{"nrhp_refnum":"06000726","name":"Gilbert Town Historic District","other_names":["Archaeological Site No. 31RF128"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Along sections of Rock Rd.-NC 1520 and Old Gilbert Town Rd.-NC 1539","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rutherfordton","county":"Rutherford County","state":"NC","lat":35.40634050250006,"lon":-81.94330437065783,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-08-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Historic - Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 459.5 acres three miles northeast of downtown Rutherfordton in Rutherford County, North Carolina, made up mainly of cultivated fields and woodland along Cathey's Creek, with an archaeological site (31RF128) and the former settlement of Gilbert Town at its core.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant under criterion A for its role in Revolutionary War campaigns between 1776 and 1782, when Gilbert Town served as a staging ground, campsite, prison and hospital, including Major Patrick Ferguson's occupation in September 1780 before the King's Mountain campaign. It is also significant under criterion B for its association with William Gilbert, a prominent settler and politician, and contains his grave, which is counted under criteria consideration C.","narrative":"Gilbert Town is a historic district of about 459.5 acres northeast of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, now mostly farmland and woodland along Cathey's Creek. William Gilbert acquired land here from 1772 and ran a public house, store and blacksmith shop that made the settlement a stopping point on the frontier road to upland South Carolina. Gilbert held county and assembly offices and was buried in the Gilbert Cemetery in 1790. From 1781 to 1783 his house served as the Rutherford County courthouse. During the Revolutionary War the settlement was used by Patriot and Loyalist forces, and in September 1780 Major Patrick Ferguson camped there with about 1,000 troops before the Overmountain Men gathered against him. Gilbert Town was then used to hold prisoners and to care for wounded Patriot soldiers. A 2004 archaeological survey recovered musket balls, sword fragments and eighteenth-century nails and pottery from eight loci, although no eighteenth-century buildings remain standing.","period_of_significance":"1776-1782","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Cultivated fields and woodland; contains one contributing archaeological site with eight loci, a contributing landscape, and thirty-six non-contributing buildings, three non-contributing structures and one non-contributing object.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.678674-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/7222/47722205/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/06000726.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000726/f2e783a578-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000726/f2e783a578-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gilbert_Town_Site.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</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:Gilbert_Town_Site.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722205","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Town_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19866554"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/rutherford-county/gilbert-town-historic-district-06000726/"}