Historic Carson House, Marion NC
Historic Carson House, Marion NC

Martha Childers Jordan, Executive Director

Martha Jordan is a native of McDowell County.  She was raised on the old McCall Family farm in the North Cove section of McDowell County.  Her parents were both teachers as was her grandmother.  After graduation from North Cove School and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she began teaching at Pleasant Gardens Elementary in 1976 and taught there until 2012.  She is a member of the McDowell Historical Society, Over Mountain Victory Trail and Greenlee DAR.  She is an active volunteer with Special Olympics and serves on the Board of Directors for Foothills Industries. 

Martha enjoys teaching living history with school children and has organized living history days for nearly every school in McDowell County.  Her Revolutionary War ancestors provide many of the historical accounts she uses her programs.  These ancestors include: Captain John Connelly, Capt. George Ledbetter, Robert McCall, Johannes Casper Schell, Sr. and Jr., John Childers and Nathaniel Freeman. 

She serves as Registrar for the Greenlee Chapter DAR and previously served as Regent for 6 years.  She also served as State Chairman of the Flag of the United States Committee for DAR. 

In her spare time she loves to cook, decorate cakes, play with her grandchildren, visit nursing home residents and learn about local history. 

She has 4 children and 4 grandchildren.  In 2009, she married her high school sweetheart after raising her children for the most part as a single mom.  Currently, Martha and her husband Ben live in the Lake James area of McDowell County.

Working at the Historic Carson House is a dream come true for Martha.  She loves being surrounded by historical artifacts and the atmosphere of an old home.  She said, “I feel like I go to work every day in my grandmother’s house.”

Martha would like to encourage history lovers of all ages to become members of the Historic Carson House.  Membership is a crucial role for keeping our heritage alive.

Martha Childers Jordan, Executive Director

Shelba Murray

Shelba Murray is a retired educator who has a fondness for teaching people of all ages about the history of the Carson family and life in the area in the 1800s. Raised on a farm, she understands the work it took for early pioneers to plant, harvest, and preserve food for large families. She also understands the joy and appreciation that hard work brings, and she is delighted to share that understanding with folks who tour the Carson House.

The parents of a daughter and two sons, she and her husband, Terry, worked hard to build their home on Old Linville Road in the North Cove/Ashford community. While their children attended North Cove Elementary, Shelba attended first McDowell Tech and then Appalachian State where she earned a BS in Elementary Education. After teaching a couple years at the elementary level, she began teaching GED, ESL, and other classes for adults at McDowell Tech. She earned an MA Degree in Higher Education from ASU and taught English and Mathematics at McDowell Tech before becoming Director of Adult Basic Education in 2000.

Retiring twelve years later, Shelba traveled within the US and the Caribbean, and then built a home in the Pleasant Gardens area near her children and five grandchildren, and one great-grandson. She currently enjoys volunteering at the Chamber of Commerce and giving tours at the Historic Carson House.

Shelba Murray

Crystal Wileman - Tour Guide

Crystal Wileman having been a former Civil War re-enactor and lover of history came to the Carson House full of enthusiasm.

Crystal has a young daughter who also shares her love of history and love of the Carson house. Crystal helps with the Junior Historians and Carson House Kids. She loves sharing and bringing history alive for future generations.

Crystal Wileman

Freddie Ward - Bookkeeper

Freddie Ward comes to Historic Carson House with years of loving history, genealogy and accounting. Having been a Carson volunteer, it was natural to step up to help with finances.

Freddie has one son, three grandsons and finally, great-granddaughter. When there’s time, she loves all kinds of crafts, reading, involvement in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the pool.

Freddie Ward