{"nrhp_refnum":"82001280","name":"King-Freeman-Speight House","other_names":["Francis Speight House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Republican on NC 308","address_restricted":false,"city":"Republican","county":"Bertie County","state":"NC","lat":36.07734200600004,"lon":-77.09456264099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-12-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A plantation-era house in the rural community of Republican, Bertie County, North Carolina, between the towns of Woodville and Windsor. It was originally built around 1808 as a story-and-a-half hall-and-parlor dwelling, with a two-and-a-half story Federal side-hall addition and a major remodeling in 1907.","why_significant":"The house is significant for its interior woodwork, including Federal-period trim and elaborate parlor woodgraining described as among the best in eastern North Carolina. It is also tied to local figures, including sheriff John Freeman and the Rev. T. T. Speight, and to the painter Francis Speight, who was born there. The document presents it as an example of how a Bertie County plantation house was adapted over successive owners.","narrative":"Set in a three-acre yard of large oaks near Woodville and Windsor in the rural Republican community, this plantation-era house began as a story-and-a-half, three-bay frame dwelling built around 1808 for Charles King, a prosperous Bertie County farmer who owned several hundred acres and slaves. John Freeman, county sheriff, acquired the property in 1828 and is associated with the two-and-a-half story side-hall addition, while the older section received a second floor and new woodwork in 1907. The house is valued for its interior, including a Federal-period mantel, a center-hall stair, and parlor woodgraining described as among the best examples in eastern North Carolina. Later owners included planter Whitmel T. Sharrock and the Rev. Thomas T. Speight, a Baptist minister whose son, the landscape painter Francis Speight, was born in the house and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for decades. Its surviving outbuildings include a Greek Revival office and smokehouses, and the successive changes show how owners adapted it.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal domestic architecture; hall-and-parlor plan with a Federal side-hall plan addition","criteria":["A","B","C","D"],"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 17:11:40.853404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/7190/47719029/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/82001280.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719029","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King-Freeman-Speight_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18153171"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/bertie-county/king-freeman-speight-house-82001280/"}