne, and family willed the house to several different descendants. They Boylan family would own the Lane house until 1919, or 101 years.
  • Prior to 1872 (likely the 1830s/1840s) 1840: One room school house or office addition was built onto the Lane house. (This addition now functions as the modern museum as the Visitor's Center.)
  • 1911: The Boylans moved the house to its present location and moved the 1840 addition to the back of the house since the new lot was too narrow for it to remain on the side.
  • 1919: Josephine Boylan Van Patten and husband, E. H. Patten, sold the house to R.H. Merritt.
  • 1927: R. H. Merritt (1st. party) and Raleigh Savings Loan (2nd. party) sold the house to the Colonial Dames of Wake County for $5,000. The Colonial Dames still own the Joel Lane House today.

 

All the below items have occurred during Colonial Dame ownership of the Lane House.

  • March 30, 1974: Lane family bones reburied in City Cemetery.
  • April 22, 1976 Official opening of the restoration of the Joel Lane House. The 1840 addition was removed during the restoration since it was decided to return the house to its 1793-4 configuration. The addition was located at the rear of the Joel Lane House garden and served as rental property referred to as a dependency.
  • Dec. 1976: The Ruth Coltrane Cannon Cup was awarded to Joel Lane House, Inc. The Cup, the state’s most prestigious preservation award, is presented annually.
  • April 23, 1978: The garden, designed by Donald Parker of Colonial Williamsburg, opened to the public.
  • June 7, 1979: The “kitchen,” actually a c. 1795 middle class residence, was transported by truck to the site for restoration.
  • 1990: Landscape Architect, Major “Mac” Newsom updated the garden design.
  • April 23, 2007: Dependency (addition building) opened as Visitors Center which includes offices and gift shop.
  • April, 2010: Public restroom addition to the Visitors Center, designed by David Maurer Architects and built by Greg Paul Builders, officially opened.
  • 2011: Storage shed designed and built by Greg Paul Builders opened.
  • 2014: New fixtures for the Museum Store were added to the Visitors Center.
  • 2015: New fixtures for the office and the rest of the store were added to the Visitors Center.
  • 2021-2022: House was repainted to its original red color. Visitor’s Center was repainted yellow. JLMH was closed for much of 2021-22 due to COVID-19.