Plantation

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.

The Carraway Award of Merit Presented to Buckner Hill House

In September, 2000, Buckner Hill House received a Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit from Preservation North Carolina. The mission of Preservation North Carolina (www.presnc.org) is to protect and promote buildings, sites, and landscapes important to the heritage of North Carolina. Each year, twelve Carraway awards are given to individuals and organizations across the state that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to promoting historic preservation. These awards have been given since 1974 and are named in honor of the late Dr. Gertrude S. Carraway, a noted New Bern historian and preservationist. Dr. Carraway was one of the leaders of the successful effort to reconstruct the state's colonial capital Tryon Palace in New Bern, and in 1939 was one of the incorporators of the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, the predecessor of Preservation North Carolina.

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