North Carolina

Leonidas and Sarah Polk House, Polkton, North Carolina (35.005061, -80.201935)

Primary House 1st Floor Felling dates: Summer 1828, Winter 1827/8, Summer 1827

Primary House North Porch Felling dates: Spring 1828, Winter 1827/8

Primary House South Porch Felling dates: Summer 1831, Summer 1830

Primary House 2nd floor Center Partition Felling dates: Winter 1836/7

Site Master 1663-1836 (yellow pine) LPNCx1 (t = OCNCx2 7.02; TCNCx1 6.89; 6.32 wxps3).

Individual timber 1596-1827 (yellow pine) lpnc21 (t = 5.86 GVVx1; 4.92 lbh3; 4.82 PVOS1).

Individual timer 1678-1828 (white oak) lpnc32 (t = 6.27 MTVx1; APGNJx1 5.53; 5.36 haas1).

The Leonidas and Sarah Polk House in Polkton, NC, is a three-bay, two-story framed house with an attic, attached north and south porches, and a later addition to the south. It was the birthplace of Leonidas Lafayette Polk, a journalist and politician who founded the town of Polkton, served in the North Carolina House of Representatives, and was instrumental in founding the Populist Party.

Dendrochronological analysis has shown that the building was constructed from timbers felled over a span of time in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Samples from the first floor of the primary house provided felling dates of the summer of 1827, the winter of 1827/8, and the summer of 1828. Samples from the north porch provided felling dates of the winter of 1827/8 and the spring of 1828. Samples from the south porch provided felling dates of the summer of 1830 and the summer of 1831. A sample from the second-floor center partition of the primary house provided a felling date of the winter of 1836/7. Taken together, these dates suggest that the primary house and north porch were constructed during the spring and summer of 1828 or shortly thereafter, with the south porch added approximately three years later, and the center partition on the second floor of the main house either added or replaced five years after that

Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2025 "The Tree-Ring Dating of the Leonidas and Sarah Polk House, Polkton, North Carolina " unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2025/01.

Oxford

Tree-Ring

Laboratory

The Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory provides cutting-edge commercial dendrochronological services to homeowners, architectural historians, and cultural resource managers. READ MORE

Contact Information

Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory

25 E. Montgomery St.
Baltimore, MD 21230

410-929-1520