Pisgah Road, north side

Sited on a level lot, the Eliphaz Nettleton House is shaded by large old maple trees. The surrounding rural residential area includes open fields and woodland.

• Record ID: 164
• Address: Pisgah Road, north side
• Current Owner: Bernsten, Fred and Linda
• Name of Building:
• Historic Name: Eliphaz Nettleton House
• Download PDF of Original Record

Notable Features

The three bay facade features a simple board and batten central door flanked by two flush-set six-over-six windows. The large center chimney was replaced in the midnineteenth-century. The eastern gable features two six-over-six sash placed on either side of a modern exterior brick chimney. Surrounding the upper floor windows
are two of the three small, four-paned windows found commonly on Cape style buildings. The third small window presumably is hidden by the chimney. Containing a workshop
and screened porch, a single story shed-roofed addition has been added to the north and east elevations. Outbuildings on the property include a small wooden barn and
shed.

Historical or Architectural Importance

Facing south at the intersection of Pisgah and Dead Hill Roads, this 1 1/2 story, Colonial Cape-style dwelling was erected in 1793. Topped with a ridge-to-street, wood-shingled roof, the clapboarded, post-and-beam frame rests on a concrete-covered fieldstone foundation
Although a building appears situated upon this property on the 1760 Map of Durham, a complete and thorough title search documents that this structure was not erected until 1793 by Captain Eliphaz Nettleton. In the spring of that year he purchased a large lot of land at a place called ‘Pisguah” and constructed the house during the following
summer. A native of neighboring Killingworth, Nettleton was a founding member of the Durham Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1812 Daniel and Elizabeth Ives of Cheshire
bought the property and resided there until 1818. The farm passed through a number of owners until 1824 when Jeremiah Nettleton acquired it. Nettleton, also a native
of Killingworth, was married to Clarinda Davis. Their son, Sherman J. Nettleton, inherited the house in 1847 and continued to operate a farm on the property. In 1868,
John Davis (1838-1922), also farmer and native of Killingworth purchased the land. He and his wife, Ellen E. Crampton (1840-1921) raised their ten children on the farm and
the house was sold out of the family in 1922.
Architecturally notable as one of the few Cape style dwellings found in Durham, the Eliphaz Nettleton house a lso derives significance  for its association to the Nettleton family and the establishment of the Durham Methodist Episcopal Church.