Date(s): c. 1810-1825
11300 Capital Boulevard, Wake Forest
Easement Acquired 8/30/2005
Individually Listed
National Register of Historic Places
Built in the first quarter of the 19th century and later renovated in the mid-19th century, the boldly-detailed Greek Revival-style plantation house sits on a plateau at the top of a small hill on the east side of Capital Boulevard in Wake Forest. Despite the loss of its Greek Revival portico and other alterations, the house remains essentially intact as a representative of the plantation seats built in Wake County and other northern piedmont counties in the mid-19th century. The house was likely built beginning in 1814 by the Rev. John Purefoy, a founder and member of the Wake Forest College Board of Trustees. He served several area churches before moving in the late 1830s to Cumberland County. In 1838, he sold his 429-acre plantation to Samuel and Mary Dunn, both Wake County natives. Dunn added a two-story wing to the house and expanded the entire house into an L-shaped Greek Revival residence. Samuel Dunn’s plantation produced wheat, corn, oats, cotton, wool , and swine in the 1840s and 1850s, and by 1860 he cultivated 500 acres and owned 24 slaves. The Dunns owned the property until the early 1880s, and since that time it has passed through several different owners. An easement was donated to CAP in 2005.