Grimesland Plantation
Why it's listed
Grimesland Plantation is a Tar River farm in Pitt County, North Carolina, centered on a two-story weatherboard house built in the 1790s. William Grimes assembled the plantation from several tracts bought in 1786 and built the home for his family. During the Greek Revival period, single-story hip-roofed wings, a two-story rear addition and a front verandah were added. The center-passage interior has a three-run stair, Federal mantels in the main block and marble mantels in the wings. The grounds keep a barnyard with a row of frame slave quarters and a fieldstone smokehouse. The property is tied to the Grimes family. Bryan Grimes, a secession convention delegate, rose to major general in the Confederate army and was murdered in 1880. His son J. Bryan Grimes later served as North Carolina's Secretary of State. The open fields and riverside setting make the plantation especially evocative of the antebellum era.
Significance in brief: The nomination ties the plantation to the Grimes family, notably General Bryan Grimes, a secessionist delegate and Confederate major general. It also presents the property as a fine, evocative example of an antebellum North Carolina plantation, with a river setting, open fields and well-preserved outbuildings including slave quarters and a stone smokehouse.
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 71000616, listed March 31, 1971. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | E of Grimesland on SR 1569, Grimesland |
|---|---|
| County | Pitt County |
| Listed | March 31, 1971 |
| Reference number | 71000616 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival additions to an earlier Federal-style house |
| Areas of significance | Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition listed as excellent and altered, on its original site; in private residential use. Slave quarters are noted as still occupied by farm laborers. |
| Acreage | 15 |
| Coordinates | 35.55627, -77.16677 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 71000616.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19873728
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.