William King Beck House

Last updated
William King Beck House
William King Beck House 01.JPG
The William King Beck House in 2008.
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Camden, Alabama
Coordinates 32°2′44″N87°20′7″W / 32.04556°N 87.33528°W / 32.04556; -87.33528 Coordinates: 32°2′44″N87°20′7″W / 32.04556°N 87.33528°W / 32.04556; -87.33528
Built1845
ArchitectAlexander J. Bragg
NRHP reference No. 93000421 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 21, 1993
Designated ARLHNovember 13, 1996 [2]

The William King Beck House, also known as River Bluff Plantation, is a historic plantation house on the Alabama River near Camden, Alabama. The main house was built in 1845 for William King Beck and is attributed to architect Alexander J. Bragg. [1] William King Beck was an attorney from North Carolina who migrated to Wilcox County in the 1820s. He was the nephew of William Rufus King, the 13th Vice President of the United States. [3]

The house is a one-story wood-frame building with six octagonal columns supporting a full-width front porch under the main roof. It is an example of the Greek Revival Cottage style. The roof line was altered in the late 19th century, when the original hipped roof was replaced with a pyramidal type. [3] The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1993. [1]

Related Research Articles

Arlington Antebellum Home & Gardens United States historic place

Arlington Antebellum Home & Gardens, or Arlington Historic House, is a former plantation house and 6 acres (24,000 m2) of landscaped gardens near downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The two-story frame structure was built between 1845–50 and features antebellum-era Greek Revival architecture. The house serves as a decorative arts museum, featuring a collection of 19th-century furniture, textiles, silver, and paintings. The garden features a restored garden room that is used for special events. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1970 as Arlington, and has also been known as the Mudd-Munger House.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilcox County, Alabama

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilcox County, Alabama.

Pitts Folly United States historic place

Pitts' Folly is a historic antebellum Greek Revival residence located in Uniontown, Alabama. The house was built by Philip Henry Pitts as his main house. It was designed by architect B. F. Parsons, who also designed the nearby Perry County Courthouse in Marion. Many local legends detail how the house gained its name, but they all center on the people of Uniontown believing it to be folly, or foolishness, that Pitts was building such a large house.

Allen Grove (Alabama) United States historic place

Allen Grove is a plantation house and historic district located in Old Spring Hill, Alabama. The Greek Revival house was built for John Gray Allen in 1857 by David Rudisill. It is a two-story frame structure with a two-story front portico featuring square paneled columns. The roof is hipped with side dormers. In 1890 the rear facade was altered when a kitchen and pantry wing and a two-story back porch was added. The house and two other plantation buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1994, as a part of the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission.

Liberty Hall (Camden, Alabama) United States historic place

Liberty Hall, also known as John Robert McDowell Place, is a historic plantation house near Camden, Alabama. The two-story Greek Revival style main house was built in 1855 for John Robert McDowell by W.W. Robinson. The two-story front portico features two central Ionic columns flanked by a square column to each side, reminiscent of a distyle-in-antis arrangement. The floor plan is centered on a broad hall that separates four large, equally proportioned rooms on both levels. The formal rooms and hall on the lower level have elaborate plasterwork that was designed, in part, by Harriet McDowell, wife of John Robert McDowell. The house is currently owned by the great-granddaughter of the original owner. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1984.

Tristram Bethea House United States historic place

The Tristram Bethea House, also known as Pleasant Ridge, is a historic plantation house in Canton Bend, Alabama. The two-story brick house was built in 1842 in the Federal style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 11, 1985.

Coy, Alabama Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States

Coy is an unincorporated community in Wilcox County, Alabama, United States. Coy is located in a bend of the Alabama River and is home to several historic plantations. The most notable of these is Dry Fork Plantation, included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Dry Fork Plantation United States historic place

Dry Fork Plantation, also known as James Asbury Tait House, is a historic plantation house in Coy, Alabama. The two-story wood-frame house was built between 1832 and 1834 in a vernacular interpretation of Federal style architecture. It was built for James Asbury Tait by two slaves, Hezekiah and Elijah. The floor plan is centered on a hall that separates four rooms, two on each side, on both floors. Tait recorded in his daybook that the house required 25,000 board feet (59 m3) of lumber, the roof was covered with 6,000 wooden shingles, and the chimneys and foundation required 12,000 bricks, made from clay on the plantation. Dry Fork is one of the oldest houses still standing in Wilcox County and remains in the Tait family. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 26, 1999 with the name of Dry Forks Plantation.

Furman, Alabama Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States

Furman, also known as Old Snow Hill, is an unincorporated community in Wilcox County, Alabama, United States. The Furman Historic District is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Liddell Archeological Site United States historic place

The Liddell Archeological Site is a prehistoric Native American site in Wilcox County, Alabama. The site covers 50 acres (20 ha) and shows evidence of human occupation from 9000 BC to 1800 AD. It is best known for its Mississippian artifacts, primarily from the Burial Urn Culture period. The site was first documented in the 1960s, when the United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed Millers Ferry Lock and Dam on the Alabama River, creating the William "Bill" Dannelly Reservoir. The Liddell, Stroud, and Hall families donated the site to Auburn University after its discovery. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1978.

