Spotlight on a Local Landmark

The Crews House is a two-story, frame dwelling with a wraparound porch, set amidst a grove of trees and flanked by several outbuildings and the brick smokestack of the former Crews Tobacco Factory. The collection of outbuildings includes a smokehouse and wash house, which are among the best examples of their types remaining in Forsyth County.       

The brick smokestack still stands on the property as a reminder of Thomas Crews’ role in Walkertown’s industrial heyday at the turn of the century. Crews, along with his brother James, built the T.A. Crews Tobacco Factory in 1891. The Crews brands were purchased in 1904 by a tobacco conglomerate, and the factory was converted into the Walkertown Milling Company.

After the building burned in 1911, Crews entered the wholesale produce business. Although he is most important as an industrialist, Crews’ successes in that area may be cited as a factor in his leadership in the community, both as a leader in Love’s Methodist Church and as a benefactor of the local school system.   

On December 19, 1994, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners officially designated the Thomas A. Crews House property, located at 4997 Main Street in Walkertown, as a Local Historic Landmark. The Crews property was also recognized in 1993 through its listing in the National Register of Historic Places.    

The Thomas A. Crews House is one of the community’s finest reminders of its outstanding history and architecture, and is a property of which Forsyth County should be proud.