House in the Horseshoe
Sanford, North Carolina
Background
The House in the Horseshoe (ca. 1772), also called the Philip Alston House, sits on a horseshoe bend of the Deep River in northern Moore County, NC. The National Register-listed plantation house is notable as the residence of State Senator Philip Alston and Governor Benjamin Williams and for its role in a Revolutionary War skirmish, from which it is said to still bear bullet holes.
Project Summary
JKOA prepared a Historic Structure Report (HSR) documenting the house’s construction, alterations, and condition. The work included measured drawings and photodocumentation, document research, physical investigation, building systems analyses, and a full condition assessment.
Investigations included limited deconstruction of the building envelope in collaboration with the SHPO and NC State Historic Sites staff to better understand the nature and condition of the building’s structural system and its chronology of building changes. These efforts were coordinated with extensive historic research in early drawings, plans, photographs, and documents in combination with paint and historic finishes analyses and scientific dating of materials.
In concert with this study, a forensic ballistics team from the NC State Bureau of Investigation conducted trajectory analyses of bullet holes traditionally believed to date to the revolutionary war.
The HSR will serve as the guide for repairs and interpretation. The project is part of the state’s semiquincentennial project celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, with funding provided by a National Park Service grant.