Institution

Map of Somerset Place in 1819 as divided between Josiah Collins I's seven grandchildren

Site of Weston Farmhouse (in fields at right) and barn (left of trees)

Melvin and Catherine Dickinson worked as day laborers for Arthur Collins on Weston Farm. They were formerly enslaved at Somerset Place.

Video

YouTube video about the Weston Farm tenant houses

<ul><li>Proceed for approximately one mile to the end of Mail Route Road. The canal you see in front of you was completed by enslaved laborers in the 1830s under the management of Josiah Collins II, who had purchased this 1,450-acre tract of land from his son Hugh (see attached map). At the time, the canal marked the western edges of the plantation’s cultivated fields, hence its name (also listed as Western Canal). Originally it did not connect with the lake as it does today, but like the other canals it was used for drainage. The 1,450-acre tract of land subsequently passed to Josiah Collins III and became known as Weston Farm.</li><li>After the Civil War, Josiah III’s widow Mary Collins sold Weston Farm to their youngest son Arthur, with all proceeds going to settle debts. A farmhouse was constructed for him by 1875, which was located across the canal from the old trees on your left. Barns were located near the trees. At that time Arthur moved to the farm and employed formerly enslaved persons from Somerset Place to work as tenant farmers and day laborers. However, debts followed him throughout his life, and he was forced to sell the farm in 1886, making him the last immediate member of the Collins family to own land at Lake Phelps. The farm passed to his cousin Herbert Page, who also owned Somerset Place at that time.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #4: Weston Canal and Weston Farm

Once encompassing nearly 110,000 acres, this remarkable site along Lake Phelps was one of the largest plantations in North Carolina. Much of it was originally densely vegetated swampland, but enslaved persons ultimately cleared thousands of acres and dug over 20 miles of transportation canals and over 130 miles of drainage ditches. Beginning in 1785, three generations of the Collins family owned Somerset Place. Over its time as an active plantation under slavery, at least 861 enslaved persons, 50 white employees, and two free Black employees worked here. Seven original buildings still stand, including the Collins Family Home (c. 1839), Colony House (c. 1840), Dairy (c. 1840), Kitchen/Laundry (c. 1808), Kitchen Rations Building (c. 1830), Smokehouse (c. 1830), and Salting House (c. 1830). There are also four reconstructed buildings, including the Plantation Hospital, Overseers' House, and two slave dwellings: the Lewis and Judy Home and the Suckey Davis Home, named after the original structures' occupants in 1843. The site is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and offers visitors a comprehensive social history of the enslaved and free persons who lived and worked on the plantation. Somerset Place State Historic Site is a part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Before you begin: This activity is a vehicle-based exploration of the former Somerset Place landscape and the town of Creswell. This driving tour explores sites, places, and features in and around Creswell that were once part of or associated with Somerset Place. The route follows public roads and totals about 12 miles. Many of the sites on this tour are privately owned, are not open to the public, and/or have no accessibility accommodations. Please respect private property and observe all sites from the road unless otherwise stated. Always use caution when driving and do not obstruct traffic. Obey posted signs and speed limits.

<ul><li>Begin your tour in the visitor parking lot by looking northeast up Park Road. Near the modern grain silos was the plantation’s barnyard. This area contained agricultural and mechanical buildings like the four-story barn, wagon house, and stables, alongside shops for skilled artisans. Across the Transportation Canal to the right of the modern silos were the water-powered gristmill and sawmills and beyond them, according to tradition, pastureland for farm animals.</li><li>Turn right out of the visitor center parking lot and take an immediate left onto Park Road. Midway down the road you will see Galilee Mission Episcopal Church on your right. This church was founded in the early 1920s and originally met in the former Plantation Hospital before the present church building was constructed in 1924.</li><li>Proceed to the stop sign and turn left onto Mail Route Road. The fields you see here were once part of Somerset Place, extending to your left, front, and right. Enslaved persons converted several thousand acres of densely vegetated swamps into arable land and dug a complicated network of over 130 miles of intersecting ditches. These ditches drained the land by carrying water into the canals, and some of the larger ditches even provided water transportation for flatboats carrying crops from the fields to the barnyard.</li><li>At the first intersection, turn left onto Thirty Foot Canal Road. The bald cypress trees on your left were planted by enslaved persons in the 19th century to shade the canal and road. They are some of the last remaining historic trees that once lined all the canals, roads, and fields on the plantation.</li><li>Proceed for ⅗ of a mile and turn left onto Lake Shore Road. Park in the parking lot on your right for Pettigrew State Park.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #1: Barnyard and Fields

