This is a list of
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s in
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 ...
that are
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 ...
s, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, listed on a
heritage register
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design.
Definition of a plantation
![The Old Plantation title page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/The_Old_Plantation_title_page.png)
Today, as was also true in the past, there is a wide range of opinion as to what differentiated a plantation from a
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
. Typically, the focus of a farm was
subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
. In contrast, the primary focus of a plantation was the production of
cash crop
A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...
s, with enough
staple food
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...
crops produced to feed the population of the estate and the livestock.
A common definition of what constituted a plantation is that it typically had or more of land and produced one or two cash crops for sale.
Other scholars have attempted to define it by the number of slaves that were owned.
North Carolina plantations
The tables of plantations below are sortable, so the name, locality, county (current), historic register number, and built in years can be easily reviewed. References can be found on the individual articles linked or are noted if there are no articles. Comparisons to similar referenced listings are in progress.
Built during the Province of North Carolina period
North Carolina plantation were identified by name, beginning in the 17th century. The names of families or nearby rivers or other features were used. The names assisted the owners and local record keepers in keeping track of specific parcels of land. In the early 1900s, there were 328 plantations identified in North Carolina from extant records.
The Sloop Point plantation in Pender County, built in 1729, is the oldest surviving plantation house and the second oldest house surviving in North Carolina, after the
Lane House (built in 17181719 and not part of a plantation). Sloop Point was once owned by
John Baptista Ashe John Ashe may refer to:
* John Ashe (minister) (1671–1735), English dissenting minister
*John Ashe (of Freshford) (1597–1658), MP for Westbury
* John Ashe (priest) (born 1953), Church of England priest and Archdeacon of Lynn
* John Ashe (genera ...
, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, U.S. Congressman from North Carolina and Continental Army officer.
The known plantations during the period of the
Province of North Carolina
Province of North Carolina was a province of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern Colonies, Southern colonies and one of the Thirteen Colonies, thir ...
(17121776) are listed in the table below.
Built from 1776 to 1863
The following table shows the plantations in North Carolina that were built between 1776 and the end of the Civil War.
Plantations built after the civil war
Some plantations were built after the civil war and abolition of slavery.
Notable plantation owners
The following persons were large plantation owners for which the plantation has not yet been identified.
*
John H. Wheeler: (1806–1882) was an American planter, slaveowner, attorney, politician and historian who served as North Carolina State Treasurer (1843–1845) and as United States Minister to Nicaragua (1855–1856)
*
William Lenoir: (May 8, 1751 – May 6, 1839) was an American Revolutionary War officer and prominent statesman in late 18th-century and early 19th-century North Carolina.
See also
*
History of slavery in North Carolina
*
Plantation complexes in the Southern United States
A plantation complex in the Southern United States is the built environment (or complex) that was common on agricultural plantations in the American South from the 17th into the 20th century. The complex included everything from the main resid ...
*
List of plantations in the United States
This is a list of plantations in the American South, plantations and/or plantation houses in the United States of America that are List of areas in the United States National Park System#National memorials, national memorials, National Historic Lan ...
Originally form Virginia the J.A. Evans Family moved from Edgecombe County, N.C. through Nash County, N.C. to Pine Level in Johnston County, N.C. in 1850 A.D. and started a farm which eventually through land purchases became the 6,000 acre Tall Pines Plantation,Founded in 1870 A.D. by Jane Barns Evans widow of J.A. Evans CSA. The family lost control of the property in 1938 A.D. after the Great Financial Depression and gained some compensation for the land through legal action taking by the Evans family in 1947 A.D. Descendants of the J.A. Evans Family in 2020 A.D. were still living in the Pine Level area.
Jane Barnes Evans was a cotton Baroness and part owner of the North Carolina Railroad which ran through part of her
Tall Pines Plantation which supplied fresh water to the North Carolina Railroad for the use of steam engine locomotives.
References
{{Plantation agriculture in the Southeastern United States
List of plantations in North Carolina
List of plantations in North Carolina
List of plantations in North Carolina
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 ...
Plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
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 ...