{"nrhp_refnum":"76001301","name":"Waddell, William, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Grassy Creek off NC 16 on SR 1532","address_restricted":false,"city":"Grassy Creek","county":"Ashe County","state":"NC","lat":36.56922031500005,"lon":-81.43792389499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick L-plan house with a one-story rear ell, set in a narrow valley near Grassy Creek in Ashe County, North Carolina. It was built ca. 1820-1830 by John Baker as the seat of his farm.","why_significant":"The house is one of four surviving nineteenth-century brick houses in the New River Valley, and it is distinguished by elaborate molded and scroll-sawn woodwork installed ca. 1868-70 by William Waddell after a fire damaged the interior. The nomination argues that this vernacular woodwork, with its painted and grained finishes and individual mantel designs, gives the house its unique character.","narrative":"A two-story brick L-plan house with a one-story rear ell stands in a narrow valley near Grassy Creek in Ashe County, North Carolina. John Baker, an early settler-farmer, had it built ca. 1820-1830 as the center of a farm that eventually covered 288 acres. After the interior was burned ca. 1868-70, William Waddell, a cattleman and local figure, installed the molded and scroll-sawn woodwork that now defines the house. Its door and window surrounds, porch brackets and eaves, and individually designed mantels in each room form a rare local example of vernacular ornament. The house is one of four surviving nineteenth-century brick houses in the New River Valley. Its original and later woodwork remains largely intact, with brown and grained paint still visible on the stair and baseboards. Nearby stand a dovetail log granary built ca. 1875, a large barn, and the Waddell family cemetery on a hill to the east.","period_of_significance":"1820-1830","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal massing; vernacular woodwork","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.413006-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7189/47718957/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/76001301.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001301/358c425119-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001301/358c425119-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Straypuma","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Waddell_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Straypuma</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Waddell_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718957","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Waddell_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18159096"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/ashe-county/waddell-william-house-76001301/"}