Burnside Plantation House, Federal style plantation house in Williamsboro, North Carolina.
Burnside Plantation House is a 2-story dwelling with five bays and weatherboard walls that display the hallmarks of Federal-style architecture. Paired brick chimneys at each gable end provide key structural and design elements typical of homes from this period.
Construction began around 1800 and the house received alterations before 1824 as owner preferences shifted. Memucan Hunt, who served as North Carolina's first state treasurer, was an early owner of the property.
The house was the home of Memucan Hunt, North Carolina's first state treasurer, and later of Thomas Hardy, whose daughter Pinckney Hardy married and became the mother of General Douglas MacArthur. The interior woodwork was carved in the classic revival style during the remodeling before 1824.
The house stands near Williamsboro in rural Vance County, reached by country roads; the grounds are not described as a staffed visitor site in the sources, so viewing is from the road or by prior arrangement. The 1760 smokehouse is the oldest surviving structure on the property.
The MacArthur link runs through Thomas Hardy, not Memucan Hunt: during the Civil War the house was the residence of Thomas Hardy, whose daughter Pinckney Hardy became the mother of General Douglas MacArthur. The earlier owner was Memucan Hunt, first Treasurer of North Carolina.
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