Somerset Place
- For the Georgian crescent in Bath, England, see Somerset Place (Bath).
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Somerset Place State Historic Site | |
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Somerset Place | |
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| Location | In Pettigrew State Park, near Creswell, North Carolina |
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| Coordinates | 35°47′16.84″N 76°24′18.38″W / 35.7880111°N 76.4051056°W |
| Area | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Built | 1830 |
| Architectural style | Other, "double-pile" plan |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000481[1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 26, 1970 |
Somerset Place is a former plantation near Creswell in Washington County, North Carolina, along the northern shore of Lake Phelps, and now a State Historic Site. Somerset Place operated as a plantation from 1785 until 1865. Before the end of the American Civil War, Somerset Place had become one of the Upper South's largest plantations.[2][3]
In 1969, Somerset Place was designated as a State Historic Site. In 1986, descendants of African American slaves from Somerset Place planned a gathering known as Somerset Homecoming.[4] The event inspired a book titled "Somerset Homecoming" written by the property's former manager Dorothy Spruill Redford, who retired in 2008.[5]
Visitors can tour the 1830s period plantation house, the dairy, kitchen/laundry, kitchen rations building, smokehouse and salting house. The site features several reconstructed buildings for the plantation's slaves, including two homes and the plantation hospital; the grounds include stocks that were used to punish slaves.
The visitor center's exhibits display the history of the site and antebellum North Carolina. There is also a gift shop.
Nature trails lead to Pettigrew State Park, which adjoins the site.
References
- ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Somerset Place - colossal slave-built plantation - North Carolina's African-American Culture: Advertising Travel Supplement" in FindArticles, April-May, 1995. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
- ↑ Raymond F. Pisney (February 1970). "Somerset Place State Historic Site" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
- ↑ " Restored Plantation Is Peek Into The Past" in The Virginian-Pilot, June 1, 1997. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
- ↑ "Dorothy Spruill Redford" in UNC-TV, 2001. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somerset Place, North Carolina. |
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. NC-23, "Somerset Place, Lake Phelps, Pettigrew State Park, Creswell, Washington County, NC", 2 photos, 3 data pages
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. NC-24, "Somerset Place, Granary, Lake Phelps, Pettigrew State Park, Creswell, Washington County, NC", 1 photo, 2 data pages
- Somerset Place - official site
- An Historic Albemarle Tour Site
