Alston-DeGraffenried Plantation (Boundary Increase)
Also known as: See Also:Alston-DeGraffenried House
Why it's listed
This addition to a plantation near Pittsboro, in Chatham County, North Carolina, brings in the working landscape around an early nineteenth-century house, built about 1810. The added area includes a nineteenth-century kitchen with a fieldstone chimney, a pig boiling pit, privies, a smokehouse, a log crib and a mule barn built around 1940 by a tenant, Frank Allston. Three ruined log cabins, probably dating from before the Civil War and thought to have housed enslaved people, lie north and east of the house. Old farm roads, one of which predates 1841, carried plantation goods toward markets, and about ten acres of fields are still farmed. The Alston family held the land from 1780, and descendants occupied it into the twentieth century. The plantation was large for the central Piedmont, with 123 enslaved people recorded in 1800. Receipts suggest shoemaking, weaving and sewing on site, and archaeologists see strong potential for further discoveries.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the expanded area is significant for architecture, agriculture and historic archaeology. The outbuildings, cabin ruins, roads and fields show how a large Piedmont plantation worked from the early 1800s into the tenant-farming era. The site could yield further information about plantation life, including enslaved people and craft activities.
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 93001132, listed October 21, 1993. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | US 64 N side, 0.4 mi. W of jct. with NC 1564, Pittsboro |
|---|---|
| County | Chatham County |
| Listed | October 21, 1993 |
| Reference number | 93001132 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1810-1942 |
| Architect / builder | Broome, Meleus |
| Architectural style | Georgian/Federal |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Three agricultural fields remain in use, and the main house is occupied by the current owners. The three log cabin ruins are overgrown and collapsed. |
| Acreage | 81 |
| Coordinates | 35.73313, -79.24326 (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 93001132.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q4735858
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.