{"nrhp_refnum":"03000390","name":"Baldwin-Coker Cottage","other_names":["Frances Cottage"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"226 Lower Lake Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Highlands","county":"Macon County","state":"NC","lat":35.05534929200007,"lon":-83.18671515999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-05-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Science"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story Rustic-style log summer cottage at 266 Lower Lake Road in the Lindenwood Lake residential park, Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina, built in 1925 for architect James John Baldwin, with a landscaped site and a 1998-1999 garden pavilion.","why_significant":"It is argued to be the first known Rustic-style log summer house in Highlands and the prototype for about two dozen similar cottages built by local carpenter Joe Webb in the 1920s and 1930s. It is also tied to scientific history through Dr. William Chambers Coker, a botanist and second director of the Highlands Biological Laboratory, who summered there from 1931 until 1953.","narrative":"Built in 1925 on Lower Lake Road in Highlands, North Carolina, this small log cottage was designed as a summer house by James John Baldwin, an architect based in Anderson, South Carolina. Its round, bark-stripped logs are saddle-notched and chinked with concrete, and it has a shingled side-gable roof, board-and-batten gable ends, and a porch with limb-and-twig railings. Inside, native woods dominate, including a stone fireplace and a rustic stair made of halved logs. It is considered the first known Rustic-style log summer house in Highlands. Joe Webb, a local carpenter who worked on the crew, later built some two dozen similar cottages, using this one as the model. From 1931 to 1953 it was the summer home of botanist William Chambers Coker, a founder and second director of the Highlands Biological Laboratory, and his widow kept it until 1983. The grounds include stone walls, terraces and a 1998-1999 garden pavilion.","period_of_significance":"1925, 1931-1953","architect_builder":"Baldwin, James John (architect); Webb, Joe (builder); Watson, David J. (builder)","architectural_style":"Other: Rustic style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as well preserved and remarkably intact, with the 1925 plan largely retained apart from 1984 kitchen and lavatory alterations; used as a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:53.564371-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/34/7211/47721134/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/03000390.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000390/7962d70cea-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000390/7962d70cea-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Brian Williams (bw7495)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baldwin-Coker_Cottage_-_266_Lower_Lake_Rd,_Highlnds,_NC_-_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Brian Williams (bw7495)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baldwin-Coker_Cottage_-_266_Lower_Lake_Rd,_Highlnds,_NC_-_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721134","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin-Coker_Cottage","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16983575"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/macon-county/baldwin-coker-cottage-03000390/"}