05/23/2026
Now that I've introduce myself, I'd like to properly introduce the house. It's incredible architecture and rich history is so unique. Below is the description of the home from the book "On the Shores of the Pasquotank: The Architectural Heritage of Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County, North Carolina" by Thomas R. Butchko. It's a bit long, but if you're anything like me and love old houses and local history, then all the details are part of the fun.
I've also included photos from the listing when I acquired the house. (Photos owned by Erin Nixon).
Before and after photos coming soon! Thanks for following along!
- Dawn
"The most intact of Elizabeth City’s antebellum residences, this handsome two-and-a-half story side-hall plan, Greek Revival style residence was erected in 1840 for Lovey (Taylor) Pool (1798-1866), the widow of Thomas Pool (1780-1838). A wealthy planter and merchant, Pool lived five miles southeast of Elizabeth City in an area known as Pool Town. After Pool’s death, his widow moved to town, where she carried on her husband’s successful business of shipping staves and timber to the West Indies. A warehouse was even built at the rear of this lot.
In 1866 the house was inherited by her son-in-law, Rev. William W. Kennedy (1818-1889), as her only daughter, Mary Jane (Pool) Kennedy, had died in 1856. Kennedy came to Elizabeth City in 1845 as the Methodist minister, and stayed to marry Mary Jane Pool. After his death, his only surviving daughter, Sarah Jane “Sadie” (Kennedy) Lumsden (1847-1935), and her husband, Dr. William J. Lumsden (1846-1914), acquired the house. During a forty year practice, Lumsden became one of Elizabeth City’s leading citizens. Lumsden was succeeded in his practice by his great-nephew, William Anthony Peters, (1890-1948), who with his wife, Sue (Powell) Peters (1892-1982), lived here until their deaths. The house continues to be owned by William A. Peters, Jr., and his wife, Louise (Thomson) Peters.
The substantial house is finished in an austere Greek Revival manner, and the trabeated entrance features the central paneled tablet inspired by Asher Benjamin’s "The Practical-House Carpenter". The original porch and first story windows were replaced during the late nineteeth century with then fashionable Victorian elements; the Greek Revival elements were rebuilt in the late 1930s. Completing the house are mock-fluted surrounds with cornerblocks, interior-end chimneys, a double-tier rear porch, a one-story ell, and an original two-story wing at the rear northeast.
The stylish Greek Revival interior features an unusually spacious hall and an elegant staircase with delicate square balusters. Connecting the double parlors is an impressively large pocket door encased by surround that repeats the tablet motif of the entrance.
The present Colonial Revival mantels are 1936 replacements for the late nineteenth century faux-marble slate Eastlake mantels, which in turn replaced the original mantels. In the northeast wing, which served as the original dining room, is a Federal mantel from Thomas Pool’s ca. 1820 plantation house. Other elements moved from the earlier Pool house include several five-panel doors, H-and-L hinges, and several lock boxes. The second story is modestly finished and contains the house’s only original Greek revival mantels. Of particular note is the excellent wood graining of the attic woodwork, suggesting perhaps a similar finish was originally found throughout the house.
Located at the front corner lot is the one-and-a-half story brick doctor’s office erected by Dr. Lumsden in 1895; the total cost was $1,109.94. According to tradition, a frame office with brick façade was built here in the 1840s for Dr. W. G. Pool, a brother-in-law of Lovey Pool. He recovered the portrait of Theodosia (Burr) Alston in 1869 in Nags Head, a portrait that figures prominently in the legend of her disappearance in 1813 while enroute by sea to New York to visit her father, former vice-president Aaron Burr. The present building displays modest Victorian elements, primarily a corbeled brick band. A documentary photograph reveals that the front windows were originally segmentally arched. Lumsden and both the Peteres maintained their offices there."
