{"nrhp_refnum":"83001904","name":"Mills-Screven Plantation","other_names":["Hilltop"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Tryon on SR 1509","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tryon","county":"Polk County","state":"NC","lat":35.21724049250005,"lon":-82.22505459825304,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story antebellum plantation house known as Hilltop, on a wooded eleven-acre tract northeast of Tryon in Polk County, North Carolina. It is built on a long rectangular plan with a gable roof and weatherboard cladding.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the largest and most unusual antebellum residences in western North Carolina, with fine transitional Federal/Greek Revival interior and exterior detail. It also cites its association with planter Govan Mills and with Theodore Thomas Ballenger, a business and political leader of Polk County who helped build the Oak Hall Hotel that marked the start of Tryon as a resort.","narrative":"Built as a two-story plantation house on a long rectangular plan under a gable roof, the house near Tryon in Polk County was probably completed by the 1840s, with possible earlier origins and later expansion. Its transitional Federal/Greek Revival woodwork, mantels and Greek Revival doorways reflect the influence of Asher Benjamin's builders' guides. Govan Mills acquired the property in 1839 and was a wealthy planter whose family was among the most influential in the region. Theodore Thomas Ballenger later owned it, and he and his father-in-law built the Oak Hall Hotel in 1881-1882, an event the nomination links to the start of Tryon as a resort. The house is regarded as possibly the largest antebellum house in western North Carolina. Four nineteenth-century outbuildings remain, including a stone springhouse dated 1850.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1820-1840","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal/Greek Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Altered interior with modernized rooms; the form states the property was rehabilitated and maintained by recent owners.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.246832-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/7218/47721838/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/83001904.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001904/db189da724-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001904/db189da724-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mills-Screven_Plantation_-_Tryon.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</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:Mills-Screven_Plantation_-_Tryon.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721838","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mills-Screven_Plantation","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19720545"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/polk-county/mills-screven-plantation-83001904/"}