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Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries

Horace Williams House

The Horace Williams House on East Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill grew from a simple farmhouse to which chemistry professor Benjamin Hedrick added an unusual eight-sided room in the 1850s. It takes its name from philosophy professor Horace Williams, owner from 1897, and Preservation Chapel Hill now has its offices there.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about Horace Williams House. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

Designers' house tour [April 14-19, 1973] featuring the Horace Williams home.

Chapel Hill School Art Guild · 1973

A house tour booklet from the Chapel Hill School Art Guild for 14 to 19 April 1973, held as a benefit for the public school art program and featuring the Horace Williams home. Sixty pages with illustrations and advertising matter from local businesses. Topics include buildings and historic buildings in Chapel Hill and the Horace Williams House itself.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

Duke UNC

Gateways of memory : the historic house museum as arbiter of shared history and culture in North Carolina

Gallo, Amelia L. · 2010

Amelia L. Gallo's 2010 paper on the historic house museum in North Carolina and the part it plays in presenting shared history and culture. The Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill is among the subjects, along with historic buildings and their conservation and restoration, so the study draws on Chapel Hill for its material.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

The Horace Williams house.

1989

An account of the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill and of Henry Horace Williams, the university teacher whose home it was. Published in the town in 1989, it concerns historic buildings in Chapel Hill, university faculty biography and novelist Thomas Wolfe.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Horace Williams House quilt

1977

A 1977 poster reproducing a color photograph of the quilt that hangs in the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill. The quilt depicts twenty two historic buildings in the town, and a typewritten key identifying them accompanies the sheet.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Exterior of the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, photographed on 29 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project. The house, once the home of University of North Carolina philosophy professor Horace Williams, is now a historic house museum.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Outside view of the Horace Williams House, taken 29 May 2002 for North Carolina ECHO. The Chapel Hill house serves as the home office of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Show 7 more works

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Parlor of the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, photographed from inside on 29 May 2002 as part of the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Oil portrait of Horace Williams in the parlor of his former house in Chapel Hill, now a historic house museum. Photographed 29 May 2002 for North Carolina ECHO.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Dining room of the Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, with carved woodwork in its vaulted ceiling. North Carolina ECHO photograph, 29 May 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

The hexagonal room at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, which the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill uses as an art gallery. Photographed for North Carolina ECHO on 29 May 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Horace Williams House

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Close view of the parlor ceiling in the Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, whose woodwork resembles the dining room ceiling. Taken 29 May 2002 for North Carolina ECHO.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Willams, Horace House: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1970

Eleven photographs from 1970 of the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, named for the university philosophy professor Horace Williams. Views include the front, the side, and the back yard with its chairs and swings.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

CH Historical Society

Historic Houses: Williams, Horace House (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Newspaper clippings, photocopied articles, correspondence, and a report with notes on the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill. Williams taught philosophy at the University of North Carolina. Undated, from the Historic Houses files of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

CH Historical Society

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Horace Williams House alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975

Little, M. Ruth · 2004 · Preservation Society of Chapel Hill

M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.

Gatza, M. B. · 1992 · Chapel Hill Planning Department

M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill township survey final report

Lally, Kelly A. · 1992

Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

When Chapel Hill was a village

Love, Cornelia Spencer, 1892-1981 · 1976 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal

Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-Year Intervals, 1793-1998

Bryant, Bernard Lee · 1999 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Bernard Lee Bryant's compilation of who occupied each structure on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill at five-year intervals from 1793 to 1998, issued by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1999 as a photocopy of his original computer printout on cotton paper. 191 leaves.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC
Show 5 more surveys and maps

Map of Chapel Hill as it was in 1875 to 1885

Carter, H. D. (Henry Dennis), -1941 · 1934

Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill and vicinity].

Harris, Hunter Lee, 1866-1893 · 1888 · Hunter Lee Harris?

Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill].

1895

Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC DPLA

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina.

1925

Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.

1933

Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Start at OCPL

    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention Horace Williams House, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History Stolpen, Steven · 1978

      Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.

    • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

      Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 917.56 HIS Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973

      A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

      Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

    • Foundational · NC 929.375 ORA Orange County, NC Estate Records Index: Inventories, Sales & Settlements, 1800-1880 2000

      Index to Orange County estate records for 1800 to 1880: inventories, sales and settlements filed when a resident died. Published in 2000, it points to the original probate files, which list property, purchasers at estate sales and heirs.

    In the chronology

    1. Benjamin Hedrick's house with an eight-sided room goes up on East Rosemary Street Professor Benjamin Hedrick's house at 610 East Rosemary Street, known for its octagonal room, was ready by 1855 and the Hedricks moved in; Preservation Chapel Hill credits the Hillsborough builder John Berry and Hedrick's own design, and Little says he bought an older farmhouse from the university and added the eight-sided room. Horace Williams later owned it, and Preservation Chapel Hill now has its offices there. People: John Berry Preservation Chapel Hill: Horace Williams House · Also: Chapel Hill Historical Society, 610 East Rosemary Street; The Daily Tar Heel, October 3, 1975, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, September 23, 1991, p. 5
    2. George T. Winston buys Benjamin Hedrick's house with its polygonal annex Professor George T. Winston bought the former Hedrick house in 1879. In the 1880s or early 1890s he tied the old farmhouse and its many-sided annex together with a Queen Anne addition of porch, entrance hall and parlor, turning the house toward Franklin Street. It is now called the Horace Williams House after its later owner. People: Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, George Tayloe Winston NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 39
    3. Horace Williams buys the house at 610 East Rosemary Street Williams bought the 1854 house built by the university chemistry professor Benjamin Hedrick and owned it until he died. Preservation Chapel Hill now has its offices there and opens the house to the public. People: Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Preservation Chapel Hill: Horace Williams House
    4. Chapel Hill officials say the state's draft thoroughfare plan runs a Rosemary Street extension through the Horace Williams House Town officials announced that the state Department of Transportation's revision of the 1969 Chapel Hill-Carrboro thoroughfare plan would carry an extension of Rosemary Street across Park Place to Cameron Avenue through the Horace Williams House. A state engineer replied on August 26 that the road would pass close to the house but not touch it; the town also opposed proposed one-way street pairs downtown. The Daily Tar Heel, August 28, 1975, p. 1
    5. The Horace Williams House opens an exhibit by the CenterGallery women artists The Chapel Hill Preservation Society's Horace Williams House opened an exhibit by CenterGallery, a group of more than 60 Chapel Hill and Carrboro women promoting the fine arts, under a newly begun program to show community and University artists there. The show of paintings, pottery, quilting, hangings and an orange neon figure ran through February 23. The Daily Tar Heel, January 31, 1979, p. 2
    6. The Chapel Hill Historic Preservation Society opens a folk art exhibit at the Horace Williams House The Chapel Hill Historic Preservation Society opened an exhibit of American and North Carolina folk art at the Horace Williams House on Rosemary Street, running through October 14. The Daily Tar Heel, September 10, 1979, p. 4

    Open these in the chronology →

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Research a house or property.

    Background

    National Register files

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 7

    Show all 7

    Collections and databases

    Local help 6

    Nearby

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