The Cupola House is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

Edenton, North Carolina Edenton is a town in, and the county seat of, Chowan County, North Carolina, United States, on Albemarle Sound. The population was 4,397 at the 2020 census. Edenton is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region. In recent years Edenton has b ...

. Built in 1756–1758 (as determined by

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

), it is the second oldest building in Edenton, and the only known surviving example in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

of a "jutt," or overhanging second floor. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1970. and

Description and history

The Cupola House is a two-story gable-roofed house with external brick end chimneys. It is now covered with weatherboards; recent research suggests it may originally have been covered with rusticated siding, similar to the siding still in place on the cupola.

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

and the

Redwood Library The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed ...

have similar siding. The roof is covered with wooden shingles. Two main rooms flank a central passage, which was an uncommon layout in colonial

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

but was not rare in other colonies. The unique aspect of the house is its combination of a cupola with an overhanging upper story. The cupola is

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

-shaped and covered in wood that has been cut to imitate stonework. Inside, the house features elaborate finishing which denotes the "social hierarchy" of the rooms. The stair brackets of the staircase in the central hallway feature carved floral decorations and moldings, while the doors leading to the two main rooms are surmounted by pediments. The house includes ornate mantels and woodwork on first and second floors. The cupola is reached from the attic by a "barrel stair," a spiral stair framed within vertical wood sheathing that looks like a large barrel. The house lot was originally more spacious, extending to Edenton Bay. The property was owned by a succession of merchants, including Richard Sanderson, a shipowner. Francis Corbin, the Earl of Granville's land agent, bought the lot in 1756 and built the current residence. The Cupola House is one of several sites of historic Edenton. Other historic sites open for tour include the

James Iredell House The James Iredell House is a historic home located at Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina. The original section was built 1800, and expanded to its present configuration about 1827. It is a two-story, "L"-shaped frame dwelling with Georgian ...

Roanoke River Light The Roanoke River Lighthouse is a historic, decommissioned lighthouse, located on the waterfront of Edenton, North Carolina. The lighthouse once stood in Albemarle Sound at the mouth of the Roanoke River, across the Sound from its current locat ...

, Barker House,

Chowan County Courthouse The Chowan County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Edenton, the county seat of Chowan County, North Carolina. Built in 1767, it is one of the finest examples of public Georgian architecture in the American South. It was declared a Nati ...

and St. Paul's Church.

References

External links

Cupola House Association

Historic Edenton
– arranges tours of Cupola House * {{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in North Carolina National Historic Landmarks in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Houses completed in 1725 Museums in Chowan County, North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Chowan County, North Carolina Houses in Chowan County, North Carolina 1725 establishments in North Carolina

Description and history

See also

References

External links