{"nrhp_refnum":"70000465","name":"Burwell School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Churton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hillsborough","county":"Orange County","state":"NC","lat":36.079403107000076,"lon":-79.09978729399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame building on North Churton Street in Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina, begun early in the nineteenth century as a small dwelling and enlarged in 1848. It later housed a Presbyterian female boarding academy.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as typical of the female boarding academies that were important to mid-nineteenth-century North Carolina education. The Presbyterian school ran from 1837 to 1857 under the Reverend Robert Burwell and his wife Anna, who became known as the first woman teacher in North Carolina. The house is also noted for its 1848 enlargement by Captain John Berry and its 1890s remodeling by Jule Gilmer Korner.","narrative":"Burwell School in Hillsborough began as a small two-story frame dwelling with a hall and parlor plan, built early in the nineteenth century. In 1848 the Reverend Robert Burwell hired Captain John Berry, architect of the Orange County Courthouse, to enlarge it into the present five-bay, central-hall house with a full-length shed porch. From 1837 to 1857 the property served as a Presbyterian boarding academy for girls aged eight to eighteen, run by the Burwells. Anna Burwell became known as the first woman teacher in North Carolina, and the school had about 40 students. During the Civil War it was so crowded with refugees that it was nicknamed the Beehive. In the 1890s Jule Gilmer Korner of Kernersville remodeled it, adding a bracket cornice and gingerbread porch. The grounds hold a large linden, a brick kitchen and an early brick privy. The Historic Hillsborough Commission acquired the site in 1965 and began restoration.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Captain John Berry (1848 enlargement); Jule Gilmer Korner of Kernersville (1890s remodeling)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Historic Hillsborough Commission, which has been restoring the exterior to its mid-nineteenth-century appearance since 1965; condition listed as good and altered, and planned for use as a visitor center and museum.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.35129-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/40/7216/47721640/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/70000465.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000465/1dba46e01e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000465/1dba46e01e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burwell_School,_Hillsborough,_Orange_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:Burwell_School,_Hillsborough,_Orange_County.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001363","name":"Hillsborough Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/hillsborough-historic-district-73001363/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721640","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5001048"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/orange-county/burwell-school-70000465/"}