Mattie King Davis Gallery - Research on the House

The Mattie King Davis Gallery, on the Beaufort Restoration Grounds, is plaqued "Rustell house c.1732." 

Maurice Davis in History of the Hammock House and Related Trivia, and Mamre Wilson in Beaufort, North Carolina, both wrote of William Dennis' wife Sarah Cogdell Rustull, widow of Richard Rustull Jr., inheriting a small house and outbuildings on Lot 13, Old Town, in the settlement of the estate of Richard Rustull Jr. (No documentation)

Signature and seal from the will of Richard Rustull Jr.

HOWEVER, according to researcher Andrew C. Wells, the 1739 will of Richard Rustull Jr. (proven 1747) does not bequeath any property in Old Beaufort Town. 

1980 Photo in Kell book

In her book, The Old Port Town, Beaufort, North Carolina, historian Jean Bruyere Kell (1909-2004) referred to the house as the Jechonias Pigott House circa 1831, "a house originally on Front Street facing the water, later moved to Craven Street and then to its present location." (Shipbuilder Jechonias Pigott (1774-1856) married Cinderella Chadwick in 1798.)

The 1880 Gray's Map of Beaufort noted two structures on lot 13; Jane Pigott owner. MORE...