{"nrhp_refnum":"85000902","name":"Summer Villa and the McKay-Salmon House","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"SR 1291","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lillington","county":"Harnett County","state":"NC","lat":35.40509710850006,"lon":-78.8647876827313,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-04-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural district west of Lillington in Harnett County, North Carolina, made up of Summer Villa, a plantation house begun in 1849 by Reverend Neill McKay, its outbuildings, and the McKay-Salmon House, a decorated cottage built across the road in the late 19th century.","why_significant":"The complex represents the naval stores and lumber based plantation economy of the North Carolina Sandhills and the retention of the property in one family. It is tied to Reverend Neill McKay, a Presbyterian minister, church historian and University of North Carolina trustee. The two houses show classical (Greek Revival and Neo-Classical Revival) and decorated (Italianate/Queen Anne) building traditions, and the site may yield archaeological information about plantation life.","narrative":"West of Lillington, in the Sandhills community of Summerville, a small complex of buildings preserves the setting of a 19th century plantation. Summer Villa, begun in 1849 by Reverend Neill McKay, is a two-story frame house that began as Greek Revival and was updated early in the 20th century with a wraparound porch and a pedimented portico in the Neo-Classical Revival style. Behind it stand outbuildings from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century, including a carriage house of about 1850. Across the road is the McKay-Salmon House, a one-story cottage built late in the century for McKay's daughter and decorated with turned and sawn woodwork. McKay was a Presbyterian minister, church historian and university trustee who also held the most enslaved people in Harnett County in 1860, with income drawn largely from turpentine and lumber. The property was listed for its architecture, its link to McKay and the naval stores economy, and its archaeological potential.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Greek Revival updated in early 20th century Neo-Classical Revival (Summer Villa); late 19th century decorated cottage (McKay-Salmon House)","criteria":["A","B","C","D"],"status_note":"Occupied and used as a private residence and agricultural property; both houses described as well preserved and in good repair, though the form marks condition as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.914848-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7207/47720726/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85000902.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000902/81c030fd89-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000902/81c030fd89-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Gjm1761","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Summer_Villa_Plantation_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Gjm1761</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:Summer_Villa_Plantation_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720726","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Villa_and_McKay%E2%80%93Salmon_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18711662"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/harnett-county/summer-villa-and-the-mckay-salmon-house-85000902/"}