Interior photos by Sol Weiner
The Ellis Barn, or teaching studio, is an early 1800's post and beam barn, deconstructed by Greg Talbott in 2004 and reconstructed under the direction of master timber framer, Peter Bull in 2009. The frame of the barn is hand hewn Black Oak. The interior and exterior walls have been reproduced in White Cedar for durability. The barn has been updated for teaching with good lighting, as well as a handicap accessible entrance and bathroom.

Reconstruction of the barn began with a traditional barn raising. You can view the last wall going up with ropes and pike poles at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGN_f1ow4kc courtesy of stonemason Bill Hicks.

The Pluck NC Post Office dates from the late1880s and was a residence in the community of Pluck, NC near present day Castle Rock north of Pittsboro, NC. Log homes were still built as residences up until the 1940s. An area postmaster might designate a family within a community to receive the mail for their neighbors. This building, with it's Pluck, NC Post Office sign was donated to the Chatham County Historical association which was unable to see to its preservation at the time. Knowing that Greg Talbott was willing and able to preserve the structure, they offered it to him. Edwin Patterson completed restoration of the porch. Bill Hicks rebuilt the chimney. The Womble House, built in 1835, was home to the miller at Womble's Mill on the Rocky River off NC902 south of Pittsboro, NC. Cabins of lesser quality were often thrown up for temporary shelter, but detailed finishing on the interior as well as the close fit of the oak logs indicates that this cabin was built by a professional cabin maker for long-term use as a home. The porches have been enclosed as "Parson's rooms" as they were called--a portion of a porch enclosed as a guest room for the parson as he made his rounds. The first log cabin reconstructed here, it has been in use as a weaving studio since1990.

The Nixon Barn is a 1925 tobacco barn moved from behind Kildee Church, Ramseur, NC.  Small by local standards, it has an interesting cantilevered shed. It is currently used as a dye studio.
The Marley House is on the National Register of Historic Places, both as an example of the evolution of a "vernacular" farm house, and because of its place in the history of transportation. The oldest part of the house is a log cabin built around 1816 for a miller and his new wife. Thomas Marley inherited his father's grist mill, the dam for which can be found in the woods east of the house and is listed as far back as 1790 in the North Carolina tax rolls. The house was a stage coach way station along what was the major trade route of its day, the Fayetteville-Salisbury road. The house was renovated and expanded around 1850 with lumber sawed from Marley's Mill. It was renovated again around 1910 and again in the late 1980s when we purchased it. The original Federal style mantle and wainscoting remain in the cabin room.  Marley's Mill, in its heyday was a grist mill, sawmill, local supply store and post office.  It was also part of the experiment in silk production for which the nearby community of Silk Hope is named.

Other buildings on the property include an unusual double pen corn crib, two smaller single pen cribs, another large tobacco barn and various small farm buildings typical of the area.
The Museum is a circa 1920s "smoke house" from off US 15-501 north of Pittsboro, NC. Meat was seldom smoked after salt became available, but small log buildings like this were still used for salting and packing meat for winter storage. This building houses a display of antique weaving tools and other farm implements typical of small North Carolina homesteads.
 

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