ABOUT THIS GEOCACHE
Take a few moments to absorb the most famous house moving in Lewisville during my lifetime! This house is so important to the history of Lewisville that back when I was 4, plans were made to move it on the back of a truck to its current location - seriously! Take a look at the photo I've attached. You'll find this geocache in some Zebra grass to your right going up the brick steps from the larger parking lot by the house. Please make sure to use care in your search and leave everything just as you found it after you uncover the hidden treasure.
You may find a trackable to move to a new geocache home. In fact, every single geocache in this series starts off with at least one trackable.
ABOUT THIS FAMOUS HOUSE
The George Elias Nissen House, built circa 1876, has been a spacious home for many prominent Lewisville families for over 130 years. It served as home and office for at least two town doctors. The architectural design of the House is a combination of the simplicity and symmetry of Greek Revival featuring two-paneled doors, and the Italian Villa style including broad overhanging eaves with a three-gabled roof. The House originally had bay windows in the front that were removed sometime after 1909. There are 8 fireplaces, one in each room.
The Nissen House Project:
The Nissen House Project began in the spring of 2008 when the House was purchased and scheduled for demolition. The Lewisville Historical Society took action, and with the help of the Town of Lewisville and the citizens, moved the House from its original location on the corner of Arrow Leaf Drive and Shallowford Road to its present location on January 1, 2009.
Significance of George Elias Nissen:
George Elias Nissen was born in 1839 the oldest son of John Philip Nissen who started the Nissen Wagon Works in 1834 in Waughtown of the Wachovia Tract. After serving in the Civil War, George came back and helped in the family business. He also started his own projects. Lewisville was situated on the Great Wagon Road and near the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin River, making it a prime location for business at that time. In the 1870s, George was running a Grist Mill in the Lewisville Township which was the 4th largest industry in the County at that time. He also ran a sawmill in downtown Lewisville with his brother-in-law, Lewis Case Laugenour, the founder and namesake of Lewisville who built a large 2-story Greek Revival House in 1860 in the middle of the new town (GC971AA). In the 1870s, the house of Laugenour and the house of Nissen defined the perimeters of the new town of Lewisville, named in 1859. The Laugenour and Nissen Sawmill was located in what is now the Town Square of Lewisville (GC94ZKT) and was in existence at least by 1872. Both the Laugenour family and the Nissen family had roots in Friedland of the Wachovia Tract. Laugenour had worked for John Philip Nissen as a young man and there met George’s younger sister, Mary Elizabeth, who would become Laugenour’s bride.
After their father John Philip died in 1874, George and his younger brother William managed the business under the name of George E. Nissen Wagon Works. He modernized the wagon making process enabling the business to turn out 10,000 wagons per year. The Nissen Wagon (GC94ZKT) made it possible for economic growth, with farmers and tradesmen coming from the west through Lewisville on the Great Wagon Road to Salem and Winston with tobacco, corn, and other products. Under the management of George Elias, the Wagon Works expanded to enable western expansion and the growth of the textile and tobacco industries in the Piedmont of North Carolina. George Elias Nissen, a member of an important innovative entrepreneurial family who influenced business in the area from the 1700s, was quiet and unassuming but had a genius for accomplishing things. George Nissen also served as Census Enumerator for the 1880 Census in the Lewisville Township. And he was Justice of the Peace for Lewisville for a time. He ran the Nissen Wagon Works until 1910 and died in 1913 just before his 74th birthday.
As his obituary in the Winston-Salem Journal of September 20, 1913 describes: “Within his lifetime, he saw Forsyth County and Winston-Salem ‘unfold like a rose of a thousand leaves.’ He was a pioneer in the local business world…a great factor in the development of this city.” And he had a great influence on the development of the emerging town of Lewisville.
THE LEWISVILLE HISTORICAL WALK GEOCACHING SERIES
I've lived in Lewisville most of my life and have been involved in so many of the wonderful opportunities it provides, including free community concerts, plays, and parades. It is also pretty cool we have a Mayor that knows lots of people by their first names (including a teenager like me) and that I can walk to the public library, drug store, post office, boutique shops, Town Hall and 2 grocery stores within minutes.
I didn't know much about the history of the town so my family and I decided to get together with the Lewisville Historical Society to create a fun way to get to know the place we love better through geocaching.
We hope you enjoy this historical walking tour! All the locations are listed under lewisvillerocks and the titles include "Lewisville-A Small Town Full of Kindness". If you would like to complete it as a loop, the order for the walking tour is:
1. Mill GC971BA
2. Laugenour GC971AA
3. Town Sq GC94ZKT
4. Nissen GC9713J
5. H2O GC98VP1
* Alto! GC4NV32
6. Park GC971BD
*Y Nest Here? GC6YQRN
7. J Warren GC971A9
* On your way back to your car, you'll find "That's some strange looking tree" GC42TPB & depending on where you choose to park, "Common Ground" GC4FRZ3
Remember to take a pen to sign the logbooks, paper to solve the clues, some water and comfortable walking shoes!
Enjoy exploring Lewisville, please pick up and dispose of trash if you see any along the way and above all, have fun!
* The Nissen House Steering Committee approved the placement of this geocache on March 9, 2021.
SOLVE THIS PUZZLE TO UNLOCK A LITTLE PRIZE
GO TO ____A______. A = Clue at Laugenour GC971AA
CALL _____B______. B = Clue at Town Sq GC94ZKT
IS ___C___ __D__ __E__ __F__. C, D and F = Clues at Town Sq GC94ZKT. Clue E is contained in the description of Nissen GC9713J
COMBO = Clue at Mill GC971BA
CLUE FOR THIS STOP
E = third number in the year George Elias Nissen was born