Penny, Jesse, House and Outbuildings
Why it's listed
Built around 1900 on a farm in Swift Creek Township, the two-story triple-A farmhouse was erected by Jesse Wood Penny onto the front of an earlier one-story house. Local carpenter Peter Dupree is recorded as its builder, and his journals from 1890 to 1902 survive. The main house has a central-passage plan and an east parlor with dark-stained tongue-and-groove walls and a geometric ceiling. The complex includes a ca. 1900 picket fence, two barns, a well house, a chicken house and a converted barn cottage. The farm was worked for corn, cotton and tobacco, and Penny also ran a lumber business. The complex is regarded as an unusually complete surviving example of a rural Wake County farmstead from this period, and its interior finish and fence are the features that mark it out.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the complex is a remarkably intact example of turn-of-the-twentieth-century vernacular farm buildings in rural Wake County. Its interior tongue-and-groove sheathing and sunburst ceiling motif in the east parlor are singled out, along with the picket fence, which is described as one of the oldest such structures remaining in the county. The house is also tied to the local carpenter Peter Dupree, whose journals survive.
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 02000165, listed March 13, 2002. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | NC 1379, 1 mi. SW of NC 1371, Raleigh |
|---|---|
| County | Wake County |
| Listed | March 13, 2002 |
| Reference number | 02000165 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1900 |
| Architect / builder | Peter Dupree (builder) |
| Architectural style | Triple-A I-house |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The house was sided in vinyl between 1990 and 1994 and the owners plan to remove it; the cottage was converted to a residence and later sided in vinyl. |
| Acreage | 5.5 |
| Coordinates | 35.71142, -78.70138 (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 02000165.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q20745480
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.