Research and Archeology

Research and Archeology at the Newbold-White House

No restoration could be authentic without knowledge gained in the three vital research areas of architecture, archaeology, and history. The Newbold-White House itself was an indispensable object of study, calling for intense examination of the architectural features that survived and any traces of features that had vanished.

Preliminary archaeological surveys were undertaken by Garry W. Stone and Stanley South, but the first major dig at the Newbold-White site was led by Alain C. Outlaw in 1973. Excavations under and around the house and selected portions of the grounds revealed artifacts from the seventeenth century onward, but Outlaw noted the absence of any great concentration of seventeenth and eighteenth century objects around the house is rather remarkable.

One surprising discovery was the foundation of a root cellar near the house, apparently of similar age. Subsequent digs were made by Patrick Garrow, John Clauser, Michael Hartley, and Steven Allen. A cemetery and traces of early buildings of indeterminate usage were located.

Historical research was done primarily by Perquimans historian Raymond Winslow, who examined public records of Perquimans County and the state of North Carolina for references to persons who had owned and occupied the Newbold-White site. Thomas Parramore also contributed a paper on the house and its history.

Neither the archaeological results, the conclusions of architectural historians who examined the building, nor the historical records provided a firm construction date. There was general agreement that the Newbold-White House must date at least from the early eighteenth century and there were indications that a seventeenth-century date was not to be ruled out. The House was assigned the date circa 1685 and billed as the oldest house in North Carolina until 1994.

In that year research finally produced a scientifically based date. Dr. Herman J. Heikkenen of Dendrochronology, Inc., took samples from selected timbers and concluded: The yellow pine trees that were used to frame the roof (collars, rafters) of The Newbold White House were felled after the growing season of 1730.

Reinterpretation followed the 1730 date and declared the House to be the oldest brick house in North Carolina.