{"nrhp_refnum":"71000601","name":"Wood, Dempsey, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SW of Falling Creek on SR 1324","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.230996203000075,"lon":-77.72415105199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-08-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame dwelling with a low hip roof, located on the north side of State Road 1324 in the Falling Creek area southwest of Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina. Construction began before 1850 and was largely complete by the Civil War.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as an important example of the transition from pure Greek Revival to the more elaborate Victorian eclecticism that became popular just before the Civil War. It is described as one of the few surviving houses that clearly shows this mid-nineteenth-century change in taste. Its split-shaft, step-shouldered chimneys are said to be the only ones of their type known in North Carolina.","narrative":"Located southwest of Kinston in the Falling Creek area of Lenoir County, the Dempsey Wood House is a two-story frame dwelling with a low hip roof, set on brick piers. A two-tiered porch shelters the central bay of the three-bay front, and pairs of massive step-shouldered chimneys with split shafts dominate the sides. The nomination calls these chimneys the only ones of their type known in North Carolina. Inside, a center-hall plan two rooms deep holds a heavy newel post, unusual paneled mantels and vertically sheathed wainscot. James Wood acquired the plantation from his father in 1836 and began building before 1850. Work slowed and stopped with the Civil War, by which time the family was already living there. The house takes its name from his son Dempsey. It was valued as a rare surviving example of the shift from Greek Revival to Victorian eclecticism in the mid-nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Transition from Greek Revival to Victorian eclecticism","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, and in use as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.08308-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7210/47721050/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/71000601.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000601/4df7f21ed1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000601/4df7f21ed1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dempsey_Wood_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</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:Dempsey_Wood_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721050","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dempsey_Wood_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24436208"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/wood-dempsey-house-71000601/"}