{"nrhp_refnum":"05000349","name":"Best, Benjamin W., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2193 Mewborn Church Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jason","county":"Greene County","state":"NC","lat":35.41180666400004,"lon":-77.76162975699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, three-bay Greek Revival frame house on Mewborn Church Road in western Greene County, North Carolina, built circa 1850 for planter Benjamin W. Best. The house was moved about ten miles in 1998 from its original site in Bull Head Township's Lindell community.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of very few surviving frame two-story Greek Revival dwellings built in northwestern Greene County in the quarter century before the Civil War. Its two-part architrave surrounds with backband moldings and tiny corner blocks are presented as a vernacular local interpretation of the style, and the house is described as the most intact example of that treatment. The nomination also argues the move preserved integrity because the new site is topographically compatible and close to the original.","narrative":"Built around 1850 as a two-story, three-bay frame house in the Greek Revival style, the Benjamin W. Best House stood in the Bull Head Township community of Lindell in western Greene County, North Carolina, before its move in 1998. Benjamin Williams Best, a planter, built it near Beals Branch, a tributary of Nahunta Creek, after marrying Susan Louisa Exum in 1841. The house has a low hip roof, a center hall plan, nine-over-nine and nine-over-six sash windows, and original heart-pine floors and Greek Revival mantels. Its two-part architraves with backband moldings and tiny corner blocks are regarded as a distinctive local variation on the style. The house is considered one of the few surviving examples of its type in northwestern Greene County, and it is described as the most intact example of that architrave treatment. It was moved about ten miles to a site of similar topography.","period_of_significance":"Circa 1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Neglected and vacant for decades before 1998; moved in April 1998 to its current location and restored, with the original front portico and entrance restored in 2002.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.784083-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7204/47720466/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/05000349.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720466","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_W._Best_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19460511"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/greene-county/best-benjamin-w-house-05000349/"}