Tait–Ervin House United States historic place

The Tait–Ervin House, also known as Countryside, is a historic plantation house near Camden, Alabama. The two-story wood-frame house was built in 1855 for Robert Tait by a builder named Henry Cook. Robert was the grandson of Charles Tait, a United States Senator from Georgia. The plantation was acquired after the American Civil War by Robert Tait's sister, Sarah Asbury Tait Ervin, and her husband, Dr. Robert Hugh Ervin. Dr. Ervin served in both houses of the Alabama Legislature and was elected President Pro Tem of the state senate in 1872. The house remained in the Ervin family until 1991, when it was sold to the Phillipi family. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1995.

Rosemount (Forkland, Alabama) United States historic place

Rosemount is a historic plantation house near Forkland, Alabama. The Greek Revival style house was built in stages between 1832 and the 1850s by the Glover family. The house has been called the "Grand Mansion of Alabama." The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1971. The Glover family enslaved over 300 people from 1830 until 1860.

Borden Oaks United States historic place

Borden Oaks is a plantation house and historic district near Greensboro, Alabama, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1994 as a part of the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission.

Millwood (Greensboro, Alabama) United States historic place

Millwood is a historic plantation house and historic district on the east bank of the Black Warrior River, southwest of Greensboro, Alabama, USA. The house was built in 1830. It also served as a river hotel in the mid to late 19th century. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1989, due to its architectural and historical significance.

Augusta Sledge House United States historic place

The Augusta Sledge House, also known as the Morrisette-Tunstall-Sledge House, was a historic plantation house and historic district near Newbern, Alabama, USA. The main house was built in 1855 and is an example of the cottage orné style, which was at the height of its popularity in the mid-19th century. The property is included in the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1994, due to its architectural and historical significance. It was razed circa 2010.

Canton Bend, Alabama Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States

Canton Bend, once known simply as Canton, is an unincorporated community in Wilcox County, Alabama, United States. Located on the south bank of the Alabama River, it served as the first county seat for Wilcox County from 1819 until its move to Camden in 1833. It has several historic sites, including Youpon Plantation and the Tristram Bethea House.

Bocage Plantation United States historic place

Bocage Plantation is a historic plantation in Darrow, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, about 25 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. The plantation house was constructed in 1837 in Greek Revival style with Creole influences, especially in the floorplan. Established in 1801, the plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 1991.

Flint River Place United States historic place

Flint River Place is a historic residence near Huntsville, Alabama. The house was built between 1844 and 1850 by Daniel Friend, a planter who came to Alabama from Kentucky around 1826. The house is Greek Revival in style, with Federal and Georgian Revival elements. It began as an L-shaped house, with an additional ell and one-story shed roofed infill built in 1930. The house is clad in poplar siding and the gable roof was originally slate over wooden shingles, but has been replaced by asphalt shingles. Two gable-end chimneys have simple, Federal-style mantels. The façade is three bays, with a one-story portico supported by four columns, with a balcony above; it replaced a gable-roofed, two-column portico in 1978. The main entrance is flanked by sidelights and topped with a fanlight. Windows on the entire house, except for the southeast bedroom addition, are six-over-nine sashes. The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1981 and National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The house was heavily damaged in a fire in 2012.

Jude–Crutcher House United States historic place

The Jude–Crutcher House is a historic plantation house in Huntsville, Alabama. The house was built circa 1812 on land deeded that year to Samuel Echols. Echols sold 54 acres and the house to George Jude, Sr., in 1817. Jude died two years later, leaving the land to his son, George Jr. The younger Jude eventually acquired 800 acres and owned 31 slaves. Upon his death in 1873, the land stayed in the family until 1883. In 1906 David Crutcher, who had been born a slave on an adjacent plantation in 1851, purchased the house and 154 acres along with two other African-American men. The Crutchers operated a successful farm on their portion of the land, which was an extension farm for Alabama A&M University until the 1940s. Only 7% of African-American farmers in Madison County in 1910 owned their own farms. David died in 1924, and his wife, Lucy, died in 1943, although the house and land is still in the family.

Thomas A. Snellgrove Homestead United States historic place

The Thomas A. Snellgrove Homestead is a group of three historic residences and their outbuildings in Boaz, Alabama. The houses are the last remnants of the plantation settled by Billy Sparks in 1878. Sparks was one of the first white settlers in what is now Boaz. In 1886 the community was granted a post office and assumed its current name. Thomas A. Snellgrove married one of Sparks' granddaughters in 1895, and purchased the remnants of the plantation in 1898, one year after the town was incorporated.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "The Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage". preserveala.org. Alabama Historical Commission. February 24, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Beck-Bryant-Talbot Home". Wilcox Area Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-14.