ANTEBELLUM HOUSE

One of the largest antebellum plantation houses in North Carolina, recently restored Buckner Hill House (1855), still surrounded by hundreds of acres of  cotton corn tobacco and cattle,  provides a  rare view of original, mostly  undisturbed Greek Revival plantation architecture.  Built by highly skilled African-American labor for the Hill family on the site of their  previous plantation house (c.1700s), Buckner Hill House also has Italianate features and an unusual cruciform floor plan with wide halls on both floors crossing in  the center of the house. A wealthy physician and landowner, Dr. Buckner Lanier Hill, began the project  in the 1850s. The house has undergone very few modifications in its 150 year history. Original marbleizing, mahogany and rosewood graining, and all of the ornate plaster cornices in the house survive. The frame structure is constructed of centuries-old heart pine from the virgin forests of the New World. Much of the wood for the 1855 house was recycled for use from the previous dwelling, built in the 1700s. The house appears in North Carolina Architecture, which notes "when the wide double doors on all four sides of the house are thrown open, the broad passages that meet at the center of the dwelling become a vast  interior porch." This area was also used by the family as a ballroom. In June, 2001, filming of a major motion picture concluded at the house. It was used as the set for the Walker family home in the film version of Rebecca Wells' national bestseller "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (released in 2002). Appointments are required: phone 910-293-3001. Select links on the left of this screen for directions and a map.