Franklin County Historic Homes and Garden Tour
Sponsored by the
Person Place Preservation Society
www.personplace.org | 605 North Main Street, Louisburg, N.C.
Date & Time (Rain or Shine)
Saturday, April 27, 2019
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Purchasing Tickets
Cost
$18 in advance (ends 5pm Friday, 4/26)
$20 Day of Tour
Cash, Checks, & Credit Cards Accepted
Where to Buy:
In Person - LOUISBURG
The Coffee Hound Bookshop
The Franklin Times
Person Place (Day of Tour)
In Person - WAKE FOREST
The Cotton Company
In Person - LAKE ROYAL/BUNN
(919) 539-7868
Purchasing Lunch (Optional)
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Hosted by Bob Radcliffe and Kerry Carter at Lynch Creek Farm Cabin
WHERE
Lynch Creek Farm Cabin
WHEN
Served 11am - 2pm
COST
$10 per person
Please note that lunches must be purchased in advance through the Lynch Creek Farm website
**Advanced Reservations Required by April 24th**
MENU
Cup of Soup (Seasonal)
Fresh Garden Salad
Sliced Roasted Chicken Breast
Homemade Ciabatta Roll
Dessert – Brownie
Sweet Tea, Coffee
About The Tour…
Rocky Ford and the Old Post Road
This year’s tour focuses on properties near Rocky Ford and on the old post road that ran between Warrenton and Louisburg. Travel back to a time when stagecoaches to and from Richmond passed through Franklin County and its seat, Louisburg, both founded in 1779. Marvel at outstanding architecture dating from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, including houses on Main Street, a segment of the old post road. Take a leisurely walk through an outstanding garden and sit by its lovely pool. Also, enjoy an optional gourmet buffet luncheon prepared by The BreadWorks at Lynch Creek Farm Cabin!
Properties
Person Place
Reflecting two building periods and resting on a stone foundation, the Person Place is associated with the development of the town of Louisburg and Louisburg College. The modest Georgian-style, one-and-one-half-story dwelling, built ca. 1789, originally exhibited a hall-and-parlor plan but was enlarged later by a two-story rear ell. During the 1830s, an impressive two-story Federal-style, temple-front addition transformed the house into a sophisticated antebellum home.
It features a one-story entrance portico supported by Doric columns, a pedimented gable with fanlight, and a transverse-hall floor plan.
Franklin Male Academy
Chartered in 1787 and again in 1802, Franklin Male Academy opened on January 1, 1805, in this two-story transitional Georgian- and Federal-style frame building. Matthew Dickinson, a recent graduate of Yale College, served as the first preceptor or principal. Later known as Louisburg Male Academy, the school remained a private institution until 1905, when construction of the new Louisburg Graded School required moving the academy to its present site. An exhibit, “Franklin Male Academy: A Century of Commitment to Education, 1805-1905,” and period furnishings complement the restored building.
Davis-Allen-Ford House
Thought to have been built prior to 1861 for lawyer Joseph Jonathan Davis (1828-1892) on a tract of 23 acres, this house with central tower and deep cornices reflects the Italianate style popular in North Carolina during the mid-nineteenth century. Davis served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1875-1881) and on the N.C. Supreme Court (1887-1892). In 1892 his daughter, Mary H. Allen, purchased the property. It was acquired in 1947 by Charles E. and Martha Ford. Much of the land east of the house was later developed. Two important outbuildings, a smokehouse and garage, stand southeast of the residence.
Hicks-Perry-Bland-Holmes House
Built in 1914 for dry goods merchant Brantley G. Hicks, this Neoclassical-style house was designed by local architect M. Stuart Davis. Dramatically situated on an elevated lot, this two-story, double-pile dwelling features a monumental central pedimented portico and a nearly full façade one-story porch with a bowed central bay and second floor balcony. Both are supported by four fluted Ionic columns. The interior features a center-hall plan and impressive woodwork. The present owner’s restoration work began in 2018 and has included replacement of the four large columns that were missing or badly deteriorated, the removal of a later addition, and paint removal.
Shine-King House
Built ca. 1790 on a raised Flemish-bond brick foundation, this dwelling is one of the oldest in Louisburg and is associated with the family of Sarah Long Shine (1760-1846), a key figure in local civic and religious life. Dr. Robert E. King, a dentist, purchased the house in 1891 and then had it expanded to its present size by 1901. It features a clipped gable roof, a central dormer, and gable ends with decorative shingles. Local historian Edward Hill Davis wrote in 1942 that more than 100 years earlier, a circus elephant escaped and found refuge in the basement of this house.
