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a ' NPS Form 10 - 900 - a( 8 - 86 ) OMB No . 1024 - 0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 7 Page 1 Woodville Historic District Bertie County, North Carolina 7 . Architectural Description Woodville, a rural village that today is incorporated into the largerltown of Lewiston-Woodville, lies in western Bertie County about two miles from the Roanoke River, the county boundary. Located in the Roanoke River Valley bordering Albemarle Sound , the tidewater county of Bertie is sparsely populated . As it has since settlement in the eighteenth century, Woodville and the later community of Lewiston to the north constitute one of the few towns in the west- central region of the county . The town is surrounded by dense forested swamplands known as pocosins . The tiny village of Woodville consists of fourteen principal buildings built primarily between 1801 and 1927 on both sides of the old Roxobel-Windsor Road (now Hwy . 11 ) in western Bertie County. The Woodville Historic District contains six pre- Civil War houses, one antebellum church and 1870s rectory, two antebellum church cemeteries, and three early twentieth century Craftsman houses . The plantations were not adjacent to the houses, but were located in the fertile bottomland along the rivers . Planters built their residences here on this high ground in order to escape the unhealthy living conditions of these pocosins and for access to schools, commerce, and social interaction . A traveler speeding through Woodville on the highway would notice only a few of the houses , because most stand well off the road in groves of hardwood trees, their outbuildings extending to the sides and rear . Across the flat tilled fields which now separate one house from another are splendid vistas . Because of the unbroken continuity of habitation and development in Woodville, the period of significance extends from 1801 , the date of construction of the first house, to 1927 when the last historic house was built . Of the fourteen principal buildings, all but three contribute to the historical character of the district . Two of the ildings are houses built after the end of the district ' s period of significance in 1927 ; the third noncontributing bu lding is the much- altered historic rectory, which has undergone much exterior an noncontributing butd interior renovation as well as a large addition . Because the dwellings, particularly those from the Federal and antebellum period, are surrounded by extensive outbuildings, there are a total of 3 5 contributing buildings, many of which are early and ' mid-nineteenth century outbuildings . There are 20 noncontributing buildings and 7 noncontributing structures (five vehicle storage sheds and two swimming pools) . In addition there are three historic graveyards counted as contributing sites . A total of 3 8 resources contribute to the district ; 27 resources are noncontributing . Woodville ' s buildings retain an exceptionally high degree of integrity . The current residents, most descendants of the original residents, have taken pride in maintaining the original appearance of their ancestral seats . All of the buildings h the exception of the rectory . The following inventory lists the properties built prior to 1927 are contributing wit geographically, beginning with the northern most building and proceeding to the south on the east side of the central spine, Highway 11 , then from north to south along the west side of the road . Historical information and dates obtained from the strong family histories and traditions which have been contained in the following inventory list were passed down to the present, as well as from research in primary documents such as deeds and census records . The major written secondary source is a detailed history of Woodville written in 1894 by life-long resident Dr. Charles Smallwood . No archaeological investigations have been done in Woodville to date, but a village like this in continuous habitation since the eighteenth century is certain- to have the potential for significant archaeological resources .