In the following quote from 1839, Edmund Ruffin describes the carriage drive. He references both Somerset Place (“Mr. Collins’ farm”) and the adjacent Bonarva Plantation (“Mr. Pettigrew’s”), the latter owned by Ebenezer Pettigrew: “The lake side of both the adjoining farms is alike protected by a low dike. This dike, with the bridges across the canals, forms a continuous road for two miles along Mr. Collins’ farm, and apparently as much more along Mr. Pettigrew’s. This road keeps near the lake shore, and forms, both by its situation and its decorations, one of the most beautiful and extensive promenades, either for walking or driving, that I have ever known road is perfectly level in its course, firm and dry. It is planted throughout on the side from the lake with rows of trees, which are of different sizes according to the date of the clearing of the fields along which they are planted. One of these rows, on Somerset Place, a mile in length, is of tall and noble sycamores, all of the same age and of very equal size. […] Between the road and lake is a narrow and irregular margin, under its natural and usual swamp growth, among which are some trees of very large size, and other as remarkable for their grotesque form.”2

<ul><li>Follow the parking lot road to your right and walk to the grass trailhead that crosses over Thirty Foot Canal. This canal was hand-dug by the enslaved community in the 1840s and/or 1850s to drain the central portion of the plantation, beginning here and continuing downstream to the Scuppernong River. However, the canal did not originally connect with the lake. It gets its name from its size: the canal was six feet wide closest to the lake and grew progressively to reach 30 feet wide near its mouth at the river.1</li><li>The trail you are standing on is also historic. Originally this was a 4-mile-long carriage drive that ran along the northeast shore of Lake Phelps. Enslaved persons built this road atop a dike that prevented the lake from overflowing into the fields. They also planted sycamore trees on either side for shade. Some of these trees remain along the historic roadbed which is now part of two hiking trails within Pettigrew State Park: Bee Tree and Moccasin Trails.</li><li>Follow the trail in reverse until you reach the paved road again, walk toward the water, and stand near the boat ramp to Lake Phelps. The lake, which was called Lake Scuppernong during the antebellum era, is the second largest natural lake in North Carolina at 16,600 acres. It was a vital component of the plantation. Using a series of locks and millraces in the Transportation Canal, the lake provided waterpower to the four-story barn, gristmill, and sawmills. Enslaved persons fished in the lake and set traps for game along the shore to supplement their diet. They also collected water for cleaning and bathing. In contrast, the Collins family primarily used the lake for recreational activities like sailing. However, there was no wharf on the lake as there is today. After viewing Lake Phelps, return to your vehicle.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #2: Thirty Foot Canal, Carriage Drive, and Lake Phelps

In the following quote, Edmund Ruffin describes the management of Ann Daves Collins’ land under Josiah III: “[T]he actual drainage and cultivation [of the plantation] extends on the lake side over several hundred acres of the share of another member of his [Josiah III’s] family. But the whole tillage and management is as one farm, and by Mr. Collins; and therefore it is not of his separate property, but of the cultivated land that we will be spoken of as his farm.” 2

<ul><li>Turn left out of the parking lot and take an immediate right onto Thirty Foot Canal Road. At the next intersection, turn left onto Mail Route Road. Proceed for approximately one mile to the intersection with Mountain Canal Road. It’s unclear when enslaved persons completed Mountain Canal, although a letter from neighbor Charles Pettigrew mentioned “the digging at the Mountain canal” in August 1860.1 Its name comes from a large hill that the canal cuts through, visible in the distance to your right. Originally, this canal did not connect with Lake Phelps as it does today. Mountain Canal was used for draining the surrounding farmland and transporting crops from the fields to the barnyard via flat boats.</li><li>The area you are standing in was also part of Shepard Farm. This tract of land was inherited by Ann Daves Collins, the oldest sister of Josiah III (see attached map). However, the land was managed by Josiah as part of Somerset Place, with enslaved persons from the plantation cultivating “several hundred acres” of the property in 1839. When Ann married William Biddle Shepard five years later, the land passed to him and was no longer farmed as part of Somerset Place. Sometime thereafter, the property received its name from William Shepard. For more information about Shepard Farm, watch the YouTube video below.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #3:  Mountain Canal and Shepard Farm

<ul><li>Turn right onto Weston Road. After 1.7 miles, turn right to stay on Weston Road. After 0.8 miles, turn left onto Cherry Road. You’re driving through the rural community of Cherry, located at the uppermost navigable point on the Scuppernong River. It began as a Post Office in 1898 and was later incorporated as a town from 1905 until 1935.</li><li>After a half mile, turn left onto Ambrose Road. Ahead of you is Moccasin Canal, which was hand dug by the enslaved community in the late 1840s and was the westernmost canal on the plantation. It extended the cultivated fields over three miles from the Transportation Canal. Since it was constructed for draining the nearby swampland, Moccasin Canal originally did not connect with Lake Phelps like it does today. It did, however, flow into the Scuppernong River.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #5: Cherry and Moccasin Canal

