FROM STAFF REPORTS
A home that is nearly 200 years old has been moved to the campus of Edgecombe Community College, where students will soon breathe new life into its old beams and heart pine flooring.
The 199-year-old Norfleet Plantation House began its trek to campus on Tuesday from its location of 11 years situated north of Tarboro on U.S. 258.
By noon Wednesday, the house, which was divided into two parts to be moved, was on campus. By Thursday afternoon, the two portions had been neatly put back together, and the house is now resting on beams until its foundation is built.
“I am breathing a big sigh of relief today,” said Monika Fleming, program director of historic preservation trades at the college, on Thursday. “I’ve been waiting almost a year for this day and for the Norfleet House to finally arrive.”
House mover K.B. Bunn & Son moved the structure, which will eventually become the college’s new Community Heritage Center and the cornerstone of its historic preservation trades program. The house has been vacant for many years.
Fleming’s office will move to the Norfleet House, which also will contain a library for research, a classroom, and possibly a labwhere students can work.
The fireplace will be restored with a mantle built by a historic carpentry repair class held in August. “We attempted to copy the mantel from an old photo of the Norfleet House interior,” Fleming explained.
Historic preservation students will begin work next spring on restoring the structure.
Originally, the house was on a 1,700-acre plantation. The cotton press that was moved to the Town Common in the 1930s came from the same farm, owned by Isaac and Christina Norfleet.
In 1938, the house was used as the home for the superintendent
of the county prison that was located where the ECC campus is presently.
Following World War II, a house was built closer to the prison and this property was sold, and the Norfleet House was rented to various farm workers for the next 30 years.
The house was moved from its original site across from the college in 1998 when an industrial park, the Tarboro Commerce Center, was being created out of part of the original Norfleet farm. An old family cemetery remains.
The Town of Tarboro completed some restoration to the Norfleet House following damage in 1999 by Hurricane Floyd. “It was not a total historic restoration,” Fleming said, “but the town redid the wiring, the walls, chimneys, porches, bathrooms, and added a handicapped ramp.
The town brought the structure up to code.”
The house has its original flooring in two rooms: 22-foot long heart pine lumber. Three rooms are upstairs.
“The house is now within a quarter mile of its original location,” Fleming said. “It will be set up as a working lab – a structure where students can gain real know-how on restoring an actual historic house. I can’t imagine a more relevant teaching and learning experience for our students.”
Golden LEAF funds will be used to purchase library resources and provide the tools and supplies associated with the renovation of the house. Golden LEAF awarded a $55,000 grant to the historic preservation program in January.
