Somerset Place State Historic Site

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 ant

ebellum 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)

06/07/2026

Magnolia was the third and final Pettigrew plantation, developed by enslaved laborers in Tyrrell County in the 1840s. The plantation house - built for the first owner, Ebenezer Pettigrew - consisted of a two-story frame structure surrounded by a first-floor shed attachment, all built upon brick piers. Ebenezer enslaved approximately 33 people at Magnolia in 1848, and the plantation and the people who lived and worked there were also connected to neighboring Somerset Place.

Learn more about this place watching our Part I YouTube video, linked below!

https://youtu.be/KNBTql0LomY

Look what we found in the tree roots of our old sycamore! This iron bracket sticking out likely dates back to Somerset’s...
06/06/2026

Look what we found in the tree roots of our old sycamore! This iron bracket sticking out likely dates back to Somerset’s plantation era.

This week is ! Did you know that Mary Riggs Collins loved gardening? Her garden included roses, pyracantha, euconymus ...
06/05/2026

This week is ! Did you know that Mary Riggs Collins loved gardening? Her garden included roses, pyracantha, euconymus japonicus, forget-me-nots, strawberries, and more. Mrs. Collins loved gardening so much that she often shared plants with her neighbors, including Mrs. Pettigrew who received heliotrope, geraniums, and myrtle. So, share a plant with a neighbor and watch your friendship bloom!

On June 13th we will have our 15th Annual Days Gone By! Come and experience history through arts, crafts, guided tours, ...
06/04/2026

On June 13th we will have our 15th Annual Days Gone By! Come and experience history through arts, crafts, guided tours, and activities! This annual event will feature opportunities to learn about plantation life through historic trades and crafts, living history, hands-on activities with historic interpreters, and tours of the plantation.

Guided tours will be offered at 10:30a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 1:30p.m. and have a required fee of $5.35 for adults, $4.28 for seniors 65 + and military, and $1.07 for children ages 3-17. We hope you’ll join us to explore the diverse peoples, cultures, and histories of Somerset Place.

Event fee of $5 for adults (18 - 64) and $2 for seniors (65 +) and children ( 3 - 17). Children age 2 and under get free admission.

*Image alt text: a picture of a table with historic items on it

in 1856, the fifth single room house for enslaved persons caught fire in the enslaved community. It started either as ...
06/03/2026

in 1856, the fifth single room house for enslaved persons caught fire in the enslaved community. It started either as a result of a fireplace or candle accident. Next door at Bonarva, an enslaved man named Peter woke Charles Pettigrew to inform him of the fire, and he soon ran over.

Charles described a frantic situation, with both enslaved persons from Somerset and from Bonarva trying to help. Some assisted the Reverend George Patterson (2nd 📸), who was “…nearly up to his knees in water in the Lake filling buckets for the fire.” Meanwhile, “Mr. Collins was much excited and every where,” and “the former occupants of the house were rushing about, as if distraught and crying for help.”

The house unfortunately could not be saved. After the fire, Josiah Collins III purchased speaking trumpets (3rd 📸), which were used in firefighting to project voices and better direct activities.

Quotes from Charles Pettigrew to Jane Pettigrew, June 4, 1856, Pettigrew Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We often get the question of where people got their drinking water on the plantation. Most enslaved persons obtained wa...
06/02/2026

We often get the question of where people got their drinking water on the plantation.

Most enslaved persons obtained water from Lake Phelps, located just a few yards in front of their dwellings. There was also an above-ground cistern in the slave kitchen complex that collected rainwater. It was housed in a shed whose foundation is shown in the 2nd 📸.

The Collins family drank rainwater from a cistern located below their house (3rd 📸). In his testimony about his time at Somerset Place, former enslaved field hand Uriah Bennett described this cistern:

“They had a cistern under the house that held pure water that dripped from the house. The water went in from outside, and had to go through gate, cistern and gate that was laticed in. Nothing could get in it. There were steps to go down and get the water which was brought back up to the house and put in a cooler. The cisterns had to be cleaned out once a year.”

During the Civil War, 171 enslaved persons were forcibly relocated from Somerset Place to an undeveloped plantation in F...
06/01/2026

During the Civil War, 171 enslaved persons were forcibly relocated from Somerset Place to an undeveloped plantation in Franklin County named “Hurry-Scurry”. This labor camp was a dangerous environment plagued with illness, death, distance from familiarity, and insufficient food and shelter.

Facing bleak conditions, five enslaved persons attempted to escape to freedom in June 1863 and reach their family members who remained behind at Somerset Place: Jobe and Lueasor Treadwell and Murriah, Ruth, and Alfred Littlejohn.

Although all five were eventually captured, two of the freedom-seekers reached Tarboro some 60 miles from Hurry-Scurry. Jobe, Lueasor, Murriah, Ruth, and Alfred were the last recorded freedom-seekers from Somerset’s enslaved community.

📸 courtesy of State Archives of NC Photos

05/31/2026

Charles Lockhart Pettigrew took over the business of Bonarva plantation in 1846 and always maintained a good relationship with the neighboring Collins family. He and his wife Jane wrote frequent letters about their interactions, which shed light on the history of Somerset Place. By 1860, Charles and Jane enslaved 158 people at Bonarva, most of whom did not remain on the plantation after emancipation.

Learn more about the Bonarva plantation by watching our full Part II YouTube video, linked below!

https://youtu.be/-RisNb4GzAM

We have a new book for sale in our gift shop! Edenton: An Architectural Portait is a landmark study of Edenton’s histori...
05/30/2026

We have a new book for sale in our gift shop! Edenton: An Architectural Portait is a landmark study of Edenton’s historic places, and the hardcover copy sells for $50 in our gift shop. Call 252-379-6020 to order or stop by!

Today is ! Biscuits date back to the 7th century C.E., with Persian cooks dishing out the first known biscuits and cook...
05/29/2026

Today is ! Biscuits date back to the 7th century C.E., with Persian cooks dishing out the first known biscuits and cookies. In 1861, bland biscuits called hardtack, made from flour and water, became a staple for many Union and Confederate soldiers. Since we are on a ROLL, we are sharing a biscuit recipe from one of the Collins’ cookbooks, “The Cook’s Oracle” by William Kitchner:

Biscuit Drops. (No. 68.)

“Beat well together in a pan one pound of sifted Sugar and eight Eggs for twenty minutes; then add a quarter of an ounce of Carraway Seed, and one pound and a quarter of Flour: ---lay wafer paper on a baking plate, ---put the mixture into a biscuit funnel, and drop it out on the paper about the size of half a crown, sift Sugar over, and bake them in a hot oven.”

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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