{"nrhp_refnum":"88000411","name":"Freeman, James W., House","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"NC 1623","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wilton","county":"Granville County","state":"NC","lat":36.171922690500054,"lon":-78.55506618592614,"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 small weatherboarded, one-story-and-loft plantation era house on State Road 1623 near Wilton, Granville County, North Carolina, on about 32 acres of fields. It appears to date from the 1820s or 1830s; the original builder is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is architecturally significant as a finely finished, traditionally planned modest dwelling. It is historically significant as a rare surviving home of a yeoman farmer or small planter, the most intact such example in the county. The period of significance ends in 1865 because no buildings remain from the later bright leaf tobacco farm years.","narrative":"Set along a red clay road amid fields of tobacco, corn and soybeans near Wilton, this small weatherboarded house was built in the 1820s or 1830s by an unknown builder. It rises one story and a loft on a traditional hall-parlor plan, with mortised and tenoned timber framing. Its east end has a Flemish bond shoulder chimney, and the parlor has a transitional Georgian/Federal mantel, hand-planed board walls and a ceiling of smoothly planed, beaded beams. James W. Freeman bought the house and 150 acres in 1845 for $650. Census records show him as a modest farmer who owned one enslaved girl. The house was sold out of the family in 1892 and later served mainly as a tenant house. It is valued as the most intact surviving dwelling of the county's yeoman farmers and small planters, showing that well-finished homes were not limited to wealthy planters. The nominated tract covers about 32 acres of the house and surrounding fields.","period_of_significance":"1820s/1830s-1865","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Transitional Georgian/Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied by tenants; described as in fair and sound condition, with some deterioration due to lack of owner occupancy.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.278502-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/7178/47717872/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/88000411.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717872","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Freeman_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461841"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/granville-county/freeman-james-w-house-88000411/"}