Stoneville is a small town in the northern reaches of Rockingham County, NC, a few miles south of the Virginia line between the Mayo and Dan rivers. The settlement was first known simply as “Mayo,” and it grew up around the general store that brothers Thomas and Pinckney Stone opened here in the late 1850s — the store that eventually gave the town both its center and its name.
Stoneville was officially incorporated on March 5, 1877, with Francis Stone, brother of the storekeepers, elected its first mayor. Its position as a natural stop on the Norfolk-Western rail line made it a trading hub for the surrounding area, and the town profited from the tobacco, cotton, and grist-milling industries that defined this part of the Piedmont.
Two pieces of Stoneville history stand out. Just outside town sits Deep Springs Plantation, whose original 1830s house — built by James Madison Scales — still stands as a private residence; the surrounding land is now a country club and golf course. And in 1846, a 25-pound meteorite fell near the plantation house, a genuine piece of the cosmos that’s now on display at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh.
Stoneville’s more recent history is marked by resilience. On March 20, 1998, an F3 tornado tore through the town, destroying much of the historic Henry Street business district and the old railway depot and claiming two lives. The community rebuilt in the years that followed, and a memorial in the downtown honors those lost in the storm.
Today Stoneville is a quiet small town with a compact downtown and a handful of local businesses. We’ve enjoyed exploring what it has to offer — check out some of what we got up to below.
Photos of Downtown Stoneville
Things to do in Stoneville
