Historic Properties

North Carolina has some 2,100 historic properties on the National Register. These include shipwreck sites, churches, courthouses, prehistoric Indian sites, log houses, plantation mansions and more. The oldest is a 10,000 year-old archaeological site, and the youngest is the 1953 Dorton Arena at the state fairgrounds.

Of North Carolina's 2,100 register properties, 300 are districts--whether neighborhoods, archaeological sites, mill villages, industrial complexes or farming districts. About 85 percent of these historic properties are privately owned and 15 percent publicly owned. Insofar as levels of significance are concerned, 70 percent are local, 25 percent are statewide and five percent are national.

North Carolina Historic Properties Activity

Since the 1970s, some 65 percent of North Carolina's counties and municipalities have participated in state surveys and programs cosponsored by the State Historic Preservation Office. The Office of State Archaeology maintains information on the 30,000 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites statewide. Survey and Planning maintains 68,000 survey files on historic properties.

In the same period, federal tax incentive programs led to an investment of some $300,000,000 in National Register properties in North Carolina. A new state credit, legislated in 1998, led to $22 million in investment in historic private residences in its first two years. The Restoration Branch of the State Historic Preservation Office has offices in Raleigh, Greenville and Asheville. It offers technical restoration services to all owners of historic properties.