Until the Civil War, this was a Large Prosperous Plantation in NC

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Stockton is the only known example in North Carolina of the tripartite house type executed in the Greek Revival style. Particularly interesting are the unusual proportions and the full prostyle tetrastyle portico (apparently unique among the state's tripartite houses). Built by the locally prominent Josiah Granbery, probably in the 1840s, it was in the early twentieth century the home of Robert Welch of the John Birch Society.

Beginning in 1833, Josiah Thomas Granbery (1806-1862) assembled several tracts of land west of Little River to form a large plantation. It is said to have been named "Stockton" for Commodore Robert F. Stockton of Mexican War fame. The house was probably erected in the late 1840s.

Granbery was a prominent planter with interests in mercantile and fishing enterprises. He was president of the Seaboard Agricultural Society in 1857 and was a trustee of Farmington Academy. He also represented Perquimans in the House of Commons in 1835 and 1836 and served as councilor of state 1858-1860. Near his home he gave land for St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, of which he was the leading sponsor.

Early in the Civil War, Granbery served as chairman of the Little River Providence Committee and member of the Vigilance Committee. He executed a note to underwrite the equipping of Perquimans's volunteer companies. His son-in-law Lucius J. Johnson (1822-1866), of the Bandon Plantation Johnson family, was a prominent attorney who raised the "John Harvey Guards," served as its first captain and later became a major in the 17^th Regiment of North Carolina Troops, Confederate States Army.

Granbery died in 1862, willing Stockton to his daughter Mary Isabella Johnson (1827-1869). The effects of the war and the impoverishment of the estate forced a public sale in 1867, at which Granbery's widow Sarah Ann (nee Sawyer) purchased the land. Mrs. Sarah Ann Granbery died in 1878 and her executor sold Stockton to William L. Elliott of Baltimore, who owned it from 1881 to 1903.

R.H. Welch purchased Stockton in 1903. (W. D. Welch owned a half-interest 1903-1910). It was the boyhood home of Robert Welch (born in Chowan County 1899, graduated University of North Carolina 1916), who later founded the John Birch Society. Welch mortgaged the property in 1930. In 1935 the farm was a subject of rehabilitation experiments. The mortgagee sold it in 1938 to Alvie R. Cook, who owned it until his death in 1970. Cook's widow sold it in 1972 to Eugene and Ellen Rountree.

Building Description

Stockton is a three-part frame house in the Greek Revival style with an unusually deep temple form central section flanked by one-story wings. In discussing the tripartite houses, Thomas Waterman cited the elevation of Stockton as "the fulfillment of the type," despite its "rather diminutive proportions." Its form resembles the "Design for a Country Villa" in The Modern Builders Guide by Minard Lafever. The two-story pedimented central block, facing east, is three compressed bays wide; it measures 20 feet across and extends about 60 feet to the rear. The flanking one-story wings, two bays wide and one room deep, are covered by gable roofs running parallel to the facade. The main block projects only slightly; it is distinguished by a handsome prostyle tetrastyle Doric portico. The corner boards are treated as pilasters. The dentil cornice of the entablature carries around the main block and is repeated on the wings.

The configuration of the facade of the main block, which is covered with flush sheathing, is unusual. The only opening at the first level is a large well-executed doorway, with sidelights and transom outlined by symmetrically molded architraves with corner blocks. The transom is framed by a striking Greek key motif; a central paneled block occurs above the transom. At the second level are two windows, located, because of the narrowness of the facade, so that the line of their inner edges would extend through the sidelights of the doorway. They contain six-over-six sash and feature quite unusual frames, which are symmetrically molded with corner blocks at upper and lower corners; the lower blocks rest on traditional molded window sills. This pattern recurs on the facades of the wings, which are covered, like the rest of the house, with plain lapped siding. The house rests on a brick cellar with the walls in common bond; the cellar windows under the facade of the main block are lozenge-shaped. Each wing formerly had a single-shoulder exterior chimney of brick laid in common bond; only the south one survives.

The main block extends to the rear four bays past the wings, and a one-story shed porch carries around all three sides. Windows here and on the rear elevations of the wings have six-over-six sash, with molded frames and sills. The wall areas under the porch are flush sheathed, and on each side, the door in the first bay to the rear of the wing, has a molded frame and simple four-light transom. An interior chimney rises between the two rear bays. The finish appears to be consistent, although the configuration suggests that the rear section could be an earlier house, with the classical portico and wings added later.

The plan of the interior is unusual, as is consistent with the exterior appearance. A large entry hall in the center section opens into single rooms in either wing. To the rear of the hall is a small stair hall, with a cramped, enclosed stair in its southwest corner. This second hall, entered on either side from the rear porches, gives access to the rear section, which contains two large rooms separated by the central fireplace; to either side of the fireplace is another exterior door. The second-floor plan has a single large room over the entrance hall in front of the stair, and behind the stair, beginning in the front section, is a long narrow hall along the north side, and two rooms along the south side, the rear one only being heated. The hall leads to a large rear room, which is also heated.

The first-floor finish is consistently plain Greek Revival in character, with a variety of symmetrically molded architraves and corner blocks. The baseboards are simple, and paneled aprons occur under windows. Some doors have several horizontal panels, others have two long vertical ones. The mantels are variations of Greek Revival themes. That in the north wing room has flat, symmetrically grooved pilaster strips and frieze, with paneled end blocks, a plain shelf, and a triangular-arched backboard. The south wing mantel has heavy, symmetrically molded pilasters, carrying an unusual, robust frieze with a cushion band, supporting a plain shelf. The large room to the rear of the two halls has the flat, symmetrically grooved pilaster strips and end blocks with a recessed, gouged floral motif. The finish of the second floor is simpler, and the two mantels have a wide molded architrave, a plain frieze, and molded shelf. The front section of the basement shows evidence of being used as living space, for plastered laths survive, and there is a fireplace served by the south chimney.

Exterior, looking southwest (1973)

Front facade