{"nrhp_refnum":"91001908","name":"Cowper-Thompson House","other_names":["William Cowper House","Reverend Thompson House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"405 North St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Murfreesboro","county":"Hertford County","state":"NC","lat":36.44543314200007,"lon":-77.09650329199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-01-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story beaded weatherboard frame house at 405 North Street on the north edge of Murfreesboro, Hertford County, North Carolina, with a transitional Georgian-Federal style, built about 1790.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is architecturally significant locally and regionally for its surviving Tidewater Virginia-related building traditions and its quintet of dormer windows across the facade, which it says has no other known North Carolina parallel among houses of the period. It also notes the house's association with the Cowper and Thompson families, including Reverend George Matthias Thompson, who was involved in founding a Baptist congregation and Chowan Baptist Female Institute.","narrative":"Built about 1790 in Murfreesboro, a town founded in 1787 on the Meherrin River, this one-and-a-half-story weatherboard house combines Georgian and Federal woodwork with a distinctive row of five dormer windows across its front facade. The nomination treats it as one of the few surviving dwellings in northeastern North Carolina that recall Tidewater Virginia building traditions, and it says no other known North Carolina house of its late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century date has a similar dormer arrangement. Its early owners included William Cowper and later the Reverend George Matthias Thompson, who bought it in 1839 and helped establish a Baptist congregation in the town. Restored by its present owners between 1978 and 1980, the house keeps much of its original sash, surrounds and reeded Federal mantel. The nomination rests its listing on local architectural significance.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1790","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Transitional Georgian/Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Restored in 1978-1980 by the owners; now in use as a seasonal residence by the owners.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.066566-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/7208/47720855/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/91001908.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720855","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowper-Thompson_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461179"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/hertford-county/cowper-thompson-house-91001908/"}