A History of Yankee Hall Yankee Hall, also known as Pactolus Landing and Perkins Wharf, was an important early shipping point located at Spier's Landing on the north side of the Tar River, about 10 miles east of Greenville. Spier's Landing, as the area was known first, was named for John Spier who settled at Red Banks and died there in 1761. John Spier and several family members are buried in the old cemetery at Yankee Hall. Another early settler at Spier's Landing was Col. Alexander Stewart (1725-1772). Col. Stewart, a native of Scotland, was a militia officer, a member of Assembly and Clerk of Court in Beaufort County in 1751. He, his daughter Elizabeth Stewart (1759-1760) and his son, James Stewart (1766-1802), a merchant of Greenville, are also buried in the old cemetery at Yankee Hall. The first man I have found associated with Yankee Hall was Samuel Ralston (1778-1829). Ralston, a native of Ireland, appeared in Pitt County by 1808. He went into partnership with Franklin Gorham and had stores at Spier's Landing and in Greenville. In 1811, Ralston dissolved his partnership with Gorham and went into business with Churchill Perkins, operating a store at Spier's Landing under the style, Perkins and Ralston. About this time the name Yankee Hall begins to be used and appears to have been the name of Samuel Ralston's home. According to early descriptions, Yankee Hall was a large 2-story house sitting high off the ground situated in a grove about 200 yards from the wharf. As business grew, Yankee Hall became a thriving little port. In 1816, two ocean-going vessels were built at Yankee Hall. In March 1821, Thomas Telfair advertised that his celebrated Arabian horse, Mark Anthony, would stand at stud at Yankee Hall. Several other horses were brought to Yankee Hall for stud a number of years afterward. By the late 1830s, Pactolus, one mile north of Yankee Hall, had become a place of business and Yankee Hall became the town landing. On Jan. 1, 1842, W. G. B. Hadley and Henry I. Toole opened a store at Yankee Hall. In Dec. 1848, William Grimes advertised his Yankee Hall Store for rent. These businesses appear not to have lasted long. In 1842, John Bugh and Henry I. Toole leased land from Bryan Grimes on the south side of Tar River, on mile below Yankee Hall, and opened a seine fishery known as Yankee Hall fishery. The fishery lasted many years, being owned later by Godfrey Langley, William Grimes and G. A. McGowan in 1896. The Yankee Hall house, which was leased to Churchill Perkins, was finally bought by him at a Sheriff's Sale in 1851, because of debts owned by Ralston family heirs. Perkins lived in the house until his death after 1866. In July 1862, it was reported that the Union gunboat Picket and other artillery launches made a reconnoisance up Tar River and upon getting to Yankee Hall, fired a shell into the house, almost tearing the entire roof off. There were four or five Confederates in the house with their horses tied in front. They scattered in great confusion. The house is remembered to have been the rendezvous point for Confederate pickets and bore the distinct marks of shot and shell that it endured from Yankee encampments in the yard and patrol boats coming up the river. At Churchill Perkins's death, Yankee Hall was left to his son Julian V. Perkins (who continued to live in the house), and his son-in-law Rufus S. Tucker, of Raleigh, NC. Rufus Sylvester Tucker inherited his father's (Ruffin Tucker's) business in Raleigh in 1851, and with his brother, W. H. Tucker, built one of the largest mercantile establishments in the South. Tucker was Director of banks and railroads and was for many years President of the State Asylum. At his death in 1894, Rufus S. Tucker left an estate worth $1,000,000. In Dec. 1869, Rufus S. Tucker and wife sold their half interest in Yankee Hall to Julian V. Perkins. Perkins accumulated large debts and lost the property, which was bought back at a Sheriff's Sale by Rufus S. Tucker in 1884. Tucker then sold the house to William Grimes. The story of Yankee Hall came to an abrupt end one night in April 1890 when it burned to the ground. The house was occupied by Henry Dixon and family, overseer of Yankee Hall Farm; J. J. Laughinghouse was the farm manager at the time. Mr. Dixon's wife had given birth to a child four days before the fire and had to carried out through the rain to a neighboring house, barely escaping with her life. In Dec. 1890, a second fire destroyed the barn at the old farm. The barn was the largest in the county–an immense frame structure 60 x 90 feet. Burned were 6000 bushels of peanuts, 100 barrels of corn and 50 tons of hay. Both fires were of incendiary origin. Since the 1880s, Yankee Hall had been the site of numerous steamboat excursions and picnics. At the turn of the century there was a covered pavilion for dancing and tables with benches provided for the picnics. Today, Yankee Hall still serves as a recreational area for boating and fishing. And like so many old places in Pitt County, lost to the past, it's just another beautiful spot along the Tar River.