Swan Ponds is a historic

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 near Morganton,

Burke County, North Carolina Burke County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the state's western mountain region, containing sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains including the Linville Gorge and South Mountains. As of the 2020 census, its po ...

. It was built in 1848, and is a two-story, three-bay, brick mansion with a low hip roof in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style. It features a one-story low hip-roof porch with bracketed eaves, a low pedimented central pavilion, and square columns. The building's brickwork is laid in

Flemish bond Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...

. Swan Ponds

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

was the home of

Waightstill Avery Waightstill Avery (10 May 1741 – 15 March 1821) was an early American lawyer and officer in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. He is noted for fighting a duel with future U.S. president Andrew Jackson in 1788. Famil ...

(1741–1821), an early American lawyer and soldier. His son Isaac Thomas Avery built the present Swan Ponds dwelling. Swan Ponds was the birthplace of North Carolina politician and lawyer

William Waightstill Avery William Waightstill Avery (May 25, 1816 – July 3, 1864) was a North Carolina politician and lawyer. He served in the North Carolina House of Commons and State Senate prior to the U.S. Civil War. He represented North Carolina in the Provisi ...

(1816–1864), Clarke Moulton Avery owner of Magnolia Place, and

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

officer

Isaac E. Avery Isaac Erwin Avery (December 20, 1828 – July 3, 1863) was a planter and an officer in the Confederate States Army. He died at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Avery is most remembered for a poignant blood-stained note ...

(1828–1863). It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1973.

References

Plantation houses in North Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Greek Revival houses in North Carolina Houses completed in 1848 Houses in Burke County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Burke County, North Carolina 1848 establishments in North Carolina Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina {{BurkeCountyNC-NRHP-stub