JOHN A. HOLMES SET TO OPEN

The Cupola House restoration is not your neighborhood 'get together' to repair the house down the street. A dedicated group of craftsman who have openly claimed "they are honored" to be working on the project are recreating the town treasure and highlighting its original prominence in national history. Their passion for the project is paramount and cannot be emphasized enough. Craftsmen of their standards and skills are not easy to find in today's world of rapid construction.

Edentonians realize the importance and prestige the architectural treasure contributes to the town and the current progress the team of craftsmen are making on the 'down to the bare wall' restoration is remarkable.  

According to Cupola House Association President Vonna O'Neill people are almost more excited to see the bare walls and progress being made on installing the original molding now than when the house was intact. The history uncovered is astounding.  

Currently on display at the Shepard-Pruden Library are artifacts from Edenton's earliest architecture as a kickoff to the America 250 celebration

The pieces will be showcased through the first week of February and highlight Edenton's iconic colonial architecture, 18 years before the American Revolution while demonstrating the shift from British Sovereignty to American Freedom.

One of the most interesting presentation of the Cupola House findings to date was Jonathan Tobias' venture into the walls of the home a few months ago. Tobias, in a special presentation to a group of NSDAR members, explained what was discovered in one of North Carolina’s most important early structures. Built in 1785 by Francis Corbin, the dwelling is considered a premier example of Jacobean architecture in the southern United States.  

Opening its doors and walls to the members and some of their husbands was a special occasion and Tobias’ presentation focused on rare finds behind the plaster.  

As Edenton history would have it, even the town rodents, specifically the rats calling the Cupola House home, were historians and hoarders. The small chips of plaster from the walls, over time, signifying different time periods through examining ‘paint chips’ proved historically important. Treasures of the nest, a rodents’ findings, would make a terrific children’s book.  

There is sidewalk chatter about a new upcoming page turner.

Over the past year the Cupola house has been taken down to the framing in preparation of reinstalling the first floor original woodwork which has been returned from the Brooklyn Museum. With the framing exposed, it was apparent the Cupola House made way for ‘empty nesters’ but the treasures left behind intrigued local craftsman, preservationists and historians involved in the historic project.  

“Considered by many to be North Carolina’s finest colonial house, this will be a rare opportunity for architectural historians to examine the interior carving and study the elements of this remarkable building, right down to the framing,” said Executive Director of the Edenton Historical Commission Robert Leath.

“It should be noted that (as far as we know), this re-installation project is the first of its kind in American history. Never before has a historic house been able to rehabilitate its original woodwork after an absence of over one hundred years,” said Jonathan. ”The other historic homes which had been featured in the Brooklyn Art Museum are no longer standing. The Cupola House is the only one of the historic homes represented in the period room display of the fifth floor at the Brooklyn Museum to remain.”

Everyone in Edenton and surrounding areas are encouraged to visit this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the "bare bones" of the Cupola House interior infrastructure. After the original woodwork is in place, this opportunity will never again be available.

“The mission of the Cupola House Association as a non-profit organization, exists to preserve the past, live in the present, and ensure the future,” said Cupola House Association President Vonna O’Neill.“The 1758 Cupola House and its heritage gardens exist as a living house museum, thus enhancing an appreciation of our country’s mid-Colonial era to our visitors and local community as well as future generations.”

The evening progressed to the Edenton Bay Trading Company where the members enjoyed an  

For membership information: https://cupolahouse.org/association-membership/

“The original interior woodwork, which we knew from a 1993 dendrochronology study, is the same age as the exterior woodwork from trees felled in 1756-1757, was a masterpiece of Georgian Neo-Classical carved woodwork in according to the Palladian pattern book published in London in 1748.” CUPOLA HOUSE DOCENT JONATHAN TOBIAS