Walnut Hill Cotton Gin

Last updated
Walnut Hill Cotton Gin
Walnut Hill Cotton Gin.jpg
USA North Carolina location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location4620 Mial Plantation Road, Knightdale, North Carolina
Nearest city Shotwell, North Carolina
Coordinates 35°44′24.80″N78°26′24.63″W / 35.7402222°N 78.4401750°W / 35.7402222; -78.4401750 Coordinates: 35°44′24.80″N78°26′24.63″W / 35.7402222°N 78.4401750°W / 35.7402222; -78.4401750
Area0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Builtc. 1848
MPS Wake County MPS
NRHP reference No. 86001631 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 14, 1986

The Walnut Hill Plantation cotton gin house was built in the mid to late 1840s by Alonzo T. Mial, a prominent planter and commission merchant in 19th century North Carolina. It is one of a few surviving cotton gin houses in the state, and is likely the only one to have retained the majority of its original ginning equipment. [2]

Contents

The gin house is a 2 12-story-tall, hand-hewn timber frame structure, approximately 36 feet (11 m) wide and 56 feet (17 m) deep. The frontmost two-thirds of the structure is supported by tall, 2 feet (0.61 m) thick granite ashlar pillars that form a square, open-air space on the ground floor in which the mule track and power shaft were located. The rear third of the gin house rests on short, granite rubble piers, and housed the ground-floor pressing and packaging rooms. Most of the ginning equipment resided on the second floor of the gin house. The third floor was used for storage of baled cotton.

The gin was originally powered by two to four mules hitched to horizontal sweeps that turned the vertical power shaft. The power shaft was connected to a series of cog wheels that ultimately transferred power to the leather belt that drove the gin. In 1875, Mial replaced the mules with a 15-horsepower steam engine, which considerably increased the gin's production capacity. The gin house received a number of other upgrades as ginning technology progressed over the following fifty years. The Walnut Hill cotton gin ceased operation in the mid-1930s, shortly after the death of Millard Mial, Alonzo T. Mial's oldest son.

Renovation

Architect Jim Smith, of HagerSmith Design, PA in Raleigh, and his wife purchased the gin house in 1992 and spent the following decade stabilizing the structure to halt its deterioration. Between 2003 and 2005, they renovated the gin house and converted it to a private residence, where they have lived since. [3] Their work won them an AIA North Carolina Design Merit award in 2011.

See also

Related Research Articles

Washington Monument Obelisk in Washington, D.C.

The Washington Monument is an obelisk within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the first President of the United States (1789–1797). Located almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial, the monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world's tallest predominantly stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 554 feet 7 1132 inches (169.046 m) tall according to the U.S. National Geodetic Survey or 555 feet 5 18 inches (169.294 m) tall according to the National Park Service. It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances. Overtaking the Cologne Cathedral, it was the tallest structure in the world between 1884 and 1889, after which it was overtaken by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Wisconsin State Capitol State capitol building of the U.S. state of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature convened in 1836 and the third building since Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848. The Wisconsin State Capitol is the tallest building in Madison, a distinction that has been preserved by legislation that prohibits buildings taller than the columns surrounding the dome. The Capitol is located at the southwestern end of the Madison Isthmus. The streets surrounding the building form the Capitol Square, which is home to many restaurants and shops.

Texas State Capitol State capitol building of the U.S. state of Texas

The Texas State Capitol is the capitol building and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, it was constructed from 1882 to 1888 under the direction of civil engineer Reuben Lindsay Walker. A $75 million underground extension was completed in 1993. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Dubuque County Courthouse United States historic place

The Dubuque County Courthouse is located on Central Avenue, between 7th and 8th Streets, in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. The current structure was built from 1891 to 1893 to replace an earlier building. These are believed to be the only two structures to house the county courts and administrative offices.

Cotton mill Building producing yarn or cloth from cotton

A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.

Execution Rocks Light

Execution Rocks Light is a lighthouse in the middle of Long Island Sound on the border between New Rochelle and Sands Point, New York. It stands 55 feet (17 m) tall, with a white light flashing every 10 seconds. The granite tower is painted white with a brown band around the middle. It has an attached stone keeper's house which has not been inhabited since the light was automated in 1979.

Matinicus Rock Light

Matinicus Rock Light is a lighthouse on Matinicus Rock, a windswept rock 25 miles (40 km) off the coast of Maine. It is one of eleven seacoast lights off the coast of Maine. First established in 1827, the present surviving structures date to 1857. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Matinicus Rock Light Station on March 14, 1988.

