How would you like to live in an area described as “…Suncken Swampy Land not well passable but with great difficulty, and therein harbours Tygers bears and Devouringe Creatures”? Well, that’s the land that Col. John Blake settled in 1670 in the wilderness of Nansemond County, Virginia – now an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony. The area is now Gates County, North Carolina.

Colonel Blake had a long and impressive history in Nansemond County; a Burgess in 1655 and again from 1666-1667, the High Sheriff of Nansemond in 1661, Surveyor for the County in 1654, Colonel of the Militia, and a Member of the Governor’s Council of State and General Court of Colonial Virginia in 1667. Colonel Blake passed away in the 1680’s and his family’s holdings totaled 9500 acres of land.

This photograph is from the Library of Congress: Historic American Buildings Survey, Thomas T. Waterman, Photographer July, 1940. - Smith House, NC Route 37, Buckland, Gates County, NC. Photos from Survey HABS NC-73
( https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.nc0212.photos/?sp=1&st=image )

This photograph is from the NC State University Libraries: Front view, Buckland, Buckland, Gates County, North Carolina. circa 1984
(https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/bh1202pnc001#?c=&m=&cv=&xywh=-2040%2C0%2C9339%2C3537)

The double chimneys are difficult to see except from a side view.

The land passed down from son to son, and over time went from being a part of Nansemond County to being Buckland in Gates County, North Carolina. Back in 2019 I first came across the home, but it was early in my journey of documenting abandoned properties and honestly, I had no idea what I had photographed. In May of 2024 I returned to document the property, this time as a better photographer and historian.

This house was built in 1795 in what would be considered the “federal style.” The term derives its name from the period in American history when the Federal system of governing was developing. This style of classical architecture was very popular between 1780 and 1830. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and The White House are easily recognizable examples of this style.

Back side Buckland Plantation NC — The back side of the manor.

The “left” side of the manor, also with double chimneys.

There is a small graveyard on the property.

On the grounds surrounding the house is an old cemetery and what was the main homestead. You would never know the importance of the plantation house or the family that built it.

The Buckland Plantation was listed in the National Register of Historic Places for North Carolina in 1986. In 2015 Thomas F. Baker published a history of the house, “Buckland Plantation 1670-2014.” The book is available at several distributors such as Amazon.

(https://www.amazon.com/Buckland-Plantation-1670-Thomas-Baker/dp/1503270165 )

Buckland Plantation

The Concord School

Malachi & Mason