The circumstances of Governor Burton's death have long been part of family oral tradition and North Carolina lore. As Armistead C. Gordon, Esq. recounts in Marguerite du Pont Lee's Virginia Ghosts and Others, "Among the historic homes in the old County and town of Halifax, N.C. is "Rocky Hill" the summer residence of Governor Hutchins G. Burton, a distinguished lawyer and statesman of the Revolutionary period, who married a daughter of Willie Jones, the famous Jeffersonian-Republican leader through whose efforts the adoption of the Federal Constitution was defeated in the Hillsboro Convention of North Carolina because it contained no Bill of Rights. Governor Burton lived at "The Grove," the residence of his father-in-law, Willie Jones, in the town of Halifax where John Paul, the young Scotch sailor, spent some months prior to entering the American Navy at the beginning of the Revolution, and in honor of whose owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jones; he adopted the name of John Paul Jones. Governor Burton and his family were staying at Rocky Hill in the spring of 1836, when he was called to Texas where he owned a large tract of land. Setting out by stage coach, he arrived at Salisbury in the western part of the State and stopped there on his way south to look after some business in court. Meeting his cousin Robert Burton of Lincoln County he went home with him to spend a few days. On the trip to Lincoln County he and his cousin visited the Wayside Inn and spent the night. Here he was taken ill and died within twenty-four hours, April 21, 1836 at age 61. His wife had been on a visit and was returning to Rocky Hill about dusk in her carriage driven by her servant William and accompanied by an infant grandchild and a nurse. As they approached the house which is situated on a high hill she and William saw Governor Burton coming down the hill on a white horse which he usually rode. Her attention was distracted momentarily by the crying of the child and when she looked again expecting her husband to speak as he approached the carriage both rider and horse had vanished. On account of the slow mail facilities of the time, Mrs. Burton did not hear of the Governor's death until three weeks after it occurred, and she then learned that he had died at the very hour when the apparition had appeared to her and her carriage driver. Rocky Hill which is situated near Ringwood in Halifax County was still standing in 1918 and was then owned by Mr. S. Harrison. The story of Governor Burton's apparition is well authenticated and has persisted in Halifax County for nearly a hundred years. He was buried in Unity Churchyard, Lincoln County."
