The Caswell County Historical Association (CCHA) is a volunteer run entity that was organized in 1956. In addition to owning and operating the Richmond-Miles History Museum in Yanceyville, North Carolina the association works to collect, preserve and document the history of Caswell County NC. The CCHA also works in coordination with other historical entities to preserve and document the architecture, geography and physical features of Caswell County and the surrounding areas. The CCHA offers historical and genealogical research programs to assist those who wish to learn about their personal histories.

The Richmond-Miles Museum is owned and operated by the Caswell County Historical Association (CCHA). The Museum is located in the Graves-Florance-Gatewood House in Yanceyville, North Carolina. The museum is named for the paternal grandmothers of its benefactors, Thomas Richmond McPherson, Jr., and Kathy Sue Simmons McPherson. Tom and Kathy’s Richmond and Miles ancestors were in Caswell County before the Revolutionary War. Tom’s Richmond ancestors lived in the old Richmond District of the county, the Leasburg/Hightowers area. Kathy’s grandmother, Minnie Ethel Miles Simmons (1900-1996), was an active member of the Cherry Grove community her whole life, which spanned more than ninety years. She was a lover of history, a teacher, and the cafeteria manager in Caswell County Schools. Tom and Kathy’s act of generosity greatly extends the ability of the CCHA to serve those interested in the history of Caswell County. That act will never be forgotten.

Built around 1822, the Graves-Florance-Gatewood House is formally named for its owners in chronological order; but, until converted into a museum, it simply was referred to as the Gatewood House. The house was built by the prominent Graves family, which at one time owned all the land around the Square in Yanceyville and radiating out for miles. In 1880, the Florance family purchased the house and it remained in that family until acquired by the CCHA. The structure became known as the Gatewood House when John Yancey Gatewood (1893-1954) married Mary Lea Florance (1903-1995), daughter of the second owner, Thomas Jefferson Florance (1858-1926). Mary Lea Florance was born in the house in 1903, and a plaque outside the room in which she was born commemorates the event. The building served as a residence, a school, and possibly a small hotel.

Here is a “technical” description of the building by professional architectural historian Ruth Little in her 1979 An Inventory of Historic Architecture: Caswell County, North Carolina:
Gatewood House. Early 19th century. Two-story frame house with four exterior end brick chimneys, apparently built in the early 19th century and remodeled during both Greek Revival and late Victorian periods. In the mid-19th century it is said to have been a hotel run by the Jones brothers.

Also born in the house that now is the Richmond-Miles History Museum was famous Yanceyville artist Maud Florance Gatewood (1934-2004). Maud was the only child of John Yancey Gatewood and Mary Lea Florance Gatewood. Accordingly, it is only appropriate that the room in which Maud Gatewood was born now serves as the focal point of the extensive Maud Gatewood art exhibit, including the canvas upon which she was working when she died in 2004.

The rooms of the museum (on two floors) contain, in addition to the Maud Gatewood exhibit, items reflecting the depth and breadth of Caswell County’s history. These range from a pistol once owned by Senator John Walter Stephens, who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in the historic Caswell County Courthouse, to a portrait of Bartlett Yancey, Jr. (1785-1828), for whom Yanceyville is named, to the typewriter used by Caswell’s beloved Register of Deeds, John Burch Blaylock (1909-1995). There are American Indian tools and arrow heads, and uniforms and related items from the various wars in which Caswell County men and women served. There is an ancient spinning loom. And the portrait gallery contains images of the famous people of the county. On display is Thomas Day furniture and lawyers’ chairs from the historic Caswell County Courthouse, which is just across the Square from the museum. The museum also is fortunate to have on loan many of the antique clocks of local collector Leon Richmond.

The Sallie Anderson Room includes shelves of reference books and decades of genealogical records that are available to those who visit the museum. A nominal charge is made for copies. On the museum grounds is a tobacco barn, which is symbolic of the importance tobacco has played in the economy of Caswell County.