{"nrhp_refnum":"75001272","name":"Williamson House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 Cedar St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Louisburg","county":"Franklin County","state":"NC","lat":36.10098326900004,"lon":-78.29555182399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame Greek Revival cottage at 401 Cedar Street in Louisburg, Franklin County, North Carolina, built in the 1850s for the widow Tempie Perry Williamson on a wooded lot that was originally on the edge of town.","why_significant":"It is a little-altered, well-preserved example of the Greek Revival cottage, a type once common in Franklin County but now rarely intact. Its details relate it to other county houses of the 1850s. It is also linked to John H. Williamson, who came to the county as an enslaved person and became a prominent Reconstruction-era Black legislator and newspaper founder.","narrative":"Built in the 1850s on land that was then on the edge of Louisburg, this one-story frame cottage follows the Greek Revival style. It has a brick basement, a hip roof, fluted cornerposts and an original entrance porch with fluted Doric posts and an arched balustrade. Inside, a center hall divides two rooms on each side, and the finish survives largely intact, including heavy mantels, a marbleized hall baseboard and woodgrained doors. The house was built for Tempie Perry Williamson, who returned to Franklin County as a widow with two sons and received the property from her brother Willie Perry. It has remained in the same family since. Among the enslaved people who came with her from Georgia was John H. Williamson, later a delegate to the 1868 Constitutional Convention, a member of the state House of Representatives and founder of the Raleigh Banner and the Raleigh Gazette. The house is noted for its architecture and for this connection to Black political history in the county.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, essentially unaltered, and occupied as a private residence at the time of nomination (1975).","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.468486-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/7203/47720355/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/75001272.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001272/eb1b7d440a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001272/eb1b7d440a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WILLIAMSON_HOUSE,_FRANKLIN_COUNTY,_NC.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:WILLIAMSON_HOUSE,_FRANKLIN_COUNTY,_NC.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87000041","name":"Louisburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/louisburg-historic-district-87000041/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720355","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson_House_(Louisburg,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20679862"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/franklin-county/williamson-house-75001272/"}