Historic Sites

Built in 1915, by African American contractor James Waddell. The Orange Street School is believed to be the oldest building associated with education in Fayetteville.  Before it's construction, black students had been attending classes in a small, one-room schoolhouse for nearly 50 years.  The school continued to function as an educational facility for 38 years.  The upstairs now serves as a museum where Bishop James Walker Hood's top hat and bible can be viewed.  He was an early founder and pastor of Evans Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church.  The home of Edward Evans, the original principal of Orange Street School, is located accross the street.

The first building on this site was erected in 1793 and served as a lodgeroom, schoolroom, and theater.  The building was rebuilt in 1858.  The Phoenix Lodge is one of the oldest in the state still in existence and was visited by Marquis de Lafayette in 1825.  This structure is a good example of Greek Revival architecture.

Built in 1935, The Rankin House is constructed in the Colonial Revival style favored in the 20th Century by merchants, industrialists and professionals in the lower Haymount neighborhood.  Around one quarter of all the homes in the Haymount neighborhood were built between 1910 and 1930 and all are colonial inspired.  The Rankin family, owners of a lumber business, built the home with only the finest wood.

Charles Rankin of Rankin Hardware and Lumber Company had this house built in 1927. It is an example of the Federal Revival Style.

Built in 1891 for Bond Sedberry, a local pharmacist who owned a drug store in town,  the house was situated in the fashionable Victorian neighborhood that developed along Person Street.  The home is one of the finest of the few remaining 19th Century residences on the street, a well-preserved representation of Queen Anne-style.

Its earliest owners, first John Smith and later George Lauder were associated with the rebuilding of the State Capitol in Raleigh and later were active here as marble and stonemasons.   George Lauder was a native from Edinburgh, Scotland and become the most predominantly known stone mason in North Carolina during the 19th Century.  He had a marble yard near Hay and Old Streets in Fayetteville.  Lauder was best known for carving many of the tombstones in Cross Creek Cemetery as well as the Confederate monument that was erected in Cross Creek Cemetery in 1868.

The Taylor Utley House stands on property originally owned by Captain James Andrew Jackson Bradford, former commander of the U.S. Arsenal located in Fayetteville.   In 1847, William Taylor, a local merchant, purchased three-and-a half acres from Bradford and built his family's home there.  Eleven years later, Joseph Utley purchased the house and a lot adjacent to it form Taylor for $3,000.  This home typifies the vernacular Greek Revival-styling prevalent in home built in Fayetteville before the Civil War.

Often referred to as the Wedding Gift House, the delightful Victorian cottage was built in 1900 as a wedding gift by the Clark's for their daughter, so that she could live close by, as was a common practice in the Haymount neighborhood.  Edward Lee Clark and his wife, Harriet Hightower Clark, lived with their only child Etta Bell until the last decade of the 19th century.

The Fayetteville Observer, originally launched in 1817, is North Carolina's oldest newspaper that is still currently published. Because of the newspaper's strong pro-Southern tone, the destruction of the newspaper plant was among Union Gen. William T. Sherman's objectives when he occupied Fayetteville in March 1865. Edward J. Hale ran the paper until 1865 when he turned the paper over to his sons, who resumed publishing in 1883

The circa 1911 dwelling was constructed for Adeline Burr Davis Green, a woman who was married to some of the most important decision-makers of her day.  Her first husband served as Vice President of the United States, Justice of the United States Supreme Court and Senator of Illinois.  She married Colonel Wharton Green, a prominent North Carolinian, who was an officer of the Confederacy and proudly represented Fayetteville, when he was elected to Congress.

Built in 1927 by Joseph Huske, the Huske House was home to one of Fayetteville's most prominent early families.  Joseph Huske was the son of Major Benjamin R. Huske, founder of one of Fayetteville's landmark businesses, Huske Hardware House, which is now a popular restaurant downtown.

Built in 1923, The Pond House was a shingled bungalow exhibiting a common early 20th Century style of residential architecture prominent in the prestigious Haymount area of Fayetteville.  The Pond House is the perfect example of a typical early 20th century bungalow.

Built in 1907 by William McDiarmid, a prominent lumber and building material supplier, the William McDiarmid House reflects an interesting mixture of late Victorian and Colonial Revival styles.  McDiarmid died in 1911, shortly after building the house, but his widow remained and occupied the house until 1925.  Fayetteville builder Earl Parks Bansy renovated the house during the 1970s.