North Carolina

304 East Queen Street, Edenton, North Carolina (Lat 36.058952, Long -76.604029)

(a) Primary structure, Felling dates: Winter 1718/19

(b) Lean-to, Felling dates: Undated

(a) Wallplate (0/2); Ceiling joist (4/4) 1659, 1671, 1677, 1700; Trimmer (1/1) 1657; Floor joist (0/1); Offcut of floorboard (0/2); Stud (1/4) 1691; Corner post (0/1); Brace (0/2); Collar (2/2) 1716 (1+nm), 1718 (C). (b) Rafter (0/1); Ceiling joist (0/3). Site Master 1558-1718 EDENx1 (t = 6.58 ATHx1; 6.03 LVNx1; 4.90 VAPINE2b).

Although 304 East Queen Street looks to be circa 1900 with its tin roof and asbestos siding, on closer inspection it is in fact an eighteenth century hall-and-parlor house with nine-over-six sash windows, beaded weatherboarding, and a steeply pitched side gable roof originally covered in clipped shingles. The walling is framed in pine timbers, the floor joists are molded, and there were possibly two staircases originally in the building. The building has had a number of additions to the back and a series of alterations including the removal of a large chimney stack on the west wall. All of these features make this a very unique structure and among the oldest surviving buildings in North Carolina.

Dendrochronological analysis has found a precise date for the primary phase of the building. Nineteen timbers in total were sampled from the primary phase, with eight samples successfully dating and one of the samples providing a precise felling date of the winter of 1718/19. The four samples from the lean-to did not match the master chronologies and must remain undated.

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2011 The Tree-Ring Dating of 304 East Queen Street, Edenton, North Carolina, unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2012/14.

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