Timberlake House
The center of a more than 1,000-acre plantation called Rose Hill owned by Lark Fox, the restored Timberlake House illustrates, from its construction to the present. four distinct building periods and architectural styles: ca. 1803, transitional Georgian-Federal; ca. 1840, late Federal; ca. 1880, late Victorian; and ca. 1910, Neoclassical. These transitions also reflect an ownership shift first in the early 1830s to the family of Richard F. Yarborough, a merchant, and then in 1877 to Julius P. Timberlake, a farmer, and his descendants. The present owners have restored and enlarged the dwelling as their home and a venue for special events.
Cobb-Williamson House
A charming home with a fascinating history, the Cobb-Williamson House has at its core a one-and-a-half-story, two-room washhouse that was once associated with nearby Edgewood, the antebellum plantation home of William P. Williams. In 1904, W. H. Allen purchased Edgewood, which included 175 acres, and remodeled it in the Neoclassical style for his home. His heirs sold four lots along N. Main Street, including this one deeded in 1943 to a daughter, Alba Allen Cobb. About 1947, George and Alba Cobb moved the former washhouse here and renovated it for their home, making additions in 1952, 1965, and 1986. Descendants continue to enjoy this unique home with enclosed corner stair, board paneling, and wide floorboards.
Armstrong Garden
The present owners purchased this property in 2000 from Dr. and Mrs. Bernard L. Patterson, who had planted many of the azaleas that adorn the garden. Among the enhancements made in recent years by the Armstrongs is the lovely pool on the northeast corner of the lot, which utilizes water from an existing creek.
Wilson House
Situated on the site of the plantation seat of Stephen Outterbridge (d. 1824) and known as Tutor Hall, this residence features some of the finest woodwork associated with the Montmorenci-Prospect Hill School in Franklin County. Erected ca. 1830 to enlarge an 18th-century Georgian-style, one-and-a-half-story dwelling with dormers, it provided sophisticated areas for entertaining and schooling, including a ballroom, dining room, and study rooms. The earlier ell, connected only by a porch, was raised ca. 1890 to two stories. During the 1950s, these two distinct structures were separated by turning this front portion 90°and moving it a short distance south. Today, they are neighboring residences. For more than a century, the house was associated with the family of Archibald William Wilson.
Monreath
Embodying important mid-18th to early 19th-century building practices, Monreath, an enlarged two-story dwelling with cut stone chimneys, is linked with three notable owners: James Maxwell, 1807-35, who named it for his ancestral home in Scotland; Dr. Joseph Blount Cheshire of Tarboro, who used it as a summer home, 1850-71; and the Davis/Jones families since 1892. Maxwell probably enlarged on site an earlier 18th-century hall-and-parlor plan dwelling as reflected by its modest Georgian-style interior and exterior woodwork, Flemish bond brick foundation, enclosed stair rising along the interior partition wall, and period hardware. The farm complex reflects the careful stewardship of the present owners.
Jones-Wright House
Probably built ca. 1790 for Daniel Jones, a captain in the 3rd Continental Line during the Revolution, this Georgian-style house was for many years during the 19th century the home of Mary Delphia “Polly” Wright. The structure stands on a stone foundation and features windows with nine over nine sashes. The interior of the house includes paneled wainscoting, six-paneled doors, framed fireplaces, and an enclosed stair. One of the brick chimneys has double shoulders and is laid in Flemish bond with a glazed header chevron. The tract contains a number of older outbuildings. The present owner’s restoration includes reconstruction of the front gabled portico and replication of the original beaded siding.
Lynch Creek Farm Cabin
This picturesque, two-story cabin was built with logs salvaged from two 19th-century, “13-log” pack houses found in Elmo, Va. Erected on an exposed masonry, hillside foundation, the cabin retains the footprint of the original 20’ x 22’ pack houses, and includes a Tennessee field
stone fireplace, high-end kitchen, and two modern bathrooms. The first and second floors are currently used as both public and private meeting and dining venues. The grounds have been naturally terraced for outdoor dining, and landscaped with stone walls, native trees, rhododendron, azaleas, and ferns. The cabin is the headquarters of the Ben Franklin Society, a non-profit organization that supports local cultural and educational projects.