Somerset Place State Historic Site

Somerset Place is an antebellum plantation offering an insightful view of life before the Civil War. It is one of North Carolina's most significant African American heritage sites. During its existence (1785-1865) it encompassed 100,000 acres and became one of North Carolina's most prosperous rice, corn and wheat plantations and home to more than three hundred slaves and the Collins Family, the wealthy planters. Eighty of the slaves were brought to Somerset directly from their West African homeland in 1786 due to their firsthand knowledge of rice cultivation. Guided tours are available of the site including the Collins Family Home and related dependencies including the original Dairy, Kitchen/Laundry, Kitchen Rations Building, Smokehouse and Salting House. Reconstructed buildings related to the enslaved community includes Suckey Davis' Home, Lewis and Judy's Home, and the Plantation Hospital. Archaeological remains of several buildings and the plantation grounds (including stocks where slaves were punished) can also be explored. Somerset Place is one of the many sites on the Historic Albemarle Tour (www.historicalbemarletour.org).

From U.S. 64 in Creswell follow the brown signs south through downtown Creswell. Turn right on Thirty-Foot Road. Proceed for approximately five miles, and turn left on Lake Shore Road. Somerset Place is on the right approximately one-half mile past Pettigrew State Park headquarters.