Since I am
relatively new to David’s blogspot, Stephen Moore of Mt Tirzah Family, I will
introduce myself. My name is Sandra Moore Shoffner and I am a 4th
great-granddaughter of Stephen Moore. I am a recently retired
medical/pharmaceutical editor. I grew up in Burlington and currently live in
Mebane, both towns being in Alamance County, NC. Mt Tirzah in Person County is about
a 45-minute drive from my home in Mebane. My 2nd great-grandmother, Sarah
Harriet Moore (widow of Richard Henry Moore [son of Portius]) remarried and
left Person County for Alamance County sometime after 1850 with her son, my
great-grandfather, Henry Fletcher Moore. I am including the following three family
photos for your information, top to bottom: Dr Henry Fletcher Moore (great-grandfather), Richard Alexander Moore
(grandfather), and Richard Fletcher Moore (father):
My husband,
Harry Shoffner, and I took a trip to the Hudson Highlands in New York State and
to the United States Military Academy at West Point (October 2012) to see for
ourselves the location of the original site of Stephen Moore’s Red House. In
preparation for our trip, I researched everything I could find online concerning
the Moore family at West Point and the history of West Point, plus all the family
history researched and recorded by cousins Terri O’Neill, Steve Moore, and
David Jeffreys. I also discovered several websites with additional information
that proved invaluable, including TheMoores of West Point and Historic
Structure’s Report, Fortress West Point 1777-1783
I had
corresponded with a retired Lt Col at West Point who agreed to meet us there, escort
us onto the grounds, and help us find the homesite. But, as a backup, we signed
up for an afternoon West Point tour through the West Point Visitors Center before
we left North Carolina, just in case. We knew beforehand that the tour would
not make a stop at the Target Hill Athletic Fields, the place our research had
directed us to go to start our search. The tour did include a stop at the West
Point Cemetery, which was on the hill directly above the athletic fields so we
thought we could perhaps get a glimpse of the general area where the Red House
had stood. We never caught up with the retired Lt Col I had corresponded with, despite
several attempts, so we were basically on our own.
Since we had
time to kill our first morning there, before our 2:00 scheduled tour, we
decided to take a chance and drive to the guard station at the entrance to the
West Point grounds. We had been told by the staff at The Thayer Hotel (where we
were staying), at the Visitors Center, and on the West Point website that we
would not be allowed to go onto the grounds unescorted. We decided it could not
hurt to plead our case to the security guard on duty. We explained that we had
driven all the way to New York from North Carolina to try and locate the
original site of my 4th great-grandfather, Col Stephen Moore’s, Red
House somewhere on the Target Hill Athletic Fields (pictured below).
We showed
the guard a photo of the bronze plaque honoring Lt Col Stephen Moore that I had
found on a website. I explained that we wanted very badly to locate the plaque
for ourselves and photograph it, and also to walk around and try to locate a stream
that was on the property. So, after a thorough search of our vehicle and on
approval of our identification, we were told that we could go ahead and drive
onto the property to conduct our search. We could not believe our good fortune!
We drove
around and explored the academy grounds using a map I had downloaded from the
USMA website. We had to drive carefully to avoid hitting any of the hundreds of
cadets running, walking, and marching everywhere. The first thing we did after
locating the athletic fields down by the Hudson River on River Road, was to
roam the fields, searching for the stream that was documented to have flowed beside
the Red House and emptied into the Hudson. We found the stream flowing out of
the mountainside, just to the left of the field house, and running underneath
the rugby field (see photo below).
We also took
a photo from behind the stream looking out across the field and over to the
fence where we eventually found the plaque. We are assuming (according to all
the information I had gathered from my research and my correspondence with
Terri) that the house was located
somewhere between the stream and the plaque location, which we later discovered
was near our truck parked out on River Road (see black circle on photo below.)
After
looking for the plaque and coming up empty-handed, we enlisted the help of two
guys who were jogging past. We showed them the photo we had of the plaque and
asked if they had ever seen it as they were jogging past the field. They
volunteered to help us search and yelled that they had found it, buried under a
bed of twigs. The twigs were arranged as if someone were planning to light a
fire there (maybe a “hint” left by our elusive Lt Col). We found that strange,
but brushed the twigs off and took a photograph of the plaque.
Harry took a
photo of me standing with the plaque to show the relative position of the
plaque to the fence, road, railroad track, and the river. The Hudson is just
beyond the railroad track behind me, but is hidden in this view.
I was
informed that members of the Moore family were there for a Moore family reunion
in 1991, at which time they dedicated the site, planted a tree, and ordered the
plaque. It seems that the original homesite is now the location of the new Anderson
Rugby Complex and Field House that opened in 2007.
Our next
stop was a drive back up River Road to an area overlooking the docks on the river
to try for another view of the original site of the Red House in relation to
the Hudson River. The view from there was absolutely breathtaking! I have
placed a white circle on the photo below to show the approximate location of
the homesite on the rugby field, just left of the field house.
Lastly, I
took the photo below from Trophy Point to show the relative distance from the
homesite on the left bank of the Hudson River directly across to Constitution
Island on the right bank, an island which is part of the grounds of the United
States Army Garrison, West Point. It was known as Martler’s Rock in colonial
times and renamed Constitution Island in 1775.
The Hudson
Highlands are gorgeous in October and I encourage other Stephen Moore
descendants to make the trip--you won’t be disappointed!
Very interesting post, Sandra, my cousin, Pam Reade Dawson forwarded this like to me. I'm a Moore descendant who lives in the Hudson Valley about 25 miles from West Point and I was at the 1991 reunion when the plaque was placed. My Grandfather, R. Percy Reade, was bore and raised in the Moore house at Mt. Tirzah and I was there myself this past Thanksgiving, but did not get to visit the house. If you every come back up to New York let me know. You should also go to Trinity Church in New York City and read all about Stephen's father John Moore who is buried there.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated Sandra's post and applaud her endeavor. Thirty years ago, when, as with Alex, I lived down river from the Point, I started investigating my Moore roots and was fascinated by the stories of Col. John Moore and the way he was ridiculed for building the Red House. They called it Moore' folly before the revolt, but it was a refuge for the family during the war, and a home when Stephen inherited it. Now, in my dotage, I regret not ever finding Mt. Tirzah. I traveled west from Roanoke Rapids one day, but never got past the library in Oxford. I did get to see the two land grants from the king that formed the lands that Stephen inherited. They were in the West Point Cadet Library, and I was allowed to photograph them. Awesome. I would appreciate more information about the newly restored Moore Home at Mt. Tirzah. My other relative, of that era, Robert Dickins, must have lived nearby. His son, Jesse, married Stephens daughter, Francis, who was born at the Red House on the Hudson. Arthur
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