Lipscomb House, or Lipscombe House, is a historic Federal-style

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. Th ...

house in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 Census, Durham is the 4th- ...

, United States. The Lipscomb Plantation, sitting on 2,000 acres between the Eno River and the Little River, was one of the largest forced-labor cotton farms in Durham County. The plantation was part of the Trading Path, used by Catawba and Waxhaw Native American tribes trading between

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, and

Hillsborough, North Carolina The town of Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, United States and is located along the Eno River. The population was 6,087 in 2010, but it grew rapidly to 9,660 by 2020. Its name was unofficially shortened to "Hills ...

. The house is now run as a

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

History

In 1755, Joseph Brittain received a

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

of more than one thousand acres between the Eno River and the Little River, from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. A two-story house was built on the property in 1775. The land was later transferred from Brittain to William Cain. It passed down through the family to Edward Davis and his wife. In 1834, Davis sold the plantation to John D. Lipscomb, a wealthy planter and textile businessman who was a partner in Alpha Woolen Mills. Around 1835, Lipscomb built a side-gabled

Federal-style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

house, joining it to the earlier house, which then served as a rear wing. Additions were made to the central structure in the early and mid-twentieth century. In 1838 a post office was operated, likely in a store, on the plantation. The Lipscomb Plantation, with 2,000 acres, was one of the largest cotton plantations in Durham County. John Lipscom, along with Paul Cameron and Fendal Southerland, produced 90 percent of the county's cotton. The Lipscomb House is now run as a

called the Arrowhead Bed and Breakfast Inn. The name comes from a large stone arrowhead on the property, at the corner of Roxboro and Mason Roads, which marks the route of the Trading Path. The arrowhead monument, built in 1931, commemorates the plantation's role in the trading routes of Catawba and Waxhaw tribes, who traded between

, and

. In 2007, a family reunion was held at the house for descendants of people enslaved on the plantation. Gwendolyn Olson, whose ancestors were enslaved on the plantation, compiled a short history of the slaves on the Lipscomb plantation, which is made available to guests at the Arrowhead Inn.

References

{{coord, 36.11811, -78.90354, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-NC, display=title Bed and breakfasts in North Carolina Cotton plantations in the United States Federal architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1775 Houses completed in 1835 Houses in Durham, North Carolina Native American history of North Carolina Plantation houses in North Carolina