Garrett's Island House
Why it's listed
Built around 1760 as a plantation house in Washington County, near Plymouth in eastern North Carolina, Garrett's Island House is a one-and-one-half-story frame building with a gambrel roof and hall-parlor plan. Daniel Garrett acquired the land after a 1747 deed, and his son John, who married Sarah Carkeet in April 1760, most likely built the house as a sign of his success as a planter. The family grew rice, flax, and corn, and the house stayed in the Garrett line for seven generations. Its upstairs chambers retain eighteenth-century partition walls, pegboards, four-panel Georgian doors, original hinges and latches, and wide pine flooring. Federal mantels, Greek Revival wainscoting, and windows were added in the nineteenth century. The house is regarded as the oldest surviving dwelling in Washington County and one of few intact examples of its form in the region, and it has never been moved.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the house is thought to be the oldest extant dwelling in Washington County and a rare surviving example of a late Colonial gambrel-roof, hall-parlor plan planter house in eastern North Carolina. Its interior, particularly the second-floor chambers, is described as largely unaltered eighteenth-century work, and its later Federal and Greek Revival changes are presented as adaptations that did not diminish the earlier form.
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 01000047, listed February 2, 2001. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 1445 Garrett's Island Rd., Plymouth |
|---|---|
| County | Washington County |
| Listed | February 2, 2001 |
| Reference number | 01000047 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | Circa 1760 |
| Architectural style | Georgian; Federal; Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Being restored by family descendants; a later tin roof has been replaced with wood shingles and some mid-twentieth-century drywall removed. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 35.84889, -76.69679 (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 01000047.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q20708882
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.