If walls could talk, an 18th century log cabin in downtown Wilkesboro would tell the tale of family, of freedom, and of pride by an entire county for its builder.

His name was Robert Cleveland and the impact he had on our country is something the entire town wants everyone to know.

[soft music] - Robert Cleveland came to North Carolina with several of his family members in the 1770s.

They were from Northern Virginia.

They settled all along the Yadkin River valley area.

- [Deborah] Cleveland's first order of business was to buy land and build a home.

- [Jason] The Robert Cleveland house stood on Parsonville Road on Lewis Fort Creek and the family cemetery was about 800 feet further up the road.

- [Deborah] By the late 1770s southern campaigns of the Revolutionary War had begun and Robert proudly served as a captain for the Patriot cause.

- And one of his first duties was to go with the Wilkes County militia, the Surrey County militia westward where they met up with some over mountain Tennessee troops, or in what now is Tennessee.

And when they ended up at the Battle of King's Mountain in October, 1780.

- [Deborah] In that battle, Robert served under his brother, Colonel Benjamin Cleveland.

- He was the one who was known to take the horn, the ox horn, and to call the men to come for the what would be the muster before they went up to King's Mountain.

- [Deborah] It was a decisive victory for the Patriots and one that's often called a turning point in the war.

Robert returned home to Wilkes County a hero, and it's the physical residence he returned to that generations since have fought to save.

- This was built in 1779.

Robert Cleveland and his 17 children lived here.

[Jason chuckles] - [Deborah] At that time, most homes in the area were roughly 17 feet by 17 feet square, making Cleveland's home much larger, as stated in its first tax listing in 1798.

- That tax list lists this house as being 18 feet by 36 feet, two stories with a plank roof.

This was the fifth largest house in the entire county.

So that makes this a landmark.

If people are wanting to find a place to meet, to conduct business, to handle government matters, it was built during the Revolutionary War.

They might've had meetings about strategy.

This would've been a place where they could meet.

- [Deborah] The home remained in the Cleveland family until the 1930s when it was sold and then sat empty for 50 years, - [Jason] Started seeing the house fall apart.

You know, if we don't do something, we have to save it.

- [Deborah] Funds were raised from state and local interests to dismantle a home and move it 12 miles from its original site to Wilkesboro where it was reconstructed next to other historic properties and opened as a museum in 1987.

- [Jason] Stepping inside of the Robert Cleveland house, it does take you back in time.

- That's how people were making their clothes.

- Yeah.

- And it is a way for us to teach and preserve local history.

- [Deborah] All from two rooms on the first floor and one large room upstairs.

- So imagine in the wintertime, whichever kids came up to bed first, they got the beds closest to the fireplace at the far end.

Whoever was last would get the bed farthest from the fireplace.

- [Deborah] Today the home provides tours and demonstrations for those wanting to learn about Cleveland as well as what life in the home was like all those years ago.

- I do that with food ways, talking about food, open hearth cooking.

It's a way to teach young people and older people the skills that our ancestors had, the necessity of certain things that they had to have to survive.

And it's part of who we are.

- A part the citizens of Wilkes County don't ever want to be forgotten - Because it's fun to learn about history.

- It's just an important building because it's real.

It's real and it's still working.

[uplifting music] - The Robert Cleveland house is at 100 East Main Street in Wilkesboro.

To plan your visit, give them a call at 336-667-3171. or visit wilkescountytourism.com.