Somerset Place State Historic Site

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Somerset Place State Historic Site Interpreting the lives of enslaved and free persons on an antebellum North Carolina plantation. We suggest taking Exit 558 from Highway US-64.

Somerset Place offers visitors a comprehensive social history that explores the family life of all former plantation residents: the enslaved community, plantation owners, and hired white and Black employees. Tours of the historic buildings, reconstructed slave dwellings and plantation hospital, gardens, and archaeological remains give visitors a complete look at one of North Carolina's largest antebellum plantations. Guided tours are conducted upon request and last approximately 1.5 hours. Due to the length of the tour, the last one departs no later than 3:30 p.m. Starting August 1, 2025, North Carolina Historic Sites will implement new fees for guided tours and field trip activities. Admission to most sites remains free, but rising operational costs require a small increase in fees for certain programs. At Somerset Place State Historic Site:
• Guided tour: $5 + tax per adult
• Seniors (65+) and military: $4 + tax
• Youth (3–17): $1 + tax
• Special tour: $10 + tax per participant
• K–12 groups: Guided tours remain free for public, private, and registered home schools
• Field trip activity fee: $2 + tax per student per activity (for experiences beyond the standard tour, like hands-on crafts or living history demonstrations)

Visitors can also access our self-guided tour of the site and our driving tour of the Creswell area here: https://linktr.ee/somersetplaceshs. Some visitors report trouble using GPS navigation when driving here. Then simply follow the signs to Somerset Place. (Lat: 35.789412 / Long: -76.403976)

We found frogs galore while opening up buildings this morning!
10/14/2026

We found frogs galore while opening up buildings this morning!

Happy Birthday United States Navy! This mid-19th century Rockingham ware spittoon inside the office of the Collins Home ...
10/13/2026

Happy Birthday United States Navy! This mid-19th century Rockingham ware spittoon inside the office of the Collins Home features an anchor motif that’s since become the insignia for Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy.

We just restocked our popular fire-roasted yaupon tea and added another flavor: vanilla hibiscus! Each box sells for $12...
10/12/2026

We just restocked our popular fire-roasted yaupon tea and added another flavor: vanilla hibiscus! Each box sells for $12.99 and has sixteen tea bags. Stop by our gift shop!

Is somebody storing or eating up all the profits?
10/11/2026

Is somebody storing or eating up all the profits?

Did you know that the original Kitchen Rations building has been moved twice? In February 1918, R. S. Neal relocated the...
10/10/2026

Did you know that the original Kitchen Rations building has been moved twice? In February 1918, R. S. Neal relocated the structure near the four-story barn to use as a tenant house. He owned Somerset Place at the time alongside R. J. Reynolds To***co Company.

Then in January 1942, the Works Projects Administration moved the Kitchen Rations building back to its original location behind the Kitchen Laundry building as part of their restoration project at Somerset Place. They partially restored the structure too, as you can see in this photo (center right).

Today is ! Somerset Place has seen its share of fires and neighboring wildfires over the years. One memorable fire was ...
10/09/2026

Today is ! Somerset Place has seen its share of fires and neighboring wildfires over the years. One memorable fire was the burning of the Collins’ four-story barn and carriage house in September of 1854. In a letter, Charles Pettigrew wrote, “Fortunately, he had a fire engine or he would have not had a house left among the number about his mill.”

Quote from Charles Lockhart Pettigrew to Jane Caroline (North) Pettigrew, 28 Sep 1854, Scuppernong, SHS 592.1 (Unpublished Pettigrew Papers compiled by John Sykes)

For the next couple weeks, we’ll be showing y’all photos taken of the Magnolia plantation house in October 1974. Magnoli...
10/08/2026

For the next couple weeks, we’ll be showing y’all photos taken of the Magnolia plantation house in October 1974. Magnolia was located a couple miles northeast of Somerset. By then, the building had fallen into severe disrepair and was being used to store hay (2nd 📸).

The house was built between 1834 and 1844 for Ebenezer Pettigrew, who also designed the house. The unusual layout consisted of a two-story frame structure surrounded by an enclosed porch on all four sides. The two-story part also had a deck atop the roof.

Tragically, the house burned down in 1977.

Enslaved field workers began harvesting corn during the month of October in 1850. Women made up most of the labor force ...
10/06/2026

Enslaved field workers began harvesting corn during the month of October in 1850. Women made up most of the labor force and worked in groups to pull up stalks and pick the corn cobs. Meanwhile, other enslaved persons cut, hauled, and stowed wood; dug out canals; harvested potatoes; spread lime on the fields; and made charcoal.

It’s that time of year when the monarch butterflies migrate! We saw this lovely monarch in the Collins’ formal garden.
10/03/2026

It’s that time of year when the monarch butterflies migrate! We saw this lovely monarch in the Collins’ formal garden.

Prior to European contact, several Indigenous communities lived in what is present-day Washington County. Theodor de Bry...
10/02/2026

Prior to European contact, several Indigenous communities lived in what is present-day Washington County. Theodor de Bry’s 1590 map, “Americae pars, Nunc Virginia...,” suggests that the land between the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound was inhabited by the Secotan, whose principal town was located at the mouth of the Pamlico River. To the west of the Albemarle Sound and along the lower course of the Roanoke River was the town of Moratoc, which was inhabited by Moratuck Indians. The map also identifies one town near the Scuppernong River and Lake Phelps (not shown in the map): Mequopen, which according to anthropologist Helen Rountree may mean “where there are red tubers.”

📸 from NC Maps, UNC at Chapel Hill

Address

2572 Lake Shore Road
Creswell, NC
27928

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12523796020

Website

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