Steele Township, Rowan County, North Carolina

Thomas Gillespie (c. 1719 – December 13, 1786) was a large plantation owner in mid-to-late 18th-century North Carolina and served as commissary of the Rowan County Regiment in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. He spent his early life in Augusta County, Virginia before migrating to Anson County, North Carolina in about 1750, where he lived most of his life on Sills Creek in the area that became Rowan County, North Carolina in 1753. He and his wife and son were the first white settlers west of the Yadkin River. He owned a plantation of over 1,000 acres on Sills Creek in Rowan County, as well as 6,000 acres in the area of western North Carolina that became part of the state of Tennessee in 1796. He was an early elder in the Thyatira Presbyterian Church in Rowan County, which had been established by 1750. Thomas was the great-grandfather of U.S. President James K. Polk through the lineage of his daughter Lydia, who married Captain James Knox and gave birth to Jane Gracey Knox, mother of the President.

Thyatira Presbyterian Church, Cemetery, and Manse is a historic church at 220 White Road off NC 150 in Mill Bridge in Rowan County, North Carolina, ten miles west of the town of Salisbury. Presbyterians have been worshiping at this site since at least 1753.The current Gothic Revival church building was constructed between 1858 and 1860 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The church was originally organized as early as 1753 as Cathey's Meeting Place on its current site on Cathey's Creek. The adjacent cemetery features gravestones dating back to 1755. The church is still in active use, and the congregation is currently affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Hall Family House is a historic home and farm located near Bear Poplar, Rowan County, North Carolina. The farmhouse was built in 1856–1857, and is a two-story, three-bay, "L"-plan Greek Revival style frame dwelling. It has a full width front porch and two-story rear ell. Its builder James Graham also built the Jacob Barber House and the Robert Knox House. Also on the property are the contributing triple-pen log barn, log smokehouse, water tank, milking parlor, and barn (1925).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Owen-Harrison House is a historic plantation house located near Mill Bridge, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built in 1843, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, four-bay, double pile brick dwelling with Federal/Greek Revival-style design elements. The front facade has a restored one-story pedimented porch and there are two chimneys on each gable end.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Mill Bridge is an unincorporated community and populated place officially registered as Mill Bridge in 1874. It is located primarily in Atwell Township and Steele Township in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. With part extending into Mount Ulla Township. The prominent features include the Kerr Mill, Thyatira Presbyterian Church, and Millbridge Speedway.

East Spencer Graded School was a historic school in East Spencer, North Carolina. A one-story building with three classrooms went up in 1909, and an addition was made in 1913. A two-story Classical Revival building designed by Charles C. Hook was built in 1921, with a north classroom section and auditorium designed by Yoe, Northup and O’Brien in 1937.The town's only school for white students housed all grades until the completion of North Rowan High School in 1958, after which East Spencer School housed grades one through eight. As new schools opened, students were sent to those schools, with the last students moving to North Rowan Middle School in 1974. After the school closed, the Rowan County Schools took over the building for its offices and converted the auditorium to a meeting room.By 2012, efforts were under way to build new offices for the school system, which had five locations. The 88-year-old East Spencer building, according to structural consultants, "far exceeded the useful service life."The first offices for the consolidated school system opened in Salisbury in 2016. Even before school system offices moved out, a 2015 study by the UNC School of Government Development showed possible uses were residential, office and retail. The town of East Spencer bought the buildings in 2016. The buildings were used for storage, events and meetings, and a community garden was out front. Plans for low-income housing fell through, though developer Landmark Group completed and paid for the application for the National Register of Historic Places. A 2019 Salisbury Post article said that according to the application, "[b]oth buildings are intact and increasingly rare examples of early 20th-century institutional architecture."On January 7, 2023, a 5-alarm fire destroyed the main building. East Spencer police chief John Fewell said an investigation showed "juveniles" accidentally set the fire. As of May, the building that burned had been demolished and plans were being made for a community center in the remaining building.

West Rowan High School is a public, co-educational secondary school located in Mount Ulla, North Carolina. It is one of seven high schools in the Rowan-Salisbury School System.

Wood Grove is a historic plantation house located near Bear Poplar, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built about 1825, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, three-bay, Federal style brick dwelling. It sits on a stone foundation, has a hipped roof front porch, and one-story rear kitchen ell.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Barber Farm, also known as Luckland, is a historic farm complex and national historic district located near Cleveland, Rowan County, North Carolina. The Jacob Barber House was built about 1855, and is a two-story, single-pile, three-bay vernacular Greek Revival style frame dwelling. It has a one-story rear ell and a one-story shed roofed rear porch. Its builder James Graham also built the Robert Knox House and the Hall Family House. Other contributing resources are the cow barn (c. 1947), smokehouse (c. 1880 / 1940s), granary (c. 1855), double crib log barn (c. 1855), well house (c. 1940), log corn crib / barn (c. 1855 / 1940), carriage house (c. 1890), school (c. 1910), Edward W. Barber House (1870s), Edward W. Barber Well House (1870s), North Carolina Midland Railroad Right-of-Way (c. 1899), and the agricultural landscape.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Bear Poplar is an unincorporated community mostly within Steele Township in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. Some of the western part extends into neighboring Mount Ulla Township.