Ingleside of Huntersville, NC
National Register Greek Revival-Italianate
Built by Dr. William Speight McLean Davidson c. 1865
Private residence
Ingleside of Huntersville (not to be confused with Ingleside of Iron Station) was the home of Dr. William Speight McLean Davidson. Ingleside is the Scottish word for fireside. The home is said to be built on the site of Samuel Wilson, Sr.'s home. Dr. Davidson was a descendant of Samuel Wilson through his daughter, Violet, who married Major John Davidson. The exact date of the home has been a mystery due to a lack of documentation. The first documented mention of the house was in 1865, and is the date used by the National Register historian. Since then, the house has been studied by dendrochronologists who dated timbers to the early 1860s.
Dr. Davidson married three times but only had one child, James "Jimmy" Torrance Davidson, named after his maternal grandfather James Galbraith Torrance of Cedar Grove. His mother was Jane Elizabeth Torrance, daughter of James G. and his second wife, Mary Latta. Jimmy was the grandson of Major John and Violet Davidson of Rural Hill.
Dr. Davidson was among the first 11 students in the first graduating class of Davidson College in 1840. He then attended the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston for his medical degree. He treated patients throughout the county and in his home. He was also a planter, and the 1860 census shows he had 30 enslaved people who lived in four houses on his plantation.