Woodville Historic District
Why it's listed
Woodville is a village of fourteen principal buildings in western Bertie County, North Carolina, built mainly between 1801 and 1927 on both sides of the old Roxobel-Windsor Road. Most houses stand back from the road in groves of hardwoods, with outbuildings extending to the sides and rear. The oldest house, a Federal tripartite dwelling built in 1801 for John Pugh Hill, was later the home of physician and planter Whitmel Hill Pugh, who named it Woodville. Planter families including the Pughs and Thompsons built their residences on this high ground to escape the malarial pocosins and to be near schools and commerce, while their plantations lay in the river bottomlands. The village has a church dating from 1845, a Gothic Revival chapel from 1854, and a group of antebellum houses. It is significant as one of the most intact plantation villages surviving in the Roanoke River Valley, and for its collection of nineteenth and early twentieth-century buildings representing the planter class in the county.
Significance in brief: The district is described as a rare survival of a plantation village, with a cluster of antebellum and Federal houses built on high ground facing the road, along with intact outbuildings such as slave quarters, meat houses and an ice house. It is linked to the Pugh and Thompson planter families and to the agricultural and political life of Bertie County. The village is also noted for its early twentieth-century Craftsman infill.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 98001112, listed August 28, 1998. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly along NC 11, Lewiston-Woodville |
|---|---|
| County | Bertie County |
| Listed | August 28, 1998 |
| Reference number | 98001112 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1801-1927 |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Federal, Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Houses are occupied by families, most descendants of the original builders; the village remains largely intact. |
| Acreage | 161 |
| Coordinates | 36.10151, -77.18404 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 98001112.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q18159344
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.