In the following quote, Edmund Ruffin describes the bridge and the river as he saw them in 1839: “We crossed Scuppernong river on a draw-br[i]dge. The river is a narrow, but deep, and navigable for sea vessels for a mile above the bridge. It has the same general appearance of all the small rivers of this country, its waters being Black and sluggish, spreading far over the low and wide swamp on its borders."1

<ul><li>Turn around when possible. Turn left onto Cherry Road. After approximately 2 miles, turn right onto Main Street. After 0.6 miles, turn left into the N.C. Wildlife boat ramp parking lot and park your vehicle. Walk to the boat ramp. On your right is Spruill’s Bridge. Its history dates to 1740, when the General Assembly of the Province of North Carolina established the site as a collection and shipping point for taxes. It later became a shipping point for the region’s agricultural products. During Somerset Place’s time as an active plantation, the bridge was also the primary crossing of the upper Scuppernong River.</li><li>The river is also the lowest point of elevation, so all five canals flow into it or its tributaries, thereby draining the swampland between Lake Phelps and the river. The mouth of the Transportation Canal, located a couple miles downstream, was where enslaved persons unloaded goods and supplies destined for Somerset Place from large sea vessels in the river. There they also loaded vessels bound for distant markets with the plantation’s cash crops. After viewing the bridge and river, return to your vehicle.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #6: Spruill’s Bridge and Scuppernong River

<ul><li>Turn right out of the parking lot onto Spruill’s Bridge Road. Take the next right onto 1st Street. At the end of the road, turn right onto St. David Road. On your right you’ll see St. David’s Episcopal Church, which is one of the churches that the Collins family attended when they lived at Somerset Place. Originally known as Pettigrew’s Chapel, it was built from 1802-1803 on a portion of the Rev. Charles Pettigrew’s Belgrade plantation. The original portion of the church is in the center, and it was expanded in the 1850s under the direction of Josiah Collins III to be cruciform in shape. It also became a parish church at that time and consecrated as St. David’s. After emancipation, a few formerly enslaved persons from Somerset Place attended the church, including butler Luke Davis. The tower and vestry room were also added after the Civil War.</li><li>To learn more about the Pettigrew family, stop by the Somerset Place visitor center for an informational brochure or visit Pettigrew State Park.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #7: St. David’s Episcopal Church

The following quote provides architectural details about the existing church building: “This front-gable cinder block church, built over a six-year period in the 1970s, has a brick-veneered front-gable vestibule incorporating an entrance and bathrooms. Decoration ranges from the grand - a giant stone cross over the plate glass and metal double-door entrance - to, in the case of the tiny fiberglass steeple on the roof, the miniscule. A number of salvaged elements from the older church on site, such as stained glass Queen Anne style windows, the old church bell, and even the former building's marble cornerstone, have been either incorporated into the present building or on the site.”1

<ul><li>Turn around when possible. Proceed straight from St. David’s Church for 0.4 miles. At the stop sign, turn left onto 6th Street. After 0.2 miles, St. Mark A.M.E. Zion Church will be on your left at the intersection of 6th Street and Palmetto Street. The church was founded by formerly enslaved persons from Somerset Place, as was St. John Missionary Baptist Church, which is located at the western edge of town.</li><li>On February 14, 1874, Washington and Jenny Harvey Bennett, who had been formerly enslaved at Somerset Place, gave the founding trustees of St. Mark A.M.E. Zion Church one-and-one-third acres of land. The first building was completed in 1876, while the current building was constructed in the 1970s.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #8: St. Mark A.M.E. Zion Church

<ul><li>Proceed straight on 6th Street to the four-way intersection. Turn left onto Main Street and park on your right. The Town of Creswell has deep connections to Somerset Place. It began as the Cool Spring Post Office in 1826 but was not incorporated as a town until 1874. At that time, the town was formed around 10 acres of land owned by Washington and Jenny Harvey Bennett, who had been formerly enslaved at Somerset Place, and most of the town’s founding population consisted of formerly enslaved people from Somerset Place and the adjacent Pettigrew plantations. Creswell’s first constable, Ransom Bennett, Sr., was also born into slavery at Somerset Place, and several skilled artisans from the plantation practiced their trades in town.</li><li>To return to Somerset Place, continue straight on Main Street and follow the brown signs. To return to U.S. Route 64, turn back onto 6th Street and proceed for half a mile to the highway interchange.</li></ul>

Somerset Place Driving Tour

Somerset Place Driving Tour Stop #4: Weston Canal and Weston Farm

Introduction

Images

Sources

Additional Information