{"nrhp_refnum":"01001071","name":"Playmore-Bowery Road Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1309-1311 Horse Cove Rd., 7,215,225,369,455 and 172-176,200,462 Bowery Rd., and 375-471 Upper Lake Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Highlands","county":"Macon County","state":"NC","lat":35.05270678000005,"lon":-83.18254288399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-03-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":[],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural district of nineteenth and early-twentieth century summer cottages, outbuildings, grounds, a park and a gravel road on a ridge overlooking Horse Cove, about a mile east of Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina. It covers roughly 220 acres, with buildings dating from 1879-1880 to about 1934-1940.","why_significant":"The district preserves a cluster of summer estates and cottages in the mountain resort of Highlands, anchored by Playmore, built in 1879-1880 for Samuel Prioleau Ravenel and described as the town's finest summer house. The estate and cottages retain their wooded setting, stone features and outbuildings. The Ravenel family's early association with Highlands is also tied to Ravenel Park and Wolf Ridge.","narrative":"On a ridge about a mile east of Highlands, North Carolina, a group of summer cottages sits among rhododendrons, hemlocks and hardwoods above Horse Cove. The district covers about 220 acres reached by the gravel Bowery Road. Its centerpiece is Playmore, a two-story Italianate house built in 1879-1880 for Samuel Prioleau Ravenel by carpenter Francis Poindexter, for a quoted price of $3,503.50. Originally called Wantoot, it was sold in 1914 to New Orleans attorney Jules Blanc Monroe, whose descendants still use it. Its interior features unpainted chestnut paneling and floors of alternating ash and walnut. Other resources include Wolf Ridge, a 1914 Ravenel house, The Fling, a 1922 Colonial Revival house, the log-built Log Jam, Kalalanta, Treetops, Thornton Cottage, and Ravenel Park with Sunset Rock. Frame construction and stone walls, piers and chimneys give the area a consistent character, and it shows how a fashionable mountain resort developed from 1879 into the 1930s.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Playmore built by Francis Poindexter (1824-1902) for Samuel Prioleau Ravenel","architectural_style":"Italianate, Colonial Revival, Other: Rustic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Playmore remains a summer estate of the descendants of Jules Blanc Monroe, who bought it in 1914. The form lists current functions that include single dwellings, outdoor recreation and some vacant or not-in-use buildings.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:52.903352-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/7211/47721138/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/01001071.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721138","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmore%E2%80%93Bowery_Road_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18157469"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/macon-county/playmore-bowery-road-historic-district-01001071/"}