{"nrhp_refnum":"82003484","name":"Siler, Jesse R., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"115 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Franklin","county":"Macon County","state":"NC","lat":35.180581120000056,"lon":-83.38682474599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame house on a 13-acre tract off West Main Street at the foot of the hill beneath the county seat of Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina, developed from a log dwelling in stages across the nineteenth century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an exceptional early residence for the region and a reminder of pioneering settler Jesse R. Siler, a prominent merchant and planter. Its interior mantels from the ca. 1820-1830 expansion are described as unusual for western North Carolina, and the house records the progress of a mountain family over the century.","narrative":"Franklin, the Macon County seat in the far southwestern corner of North Carolina, is home to a double-pile house that rises beside West Main Street at the base of the town's hill. Built in stages from an early log dwelling, it was expanded by merchant Jesse R. Siler around 1820-1830 with frame rooms, a center hall and mantels of unusual design for the region. Siler arrived in the Cherokee territory in 1821 after clerking in Asheville, and he went on to run a general store, tannery, saddlery, boot factory and sawmill. The house was later enlarged around the turn of the twentieth century by George A. Jones, who added a monumental front portico with fluted columns. Its interior woodwork and the layered changes across three building periods are the reasons the house is regarded as a significant local resource.","period_of_significance":"1820-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian-to-Federal transitional (interior woodwork)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The document states the house remains in the possession of Siler's descendants and that the Jones family kept it in good repair; it does not give a current use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.37566-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/7211/47721124/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/82003484.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003484/5f56ccf17c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003484/5f56ccf17c-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_R._Siler_House,_Franklin,_NC_(45740922425).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_R._Siler_House,_Franklin,_NC_(45740922425).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721124","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_R._Siler_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18158055"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/macon-county/siler-jesse-r-house-82003484/"}