{"nrhp_refnum":"70000462","name":"Alston House","other_names":["House in the Horseshoe"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SE of Glendon on SR 1624","address_restricted":false,"city":"Glendon","county":"Moore County","state":"NC","lat":35.46785895600004,"lon":-79.38216826999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-02-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Alston House, also called House in the Horseshoe, is a two-story frame plantation house built about 1772 in a horseshoe bend of the Deep River southeast of Glendon, Moore County, North Carolina. It is owned by the state and operated as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house as a Tory battleground from 1781 and as the home of several of North Carolina's most important political figures, including Governor Benjamin Williams. It is also described as a typical eighteenth-century plantation house with strikingly elaborate doorways and interior woodwork.","narrative":"Alston House, also known as House in the Horseshoe, is a two-story frame plantation house built about 1772 in a horseshoe bend of the Deep River in Moore County. It has a gable roof, large Flemish bond brick end chimneys and a five-bay front with a shed porch. The central doorway is notably elaborate, with fluted pilasters, a fanlight and a keystoned architrave, and the interior includes a center hall plan and fine woodwork in the north parlor. Phil Alston, a militia officer and state senator, probably built it. In 1781 Tories led by David Fanning attacked Alston and his men there, leaving bullet holes that remain. Later owners included Governor Benjamin Williams, who enlarged the house with wings that a twentieth-century owner removed. A coal mining syndicate also held the property in the 1850s. The state acquired the house in 1955, and it now operates as a museum. It was listed for its Tory battleground history, its connection to important political figures, and its eighteenth-century architectural detail.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Probably built by Phil Alston about 1772 or 1773","architectural_style":"Typical eighteenth-century plantation house","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent; used as a museum under the supervision of the Moore County Historical Society, owned by the state since 1955.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.421775-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/7214/47721458/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/70000462.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000462/6c8fe425af-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000462/6c8fe425af-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ALSTON_HOUSE,_MOORE_COUNTY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</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:ALSTON_HOUSE,_MOORE_COUNTY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721458","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_in_the_Horseshoe","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5914609"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/moore-county/alston-house-70000462/"}