Ayr Mount is a Federal style

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and ...

located east of Hillsborough, in

Orange County, North Carolina Orange County is a County (United States), county located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 148,696. Its county seat is Hil ...

, the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. In 1799, William Kirkland (born in Ayr, Scotland) bought east of Hillsborough. Circa 1815, he had a home built for himself, his wife, Margaret, and their children, a brick dwelling with a two-story, three-bay main block flanked by one-story, two-bay wings. A full-width front porch, added about 1894, was removed sometime after 1971 and replaced with a facsimile of the original porch. Mrs. Samuel (Emily) Kirkland, the last of four generations of Kirklands to occupy the house, lived there until 1985. The property had gone through several owners prior to Kirkland's purchase of the property, the most well-known being William Few, Jr., whose father, William Few, Sr., had a house built on the property c. 1764. Today, Ayr Mount is a publicly accessible historic site located on . It is owned and operated by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. The home has been furnished with Federal period antiques and decorative art, including some original Kirkland furnishings. Ayr Mount features guided house tours and the one-mile (1.6 km) hiking trail the "Poet's Walk."

References

External links

- Ayr Mount website- Classical American Homes Preservation Trust
* Federal architecture in North Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Houses in Orange County, North Carolina Hillsborough, North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina Plantation houses in North Carolina Museums in Orange County, North Carolina Houses completed in 1815 National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, North Carolina Richard Jenrette Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina {{OrangeCountyNC-NRHP-stub