{"nrhp_refnum":"82001284","name":"Freeman, Lewis, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"205 W. Salisbury St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsboro","county":"Chatham County","state":"NC","lat":35.721501809000074,"lon":-79.18007021999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-10-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A late-nineteenth century cottage in Pittsboro, Chatham County, North Carolina, that began as a one-room frame dwelling built between 1811 and 1837. It was enlarged with additions, including an 1890s Queen Anne-style projecting wing and sawn-work porch.","why_significant":"The house is significant as the home of Lewis Freeman, a free Black landholder who was among Pittsboro's important early landholders, and as one of only four surviving buildings in the town from its earliest period of settlement. Its original one-room form is presented as a rare surviving example of the elemental house type of the North Carolina frontier and of early town life. The 1850s boyhood home of Dr. Matthias M. Marshall is also noted.","narrative":"Pittsboro, in Chatham County, North Carolina, is the setting for this house, which began as a one-room frame dwelling built between 1811 and 1837 and was later enlarged into a three-bay cottage. Lewis Freeman, a free Black settler, acquired sixteen town lots between 1811 and 1837, and the house was his home by 1837. In the 1890s a one-bay projecting wing with a raking cornice was added on the west side of the facade, giving the house an irregular plan associated with the Queen Anne style. A shed-roof porch with turned posts and sawn detailing extends across the front. The original core retains traces of its earliest form, including a sheathed ceiling in the early annex. The house is one of only four surviving buildings in Pittsboro from the town's earliest period of settlement and is valued for documenting frontier house types and the economic opportunities open to free Black residents in the early town.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Good condition as recorded in the description; occupied by a present owner who added a rear cross-gable wing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.606925-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/7175/47717519/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/82001284.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001284/b62b026bf3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001284/b62b026bf3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lewis_Freeman_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lewis_Freeman_House.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00000442","name":"Pittsboro Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/pittsboro-historic-district-00000442/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717519","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Freeman_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18148995"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/chatham-county/freeman-lewis-house-82001284/"}