{"nrhp_refnum":"87001786","name":"Desserette","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"SW side of SR 1320 near jct. with SR 1318","address_restricted":false,"city":"White Oak","county":"Bladen County","state":"NC","lat":34.79832397700005,"lon":-78.77048692758834,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-10-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Desserette is a mid-nineteenth century turpentine plantation district near White Oak in northern Bladen County, North Carolina, centered on a two-story Greek Revival frame house built in the 1840s, with several outbuildings, a cemetery and surrounding grounds.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it represents the home of a wealthy antebellum planter as the Old South gave way to a new order, especially through the Council family's rebuilding after the Civil War using turpentine. It is also a handsome Greek Revival plantation house that retains much of its original stained and grained interior finish.","narrative":"Desserette is a turpentine plantation near White Oak in Bladen County, North Carolina, just east of the Cape Fear River. Its centerpiece is a two-story, five-bay frame house with a center-hall, double-pile plan, built in the 1840s in the Greek Revival style with late Federal touches inside. Original stained and grained woodwork survives in the hall and several rooms. The grounds also hold a detached kitchen, a meathouse, a double-crib log barn, a 1930s poultry house and a family cemetery. The house was built by John Smith, whose plantation covered 3,400 acres and which served as a post office from 1853. John Taylor Council, ruined by the Civil War, moved here in 1863 and rebuilt his fortune with turpentine, aided by his wife's inheritance. Council descendants have lived here since. The property was listed for its link to the postwar transformation of planter society and for its surviving interior decoration.","period_of_significance":"1840s - 1887","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival, with some late Federal detailing on the interior","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied; used as a private residence and for agriculture. Condition is listed as fair and altered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.385736-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7190/47719075/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/87001786.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719075","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desserette","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18149345"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/bladen-county/desserette-87001786/"}