{"nrhp_refnum":"70000437","name":"Bath Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Palmer-Marsh House","Bonner House","St. Thomas Episcopa"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Bath Creek, NC 92, and King St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bath","county":"Beaufort County","state":"NC","lat":35.47599457350006,"lon":-76.8135531590394,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-02-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Politics/Government","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the old town of Bath, Beaufort County, North Carolina, on a point of land between Bath Creek and Back Creek. The town was incorporated in 1705 and the district covers about 80 acres.","why_significant":"Bath was North Carolina's first incorporated town and an early colonial port of entry, political center and religious center. The district keeps its original town plan and a few surviving eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century buildings, including St. Thomas Church, the oldest church building in the state still in continuous use.","narrative":"Bath is a small rural community on a flat point of land between Bath Creek and Back Creek in Beaufort County, North Carolina. Incorporated in 1705, it was laid out, probably by John Lawson, as a triangular village of seventy-one lots with a wide waterfront main street meant for business. Bath became a port of entry in 1715 and served as the colony's principal mart until 1730. The colonial assembly met there in 1744 and 1752, and several early governors and officials lived nearby. Three eighteenth-century buildings survive: St. Thomas Church, begun in 1734 and the oldest church building in continuous use in the state; the Palmer-Marsh House, a two-story brick townhouse of about 1750; and the Van Der Veer House. Nineteenth-century houses such as the Williams (Glebe) and Bonner houses line the quiet, tree-lined streets, which have few modern intrusions. The town declined after Washington became a port and the courthouse moved there in 1785.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is given as good and altered. The district is occupied, with present uses including government, commercial, private residence and religious. Restoration of the Van Der Veer House was planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.228256-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/7190/47719005/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/70000437.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000437/ba4867c414-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000437/ba4867c414-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Main_south_of_Carteret,_Bath.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Main_south_of_Carteret,_Bath.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719005","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_Historic_District_(Bath,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4868923"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/beaufort-county/bath-historic-district-70000437/"}