Woodard Family Rural Historic District
Why it's listed
Four farmhouses and their outbuildings make up this rural district of roughly 550 acres in eastern Wilson County, North Carolina, set in the fork of Toisnot Swamp and White Oak Swamp along Rt. 264. William Woodard, a prosperous farmer, began acquiring the land in 1823. His c. 1832 Federal plantation house is the oldest dwelling. Later houses include two mid-nineteenth century vernacular and Greek Revival farmhouses and a Colonial Revival residence remodeled in 1911 from a modest earlier home. Frame packhouses, smokehouses, tobacco barns and tenant houses survive nearby. The district matters because three generations of farmhouses built by one family remain on land still used for farming. It reflects the prosperity of the area from the plantation era through the flue-cured tobacco boom. Its owners included Baptist preachers, deacons and local businessmen. Twenty-nine dwellings and farm buildings contribute to the district.
Significance in brief: The district is argued to be significant for its link to the agricultural prosperity of eastern Wilson County in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is also tied to prominent Woodard family members, including farmers, Baptist preachers and businessmen. Its farmhouses show a progression of styles from Federal to Colonial Revival, and three generations of family houses survive on land still farmed.
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 86001657, listed August 29, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Along US 264, Wilson |
|---|---|
| County | Wilson County |
| Listed | August 29, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86001657 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | Ca. 1832 - 1920s |
| Architect / builder | Unknown (the c. 1832 William Woodard house is said by family tradition to have been built by James Bullock Woodard; C. C. Rackley, a Wilson contractor, raised the L. P. Woodard House to two stories in 1911) |
| Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival, vernacular farmhouses and Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Exploration/Settlement, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied, in good condition and altered; the land remains in agricultural use, mainly corn and tobacco. |
| Acreage | 550.4 |
| Coordinates | 35.68868, -77.84116 (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 86001657.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q22061154
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.