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Edenton Historic Edenton State Historic Site, 108 North Broad St., Edenton. (252) 482-2637. Several notable Colonial buildings are located on this site at the north end of downtown. Tours begin at the visitor center, a late 19th-century house, where a fourteen-minute orientation video relates the fascinating history of "a special place." A map for a 1.5-mile walking tour details 28 designated historic sites. A variety of guided tours also are offered for a fee. The best is the Historic Edenton overview tour, offered Monday-Saturday 9:30 to 11:30 and 2 to 4, April-October; Tuesday-Saturday 10:30 to 12:30 rest of year (adults $7). Among tour sites: The Cupola House, 408 South Broad St., was long thought to be the oldest house in town. Lately it was found to have been built not in 1725 but rather in 1758. The oldest title is now held by the privately owned Edmund Hatch House, built in 1744. Built in the Jacobean style with a cupola on top, the house is unusual in that no additions have been built. The interior is notable for period furnishings and fine woodwork. Guides point out a three-sided crib at the foot of the parents’ bed, eliminating the need for slats on the fourth side. In an early example of graffiti, a young resident left her tiny mark on the window pane of the children’s room, inscribing the rhyme "When this you see, Remember me," her initials and the date, April 15, 1835. The gardens have been re-created from a 1769 map. The Chowan County Courthouse on East King Street, dating to 1767, is considered the finest Georgian courthouse in the South and one of the outstanding buildings of Colonial America. Closed for renovations at our visit, it faces a wonderful green laid out in 1712 and stretching down to the bay. The green is flanked by handsome houses. The Edenton Teapot on the green commemorates the Edenton Tea Party, the earliest known instance of political activity on the part of women in the American colonies. A marker tells how 51 women resolved in 1774 to discontinue "that pernicious custom of drinking tea" and voted not to buy any more goods from England. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Broad and Church streets, is one of the finest Colonial churches in the South. Built from 1736 to 1766, North Carolina’s oldest chartered church is unusual in that it does not face the street but rather inward onto a magnolia-shaded churchyard filled with monuments dating from Colonial times, including the graves of three Colonial governors. A solid brass chandelier from the 15th Century and communion silver from 1725 are still in use. James Iredell House, 105 East Church St., was built in 1773 by North Carolina’s first attorney general, who was appointed by George Washington to the first U.S. Supreme Court. Visitors see the intricate and ornate desk in the law office of his son, who served as a governor. A rare rope bed is found in the west bedroom. A walking tour turns up other interesting sites and more than two centuries of architectural styles. The most obvious landmark is the 1782 Elizabeth Barker House, on a point jutting out into the water. Once home to an organizer of the Edenton Tea Party, it was moved three blocks to the site in 1952. The Edenton Historical Commission opens it for tea on the third Wednesday of each month. There’s a wonderful block of mansions along West King Street. South Granville Street also has a variety of substantial residences of interest. The Chowan Arts Council Gallery & Museum, 200 East Church St. The old E.A. Swain School has been turned into a gallery and museum. Photos illustrating a century of Chowan County from 1850 were on display at our visit. Works of fine artists are shown in a gallery and shop. (252) 482-8005. Open Monday-Saturday 10 to 4, Sunday 1 to 4. Free. Shopping. The three blocks of Broad Street that make up Edenton’s downtown are typically small-town, and there are no any empty storefronts. The biggest store in town is Byrum’s Hardware and Gifts, where every bride registers and George Byrum will sell you just about anything. The next biggest is Sound Feet Shoes (uniforms and safety shoes). The norm is typified by The Betty Shoppe ("smart fashions") and Jovon Fashions, "the perfect outfit for the perfect lady." Next door is Ann & Andy’s children’s shop, side by side with the Fame Men’s Shop. Of interest to visitors are Magnolia’s, with great apparel and accessories for women, and the adjacent Made by Hand, with fine gifts, baskets and crafts made in Edenton. Marion’s Boutique is a high-fashion dress store that also carries antiques that the owner gathers on shopping trips to England. Pembroke Landing Antiques stocks beautiful antique linens, furniture and china. Fancy That offers items that are more affordable. The Lovin’ Oven bakery produces breads and pastries. Extra Special Edenton Mill Village, 420 Elliott St., Edenton. The old brick Edenton Cotton Mill was closed in 1995, and the small, tin-roofed houses where mill workers lived alongside stood vacant. But the blighted neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks at the edge of the Edenton historic district is alive today. The 44-acre mill village was donated by the Greensboro corporate owners to Preservation North Carolina. A master plan calls for condominiums and artist studios in the mill, which was built of one million bricks, all made locally. The workers’ houses are being sold to people who restore them for personal residences under strict covenants. More than 40 houses that were not grandfathered to tenants have been sold and restored, prompting PNC to do the same for another cotton mill village near Burlington. The colorful structures, ranging from modest three-room mill workers’ cottages to the Colonial Revival overseer’s house, are well-worth seeing as an example of affordable housing and adaptive re-use. Signs mark some of the houses; the owner called one Messington, circa 1909, because it was such a mess. A cluttered mill museum in the PNC site office shows all kinds of collections owned by a local man. (252) 482-7455. Site office and museum open Monday-Friday, 8:30 to
5:30. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in the Southeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2000. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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