Ayr Mount is a Federal style

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

located east of Hillsborough, in Orange County, North Carolina, the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. In 1799, William Kirkland (born in

Ayr, Scotland Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

) bought east of Hillsborough. Circa 1815, he had a home built for himself, his wife, Margaret, and their children, a brick dwelling with a two-story, three-bay main block flanked by one-story, two-bay wings. A full-width front porch, added about 1894, was removed sometime after 1971 and replaced with a facsimile of the original porch. Mrs. Samuel (Emily) Kirkland, the last of four generations of Kirklands to occupy the house, lived there until 1985. The property had gone through several owners prior to Kirkland's purchase of the property, the most well-known being

William Few William Few Jr. (June 8, 1748 – July 16, 1828) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician and jurist. He represented the U.S. state of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution. Few and James Gunn ...

, Jr., whose father, William Few, Sr., had a house built on the property c. 1764. Today, Ayr Mount is a publicly accessible historic site located on . It is owned and operated by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. The home has been furnished with Federal period antiques and decorative art, including some original Kirkland furnishings. Ayr Mount features guided house tours and the one-mile (1.6 km) hiking trail the "Poet's Walk."

References

External links

- Ayr Mount website- Classical American Homes Preservation Trust
* Federal architecture in North Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Houses in Orange County, North Carolina Hillsborough, North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina Plantation houses in North Carolina Museums in Orange County, North Carolina Houses completed in 1815 National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, North Carolina Richard Jenrette {{OrangeCountyNC-NRHP-stub