Powell House, also known as The Trading Post and Wooten-Powell House, is a historic home located in Fair Bluff,

Columbus County, North Carolina Columbus County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina, on its southeastern border. Its county seat is Whiteville. The 2020 census showed a loss of 12.9% of the population from that of 2010. As of the 2020 census, the popul ...

. The original section was built about 1803, and consisted of two equal-sized rooms. Its

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

. It has several mid-to-late 19th century additions, which were made in several stages. The house, a rambling one-story frame building, which is located on the east side of Main Street at the corner of Orange Street, is said to have functioned as a commercial outpost in the 19th century. It is one of the oldest buildings in Columbus County. It was 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 ...

on January 31, 1978, with its periods of significance being in the timeframes of 1800–1824 and 1825–1849. The building's areas of significance are commerce and exploration/

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

. Its architect is officially unknown; however, it was reported by local tradition to have been built by John Wooten in about 1803, and to have served the

Lumber River The Lumber River, sometimes referred to as the Lumbee River, is a river in south-central North Carolina in the flat Coastal Plain. European settlers first called the river Drowning Creek, which is the name of its headwater. The waterway known as ...

community of Fair Bluff as a trading center for the next half century.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Federal architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1803 Houses in Columbus County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Columbus County, North Carolina {{ColumbusCountyNC-NRHP-stub