{"nrhp_refnum":"75001277","name":"Pleasant Retreat Academy","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"129 E. Pine St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lincolnton","county":"Lincoln County","state":"NC","lat":35.47234766500003,"lon":-81.25592425699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick building at 129 East Pine Street in Lincolnton, Lincoln County, North Carolina, built between 1817 and 1820 as Pleasant Retreat Academy and later known as Confederate Memorial Hall.","why_significant":"It is one of the largest of the few surviving early nineteenth century private academies in North Carolina, dating from before public schools developed. It was the first academy built in Lincoln County, and its alumni included governors, senators and a Confederate general. Its restrained Federal-style design reflects the growing wealth and civic pride of Lincolnton.","narrative":"Built between 1817 and 1820 on East Pine Street in Lincolnton, this two-story brick building began as Pleasant Retreat Academy, chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1813 and the first academy in Lincoln County. It opened in February 1820 and had about eighty students by 1822. Former pupils included James Pinckney Henderson, William A. Graham, Robert F. Hoke and, later, Hoke Smith. The Flemish bond brickwork, corbeled cornice and fanlighted entrance mark it as a restrained Federal-style building, with later nineteenth and twentieth century alterations. After the academy period it served as a residence, hosted private schools and a Masonic lodge, and from about 1908 became a Confederate memorial hall under the Southern Stars Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It housed the county public library until 1965 and now serves as a museum. It is valued as one of the few surviving early private academies in the state.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Now used as a local museum and meeting room, following renovation after the county library moved out in 1965.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.482203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7210/47721082/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/75001277.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001277/f7dfd9527f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001277/f7dfd9527f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"RoxylovesHistory","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pleasant_Retreat_Academy,_129_E._Pine_Street,_Lincolnton,_NC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">RoxylovesHistory</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:Pleasant_Retreat_Academy,_129_E._Pine_Street,_Lincolnton,_NC.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05001419","name":"Lincolnton Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/lincolnton-commercial-historic-district-05001419/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721082","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Retreat_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19987607"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lincoln-county/pleasant-retreat-academy-75001277/"}