{"nrhp_refnum":"88000407","name":"Blackwell, James, House","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"NC 1411","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cornwall","county":"Granville County","state":"NC","lat":36.46115964050006,"lon":-78.69113607621665,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-04-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story-and-loft, hall-parlor plan plantation-era dwelling on State Road 1411 near Cornwall, Granville County, North Carolina, built in the 1820s or early 1830s for James Blackwell, with surrounding fields and pastures on about 12 acres.","why_significant":"It is one of the most finely finished and intact hall-parlor plan houses in Granville County, representing the homes of the county's small planters. Its Georgian and Federal interior, including reeded vernacular Federal mantels, is little altered. The small \"whiskey room\" recalls the local production of licensed liquor.","narrative":"This modest one-story-and-loft house near Cornwall in Granville County was built in the 1820s or early 1830s for James Blackwell, a planter whose slaveholding grew from four people in 1830 to 27 by 1860. Its hall-parlor plan was typical of small planters' homes, yet the interior is unusually refined. Walls are sheathed in wide beaded boards, doors are raised six-panel types with three-part surrounds, and two reeded vernacular Federal mantels are the most striking features. A tiny shed room on the east end, called the whiskey room by descendants, recalls Blackwell's reputed licensed distillery. Few houses of this class survive, and none has been altered less, particularly inside. The nominated area covers about 12 acres, including the house and its fields as a contributing site, plus two noncontributing tobacco barns. The period of significance ends in 1865 with the plantation era. The house has been unoccupied since 1948 but remains sound.","period_of_significance":"1820s-early 1830s to 1865","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal; Georgian","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Unoccupied since 1948 but in solid condition and maintained by its owners; the front porch is gone and the east chimney has a replacement brick stack.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.716152-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/59/7178/47717859/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/88000407.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717859","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blackwell_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19460556"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/granville-county/blackwell-james-house-88000407/"}