{"nrhp_refnum":"05001031","name":"Merritt-Winstead House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"7891 Boston Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Roxboro","county":"Person County","state":"NC","lat":36.48246660800004,"lon":-78.91832367399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, brick-veneer Colonial Revival house at 7891 Boston Road (U.S. 501) near Roxboro in Person County, North Carolina, begun about 1915 by Dr. John Hamlett Merritt and enlarged in 1934 and about 1950. It sits on a 6.62-acre tract with a garden landscape and outbuildings.","why_significant":"The property is tied to the Merritt family, including Dr. John H. Merritt, a country physician who served patients across several counties. It also includes a vernacular Southern garden landscape that changed over decades. The house shows the evolution of Colonial Revival design from the early to the mid twentieth century, including the 1950 Federal-revival mantels and vestibule.","narrative":"Located on Boston Road in north-central Person County, this property began as a one-and-a-half-story cottage that Dr. John Hamlett Merritt completed for his bride, Ellen Belle Coxe, before their 1915 marriage. In 1934 the couple enlarged it into a two-story brick-veneer Colonial Revival house. Their daughter and son-in-law, Mary Elizabeth and Harry Winstead, moved in during 1950, added a gabled vestibule, enlarged the kitchen, and installed Federal-revival mantels. The center-hall plan from about 1915 survives, along with pine floors cut from Merritt family land. Dr. Merritt practiced medicine from the house and traveled several counties to treat patients, and his bedroom doubled as a reception room. The 6.62-acre tract also holds a vernacular garden with stone walls, a boxwood garden, grape arbors, a former grass tennis court, a swimming pool built about 1952, and farm outbuildings. Together these features record family life and landscape change through the mid twentieth century.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling with a garden; some features such as the grass tennis court are no longer maintained.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.387756-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7217/47721771/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/05001031.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001031/2fc5638c9b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001031/2fc5638c9b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Merritt-Winstead_House_lawn.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Merritt-Winstead_House_lawn.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721771","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt-Winstead_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19987091"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/person-county/merritt-winstead-house-05001031/"}