NRHP Reference # 70000481 Phone +1 252-797-4560 Added to NRHP 26 February 1970 | Area 3 ha Year built 1830 | |
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Location In Pettigrew State Park, near Creswell, North Carolina Architectural style Other, "double-pile" plan Address 2572 Lake Shore Rd, Creswell, NC 27928, USA Hours Closed today SundayClosedMondayClosedTuesday9AM–5PMWednesday9AM–5PMThursday9AM–5PMFriday9AM–5PMSaturday9AM–5PMSuggest an edit Similar Pettigrew State Park, Stagville, Charles B Aycock Birthplace, Bath Historic District, House in the Horseshoe | ||
Somerset place
Somerset Place is a former plantation near Creswell in Washington County, North Carolina, along the northern shore of Lake Phelps, and now a State Historic Site. Somerset Place operated as a plantation from 1785 until 1865. Before the end of the American Civil War, Somerset Place had become one of the Upper South's largest plantations.
In 1969, Somerset Place was designated as a State Historic Site. In 1986, descendants of African American slaves from Somerset Place planned a gathering known as Somerset Homecoming. The event inspired a book titled "Somerset Homecoming" written by the property's former manager Dorothy Spruill Redford, who retired in 2008.
Visitors can tour the 1830s period plantation house, the dairy, kitchen/laundry, kitchen rations building, smokehouse and salting house. The site features several reconstructed buildings for the plantation's slaves, including two homes and the plantation hospital; the grounds include stocks that were used to punish slaves.
The visitor center's exhibits display the history of the site and antebellum North Carolina. There is also a gift shop.
Nature trails lead to Pettigrew State Park, which adjoins the site.