{"nrhp_refnum":"73001336","name":"Helper, Hinton Rowan, House","other_names":["Evans Place"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"U.S. 64 off I-40","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mocksville","county":"Davie County","state":"NC","lat":35.90707926400006,"lon":-80.60450861599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-11-07","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1973-11-07","areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1 1/2-story log house, later clapboarded and enlarged, on U.S. 64 about 1.5 miles east of the I-40 intersection near Mocksville, Davie County, North Carolina. Documents say it was built by Daniel Helper in 1818 and was the boyhood home of Hinton Rowan Helper.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Hinton Rowan Helper, author of The Impending Crisis of the South (1857), an anti-slavery tract aimed at non-slaveholding Southern whites. Republicans reprinted it widely in the 1860 campaign, and it is called a powerful campaign document. Helper spent his first twenty years here and worked on the book while dividing his time between this house and one in Salisbury.","narrative":"Near Mocksville in Davie County, a modest 1 1/2-story farmhouse on U.S. 64 conceals an earlier log dwelling. Beneath asphalt shingles, fresh clapboard and a shed dormer, the original hewn and natural log supports, wide floorboards, split-log thresholds, rafters and sheathing survive. The front parlor still shows square-timber walls with plaster chinking, and the fireplace and original mantel stand on the east wall. Later additions include a rear kitchen and two rooms at the east end. The house matters because of Hinton Rowan Helper, who spent his first twenty years here. After gold-field years in California, he returned to North Carolina and prepared The Impending Crisis of the South, published in 1857. The book argued that slavery harmed non-slaveholding white Southerners and drew furious reaction in the South. Republicans printed and circulated it widely during the 1860 campaign, and it is described as an influential campaign document. The house is also designated a National Historic Landmark.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Daniel Helper (built the log house in 1818, per a supporting memorandum and newspaper article)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, on its original site, altered, and occupied as a private residence at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.165706-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/80/7187/47718780/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/73001336_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001336/6ea4536541-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001336/6ea4536541-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hinton_Rowan_Helper_House_from_US_64.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hinton_Rowan_Helper_House_from_US_64.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718780","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinton_Rowan_Helper_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5767697"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/davie-county/helper-hinton-rowan-house-73001336/"}