{"nrhp_refnum":"89001852","name":"Pelletier House and Wantland Spring","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Old Bridge St. at New River","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jacksonville","county":"Onslow County","state":"NC","lat":34.75159743300003,"lon":-77.43352371699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Greek Revival frame office and residence, probably built in the 1850s, on a bluff above the New River at Old Bridge Street in downtown Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina, together with the adjacent Wantland Spring at the base of the bluff.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is the oldest building in Jacksonville and one of a small group of surviving Greek Revival buildings in Onslow County. It is tied to the Pelletier family's commercial and postal activities. Wantland Spring influenced the 1753 siting of the county courthouse and the later development of a waterfront distillery.","narrative":"Perched on a bluff above the New River in downtown Jacksonville, this small one-story Greek Revival building was probably put up in the 1850s as an office and bachelor quarters for merchant Rufus Pelletier. It has a hipped roof that covers a front porch, a central brick chimney with two original mantels, and nine-over-six windows. Below the bluff flows Wantland Spring, which helped determine the 1753 location of the county courthouse and later served a turpentine distillery operated by William Pelletier and partners until it burned in 1851. Rufus Pelletier later served as postmaster and magistrate and added wings for his family, which burned in the late 1950s. The Onslow County Historical Society bought the property in 1957 and restored the house in the 1970s. It was recognized as the oldest building in Jacksonville and as a rare surviving local example of Greek Revival design, with the spring adding historic and landscape value.","period_of_significance":"1850s - ca. 1900","architect_builder":"Unknown (probably built by Rufus Ferrand Pelletier or his brother William Pelletier)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Owned since 1957 by the Onslow County Historical Society, restored in the 1970s and used as a museum and for society gatherings; the spring area was improved in 1961 and incorporated into a riverside park in 1986.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.128508-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/7182/47718285/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89001852.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001852/1c3a57ff33-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001852/1c3a57ff33-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Hammerattack at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pelletier_House_Jacksonville_NC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Hammerattack at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pelletier_House_Jacksonville_NC.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718285","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelletier_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14708137"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/onslow-county/pelletier-house-and-wantland-spring-89001852/"}