Faison Historic District

Faison's historic district covers about thirty-one blocks of a railroad and farm-market town in the coastal plain of northwest Duplin County. The Atlantic Coast Line tracks, completed in 1840, run through a grassy central plaza, with the business district along East and West Center and Main streets and houses in the surrounding quadrants. Most stores are one- and two-story Commercial style buildings from 1900 to 1920 with decorative brick panels and cornices. Notable exceptions include a rare false-front frame store of about 1850-70, a pressed-metal upper facade unique in the county, the 1931 Cates pickle plant, and a 1933 Mission-style service station. Houses date from about 1850 to 1930 and range from Greek Revival and Italianate to Queen Anne and Bungalow/Craftsman. The 1918 Victorian Gothic Presbyterian Church and the 1888 depot, now a library, add to the group. The district was listed because it shows how the railroad shaped a small market town where business and home life remained closely linked.