Upper Town Creek Rural Historic District
Why it's listed
Four contiguous farms on about 1,755 acres at the eastern edge of Wilson County contain plantation houses and farm complexes built from about 1820 through the 1860s. The William Davis Petway House, a two-and-a-half-story Federal-style I-house, dates to around 1820, and the Colonel David Williams House, a square two-story Greek Revival house, was built between 1845 and 1860. Hawthorne, a double-pile frame house of about 1855, follows a plan not found elsewhere in the county. The Jesse Norris House is a board-and-batten Gothic Revival dwelling. Tobacco barns, packhouses and tenant houses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries survive beside them. The district is considered important because it preserves both the antebellum plantation system and the tenant farming that followed the Civil War, with an unusually full set of early residential and farm buildings in one place.
Significance in brief: The district is significant for its concentration of intact farmsteads that preserve both the antebellum plantation culture and the post-Civil War tenant farming system. The houses represent Federal, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles, and the nomination says the Norris House is the best surviving example of a dwelling outside Wilson city limits in the Gothic Revival style. The owners were prominent in local politics and civic affairs, including Colonel David Williams, who helped lead the formation of Wilson County in 1855.
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 86001656, listed August 29, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by NC 1003, NC 1411, NC 1414, and Town Creek, Wilson |
|---|---|
| County | Wilson County |
| Listed | August 29, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86001656 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | ca.1820-1920s |
| Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Hawthorne is stated to be vacant; the Williams House has been occupied by tenants. |
| Acreage | 1755.7 |
| Coordinates | 35.79844, -77.75645 (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 86001656.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q22061112
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.