A Very Early House--THE WARD-HANCOCK

The Ward-Hancock House circa 1726
Richard Rustull’s First Custom House

In 1720 Richard Rustull, Sr. purchased 780 acres from Robert Turner for 150 pounds sterling. This acreage extended from North River to the Newport River and included land that would eventually become Beaufort. When Beaufort was still in its infancy, Rustull built a house for his family that, through succeeding generations, would become known locally as the Ward-Hancock.

Rustull played an important role in the development of Beaufort. He increased the size of the town from its original 100 acres to 200 acres. He helped established a church to be known as St. John’s Parish, gave land to be used for the courthouse, and served as Justice of the Peace and Customs officer. One of his numerous responsibilities was collector of the King’s taxes.

When Rustull died, in 1761, his daughter Mary sold portions of his holdings, including this house, to Benjamin Cheney, a noted shipbuilder who lived in North River. When Thomas Patrick Ward bought the property, he later gave it to his grand-daughter, after her marriage to Robert Hancock in 1854. Throughout its long history, this property and specifically the house, has been owned by other local families, including Bells, Stantons, Hunts, Ricks, Davises, and Costlows.

While Rustull’s contributions are relegated to the archives of history, the house itself gives us tangible evidence of this early period in Beaufort’s development. Although bought by Jack Ricks and moved from its original location on Town Creek, to save it from destruction in the 1940’s, today it remains close to its original state.

In 1989 Maurice Davis bought the home and began its restoration. After his death in 1993, John and Virginia Costlow bought it and continued his efforts. Soon into the process, however, the Costlows realized they had a responsibility to share this architecturally and historically significant house with the wider community. Their decision and unique interpretation has earned statewide recognition by Preservation North Carolina and national acclaim on the television series Restore America.

As the earliest example of an 18th century gambrel-roof house in eastern North Carolina, the Ward-Hancock House has become a museum of early construction. Left in a partially “open” state, one can observe its hand-hewn beams, joist, unusual woven lath, windows, doors and random-width flooring. It also provides instructional text and examples of building practices, ironwork, plastering, and those hand tools necessary to construct such a dwelling in the days before electricity. Included in the house are period furnishings, and, in the upper rooms, examples of the important cloth-making practices of the day.

The upper floor also demonstrates the benefit of the gambrel roof design, allowing much more capacity and light than conventional building styles of the time. However, it was a complex roof to construct, and while popular in eastern Virginia, who had more skilled house wrights, the style did not appear in large numbers in North Carolina until the mid-18th

Also included within the house is a specific room devoted to those things Mr. Rustull would have been very interested in as collector of the King’s taxes—the commerce going in and out of the Port of Beaufort in the early 1700’s.


A “Coming Home” for the Ward-Hancock House


The Beaufort Woman’s Club, who created the first library (100 years ago) and was responsible for preserving and restoring the first train station, is once again doing their part to help maintain and preserve Beaufort’s history.


When the upkeep, of what has lovingly been preserved as a museum of early construction, became too much for Ginny and John Costlow to maintain, the Beaufort Woman’s Club approached them with a plan to purchase the house.

It will then be moved to the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s Gallants Channel project. This will actually be a “Coming Home” for the Ward-Hancock House—a move back to a location very close to where Richard Rustull first built the house—near the Town Creek/Gallants Channel end of West Beaufort Road. At the time the house was built, that area was actually on the water.

How You Can Help

For more information on how you can help the Beaufort Woman’s Club acquire and move the Ward-Hancock House/First Custom House, contact Martha Barnes or Marlene Anderson at manderson134@yahoo.com - or send contributions to Beaufort Woman's Club, Post Office Box 243, Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 with “First Custom House” in the memo line of your check.