Enon Hall

Enon Hall is a farm in Lancaster County near White Stone on the headwaters of Antipoison Creek. Generations of the Dameron family have lived on the Enon Hall farm since 1952. The manor home on the property dates back past the Revolutionary War and was known as "Andrew's" in 1762 when it was sold by Andrew Donaldson to William Hathaway for 100 pounds. At that time the estate contained 200 acres, the house and outbuildings. The farm remained in the hands of the Hathaway family until 1940 and the estate grew to over 400 acres. The name Enon Hall was given by the Hathaway family. On the far east side of the farm a home named Somerset was built for one of the Hathaway daughters, before 1900 that tract of land that home sat was no longer part of the Enon Hall estate and became known as the Yerby Farm.

At some point before 1900 Fairfax Lewis, a sharecropper from Richmond County, moved his family to Enon Hall to work and they lived in a home on the eastern edge of the estate, adjacent to the Yerby Farm. In 1906 the Lewis family moved closer to White Stone and eventually Fairfax purchased his own farm.

In 1915 Walter E. Hathaway bought the "Plain View Tract" later known as the Lock Farm of 100 acres on opposite side of Antipoison Creek from Enon Hall to enlarge the estate. Three years later Walter died and the land passed to his son, Henry S. Hathaway. Henry was married in 1935 and five years later Enon Hall was listed for auction. The farm was owned by the Moss, Hooper and McKenzie families before being purchased by Elton Dameron and Louise Bryant in 1952. The 1952 listing included the house, 407 acres, livestock and farm machinery for $85,000.

Elton Dameron and his family lived in the Enon Hall farmhouse. The following year his son, Ralph Dameron married and moved across the creek to a small house on the Plain View Tract that the family called "The Shanty." Elton worked the farm and also subdivided waterfront lots off of the property. In 1963 Elton built a new brick home on the east side of the farm and moved out of the old plantation house. Ralph moved his family into the spacious old home for a short time while building a new home on the east side of the farm as well. Soon after the new Dameron homes were complete the farmhouse portion of the property was sold to the McKesson family.

Ralph Dameron and Frances Franklin moved to Monaskon Plantation in upper Lancaster County in the late 1970's. Around the same time Mark Dameron married Maida George and they built a home beside the homes of his father and grandfather. Elton lived on Enon Hall farm until his death in 1987. When Mark Dameron opened a driveway and hauling business in 1999 he named it EnonEast Earth Maintenance in honor of the farm that he had spent his entire life on.

Also in 1999 the original Enon Hall farmhouse was purchased by Bill and Gay Chapman. Bill, whose full name is William Hathaway Chapman, is a descendant of the original Hathaway owners on his mother's side. Bill and his family spent years restoring the home and grounds while also adding modern updates. Much of their early work is documented on their website at EnonHall.com.