NORTH CAROLINA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE Office of Archives and History Department of Cultural Resources NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation Smithville Township, Brunswick County, BW0717, Listed 9/9/2013 Nomination by Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. (as John Milner Associates, Inc.) and Davyd Foard Hood Photographs by Davyd Foard Hood, January 2013 Orton Mansion, façade view Luola’s Chapel, overall view Historic rice fields, looking west to Cape Fear River North entrance road, looking east, causeway through rice fields NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. Name of Property historic name Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation other names/site number 2. Location street & number 9149 Orton Road Southeast n/a not for publication city or town Winnabow X vicinity state North Carolina code NC county Brunswick code 019 zip code 28479 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this _X_nomination ____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X_meets ___does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: _ national X statewide local. Signature of certifying official/Title Date North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property ____meets ____ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Date Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________ Signature of the Keeper _________________________________________ Date of Action _____________________________________ United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation Brunswick County NC Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing X private building(s) 8 6 buildings public - Local X district 14 4 sites public - State site 2 2 structures public - Federal structure 31 116 objects object 55 128 Total Name of related multiple property listing: Number of contributing resources previously N/A________________________________ listed in the National Register: 2_____________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions DOMESTIC/single dwelling DOMESTIC/single dwelling DOMESTIC/secondary structure DOMESTIC/secondary structure COMMERCE/TRADE/specialty store RELIGION/religious facility RELIGION/religious facility FUNERARY/cemetery FUNERARY/cemetery AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural field AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/processing AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural outbuilding AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural field AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/irrigation facility AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural outbuilding LANDSCAPE/garden AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/irrigation facility LANDSCAPE/forest LANDSCAPE/garden LANDSCAPE/natural feature LANDSCAPE/forest LANDSCAPE/unoccupied land LANDSCAPE/natural feature Vacant/not in use 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Greek Revival foundation: Brick, wood, concrete, stone Colonial Revival walls: Wood, stucco, metal, synthetic siding Classical Revival roof: Slate, asphalt, metal Other: Minimal Traditional other: Copper, marble, stone, metal, brick 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation Brunswick County NC Name of Property County and State Narrative Description Summary Paragraph Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation is an expansion of Orton Plantation (NR 1973), which encompassed twelve acres of Orton Plantation, including the Orton mansion and its ornamental gardens. Since Orton Plantation‟s listing, important historic resources have been identified in the surrounding landscape that have inspired the owner to apply to the National Register in order to broaden the boundaries of the district to 953.8 acres and to expand the period and areas of significance. Orton Plantation Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation describes the historic core of the larger Orton property, which historically comprised almost 10,000 acres. For the purposes of this nomination, the property included within the boundary discussed here will be called Orton Plantation, and the larger, surrounding property, the Orton property. When referred to historically, it will be called, simply, Orton. Orton Plantation is located in Brunswick County, North Carolina, and situated almost equidistant between the cities of Wilmington and Southport, with the Cape Fear River forming its eastern boundary. To the east of Orton and the Cape Fear River lie the coastal beaches of New Hanover County and the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west lie vast acreages of pine forests. The Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal borders Orton Plantation to the south. Today, the Orton property comprises about 14,000 acres held in four ownerships. The largest of these, some 8,400 acres owned (since 2010) by Louis Moore Bacon, a sixth great-grandson of Roger Moore, encompasses the most historically significant features of the Orton property. The centerpiece of the property is the main owner‟s residence, the Orton mansion (ca. 1729-1732). Also located within the property is the family chapel, known as “Luola‟s Chapel” (1915); historic roadways (1800s,1910); one late nineteenth-century worker‟s dwelling (1880s); historic rice fields (1820s); two cemeteries dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; historic ornamental garden features (1910s, 1935-1940, and 1960s); historic features related to the Orton Nursery (1935-1940); and several archaeological sites, including the possible site of the plantation‟s slave settlement, for a total of fifty-five contributing and one hundred twenty-eight noncontributing resources.1 The boundary runs from the confluence of Orton Creek and the Cape Fear River, heading westward along Orton Creek. As the creek reaches the plantation‟s north entrance drive, the boundary turns to parallel the drive until it reaches Plantation Road, which was the primary route to Wilmington until the construction of State Road 133 in the 1950s. There, the boundary turns south and follows the route of Plantation Road, jogging westward across the road to encompass the Orton Pond dam and water release structure, then returning to follow the road, only to jog west again to encompass the Orton Pond outfall. From there the boundary returns to the road to head further south, then jogs eastward around an outlot containing the Drew Cemetery, until it meets the boundaries of the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal. At that point, the boundary turns to the northeast towards the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site. After a short jog to the south, the boundary turns northward along the western edge of the state historic site to its northern extent where the boundary turns to head eastward to meet the Cape Fear River, extending out into the water 500 feet to encompass underwater archaeological resources, then runs north before turning back to meet the river‟s edge at its starting point. Orton Plantation also includes portions of the property around Orton Pond, owned by the Sprunt family, including the Orton Pond dam, the Orton Pond outfall, and a water release structure that controls water flow to the rice fields. Orton Pond is the historic impoundment first created by Roger Moore to power his sawmills and also provided water power for Orton‟s successive saw, grist, and rice mills; fresh water for cultivating the plantation‟s rice fields; and, for most of the twentieth century, a splendid recreational and ornamental water feature for the Sprunt family, their friends, and guests. Members of the Sprunt family in three entities hold the 5,600 acres comprising most of Orton Pond, woodlands, marshes, fields; a hunting camp; most of the colonial Lilliput plantation of Eleazar Allen (d. 1749), including the site of his long-lost brick house and the Allen burial ground. While these features are also integral to the setting of the historic district, they are not included in this documentation, nor is the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, which commemorates the town founded by Roger Moore and his family and is now owned by the State of North