Wells Fargo Building (Philadelphia) United States historic place

The Wells Fargo Building, originally the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company Building, is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the architectural firm Simon & Simon, the building was erected for the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co. in 1928. The 29-story high-rise is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Maccabees Building Historic building in Detroit

The Maccabees Building is a historic building located at 5057 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. and is currently owned by Wayne State University.

Fabyan Windmill windmill in Geneva Township, Kane County, Illinois

The Fabyan Windmill is an authentic, working Dutch windmill dating from the 1850s located in Geneva, Kane County, Illinois, just north of Batavia, Illinois, off Illinois Route 25. The five-story wooden smock mill with a stage, which stands 68 feet (21 m) tall, sits upon the onetime estate of Colonel George Fabyan, but is now part of the Kane County Forest Preserve District.

Shotwell, North Carolina Unincorporated community in North Carolina, United States

Shotwell is an unincorporated community in rural eastern Wake County, North Carolina, United States, located about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Knightdale and 11 miles (18 km) east of Raleigh at the confluence of Smithfield, Mial Plantation, Major Slade, Grasshopper, and Turnipseed Roads. Shotwell has been inhabited since the early 19th century and is home to a number of historic structures. A post office was established in 1883 but closed less than two decades later.

North Canal Historic District United States historic place

The North Canal Historic District of Lawrence, Massachusetts, encompasses the historic industrial heart of the city. It is centered on the North Canal and the Great Stone Dam, which provided the waterpower for its many mill complexes. The canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, while the district was first listed in 1984, and then expanded slightly in 2009.

Reservoir Park (Massachusetts) United States historic place

Reservoir Park is a historic park on Boylston Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. Its principal feature is Brookline Reservoir, formerly an element of the public water supply for neighboring Boston. The reservoir was built in 1848 as the main terminus of the now-defunct Cochituate Aqueduct, which delivered water from Lake Cochituate in the western suburbs. The reservoir covers 21.1 acres (8.5 ha), and is roughly kidney-shaped. A gravel path extends around the perimeter of the reservoir. The park is bounded on the north by Boylston Street, on the west by Lee Street, on the south by Dudley Street, and on the east by Warren and Walnut Streets.

Petit Manan Light

Petit Manan Light is a lighthouse on Petit Manan Island, Maine. The island is at the end of a series of ledges extending out from Petit Manan Point, between Dyer Bay and Pigeon Hill Bay, that projects into the Gulf of Maine.

McPhail Angus Farm United States historic place

The McPhail Angus Farm is a farm at 320 Coyote Trail near Seneca, South Carolina in Oconee County. It is also known as the Tokena Angus Farm. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on November 7, 2007. It was named because of its significance to the transition from a nineteenth-century cotton farm to a twentieth-century, Upstate, cattle farm.

McConnel & Kennedy Mills

McConnel & Kennedy Mills are a group of cotton mills on Redhill Street in Ancoats, Manchester, England. With the adjoining Murrays' Mills, they form a nationally important group.

Soldiers Monument (Davenport, Iowa) United States historic place

The Soldier's Monument is a historic structure in the College Square Historic District in Davenport, Iowa, United States. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The monument, which was built from 1880 to 1881, was individually listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1993.

Walnut Hill Historic District (Knightdale, North Carolina) United States historic place

The Walnut Hill Historic District is a collection of 40 family dwellings, agricultural outbuildings, and other structures and sites associated with the Walnut Hill Plantation and the Mial-Williamson and Joseph Blake farms near Shotwell, North Carolina. The historic district represents the post-Civil War growth of one of the largest agricultural centers in Wake County. It is situated primarily along the northeast end of Mial Plantation Road between its intersections with Major Slade and Smithfield Roads.

Hopkins Farm (Simpsonville, South Carolina) United States historic place

The Hopkins Farm is an agricultural complex listed on the National Register of Historic Places located near the intersection of South Carolina Highway 418 and Fork Shoals Road in the vicinity of Simpsonville, South Carolina. The complex, begun by John Hopkins who purchased the land in 1834 from James Harrison, consists of the main house, a cook's house, agricultural fields, a pecan grove, eleven outbuildings and a family cemetery.

Museo Hacienda Buena Vista Farm museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Museo Hacienda Buena Vista is a historic coffee plantation farm museum in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The museum opened in 1986, and receives some 40,000 visitors a year. The museum has been described as "Puerto Rico's first living museum of art and science."

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Black, David R. and Allison H. "National Register of Historic Places — Nomination Form" (PDF). Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  3. Wakeford, Katie. "Yesterdays revealed". The News & Observer. Retrieved 29 September 2012.