National Historical RegisterIndependent guide · not a government site

Cooleemee

Mocksville, Davie County, North Carolina Listed Ref. 73001334 National Historic Landmark Building
Cooleemee, Mocksville, North Carolina
Photo: Original: This file comes from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). These are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing. Original credits: Buie, J C, delineator; Kreps, J A, delineator (1963) Derivation: Generic1139, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Open in OpenStreetMap

Why it's listed

Cooleemee is a two-story stuccoed brick villa set on a knoll in a bend of the Yadkin River in Davie County, North Carolina. Four equal wings extend from an octagonal core topped by a cupola, and each wing ends in a pedimented gable with a bay window. Peter Wilson Hairston built it in the 1850s on a plantation his great-grandfather acquired in 1817. Builders Conrad and Williams were paid in 1855, and the design was adapted from a plate in W. H. Ranlett's The Architect, which Godey's Lady's Book illustrated in 1850. Inside, a spiral stair rises through the central hall to the cupola, and rooms are finished with plaster cornices and Greek-inspired door surrounds. The house was listed because it is an unusually sophisticated villa for piedmont North Carolina, where major country houses of the period were generally Greek Revival. It also appears as the setting of Christian Reid's 1911 novel The Wargrave Trust.

Significance in brief: The nomination calls it a monumental, uniquely significant example of a full-blown mid-nineteenth-century villa in piedmont North Carolina, where most major country houses were still Greek Revival. Its plan came from a style book and was published in Godey's Lady's Book. Its geometric massing, interiors, and mix of Greek Revival and Italianate detail are also cited. It also served as the setting for the 1911 novel The Wargrave Trust.

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 73001334, listed March 20, 1973. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).

Key facts

AddressTerminus of SR 1812, Mocksville
CountyDavie County
ListedMarch 20, 1973
Reference number73001334
Resource typeBuilding
Period of significance19th Century (specific date 1856)
Architect / builderBuilders Conrad and Williams; plan derived from W. H. Ranlett's The Architect (1847)
Architectural styleAnglo-Grecian villa; Greek Revival and Italianate detail
Areas of significanceLandscape Architecture, Agriculture, Architecture
Level of significanceNational
National Historic LandmarkYes, designated June 2, 1978
Status (as stated in the nomination)Excellent condition, unaltered, on its original site; occupied as a private residence.
Coordinates35.85342, -80.41008 (NPS GIS)

What listing means for this property

National Register listing is honorary: it recognises significance and does not restrict what a private owner may do without federal money or permits. It unlocks the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit for income-producing buildings, state credits in many states, and Section 106 review when federal agencies are involved. See what listing means in practice.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.

Sources and further reading

Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.