Bellamy Carriage House: Some answers to a mystery

Edited from Preservation North Carolina's Fall 1998 quarterly magazine 

​In 1998 Preservation NC printed a newsletter and it ran the story, “An Unsolved History Mystery.” The staff-written piece examined what was known and not known of the design and function of the Bellamy's carriage house, which was likely built alongside the slave quarters around 1859 and was demolished by the City due to disrepair in 1946. An accurate understanding of the structure’s exterior elevation and fenestration has always been hampered by a marked lack of photographic evidence. While the “magic “ image that shows the structure clearly and in its entirety has not yet surfaced, researchers have found some other enlightening photographic evidence. This imagery coupled with archeological finds gave us a much better idea of how the building looked and worked.

​In reviews of visual information, only obscured bits and pieces of the building peeked out from behind a wall shrubbery and trees. By enlarging and enhancing the contrast of these images, we could accurately project the location of a few windows and doors. Another photograph indicated that the structure was slightly shorter than the existing slave quarters. Based on this general information and the existing 18’x 65’ foundation walls, we assembled the equivalent of a pretty good police sketch of the structure. Some details remained unknown.

Other photographs that surfaced briefly in the 1990s did answer some lingering questions. A descendent of a property owner immediately north of the carriage house was visiting from New Orleans and just happened to have some old photographs taken in the back yard next door. They, unfortunately, did not leave the image for our archive but it showed the back of the building and that its roofline was symmetrical, with parapet steps on the back wall on both the east and west ends. Staff previously assumed that the carriage house was a mirror image of the slave quarters, which is a building with a parapet back wall on one end and flat on the opposite. Another image showed that the second floor of the structure had arched windows, a feature that was assumed, but previously had no evidence to support. Additionally, a lattice fence was apparent in this image. It ran parallel to the face of the entire structure.

​An archeological exploration of the carriage house interior yielded a wealth of information about how it was used. Almost the entire floor was paved with irregular geometric blocks of dross (the term “dross” is our working name for the material, records of the product are virtually non-existent). These blocks are a concretion of turpentine resin and sand. To our knowledge, the use of this product was limited but it can also be found in the breezeway under the main house. In addition to this unusual floor, evidence of five or six horse stalls emerged in the east half of the building. The west end was a slightly lower interior elevation and likely was used to park the carriage. A wooden ramp led up from this lower area to the stalls. Adjacent to the ramp is a pargeted brick interior cistern. We believe that an interior gutter collected rain in this 3’ deep container to water the horses. The second floor above the stalls was likely dedicated to the storage of hay and straw. One artifact from this area was part of a horse stall feeder system patented in 1857. The west end upper floor was probably the living quarters of the coachmen or stable workers. Quantities of excavated wall plaster and housewares support this theory. Also discovered was evidence of exterior tinted lime washes, ranging from white to dirty yellow to a pinkish-buff color. As with the slave quarters exterior, when those were applied is unknown.

It seems possible that in its early years enslaved workers Tony Bellamy and Guy Nixon may have stayed in this building from time to time with the animals and supplies. While we may never learn everything about this structure, staff in the 1990s certainly knew much more than when PNC took on the project. Using this limited but helpful historical information, Preservation NC raised funds for building’s reconstruction as an interpretive/educational center for the site. Costing over $300,000 it was completed in 2001 and still serves as our visitor center. It retains the footprint of the original building, the parapet walls on the roof, and a fake door on the western end mimics what would have existed on 5th St. Unlike the original, we do not keep horses, a carriage, or a cow inside. The current museum restrooms between the carriage house and slave quarters were originally the site of a poultry shed. The back yard featured an herb garden, fig tree, coal chute, cistern and well. It was very much a working space. The back wall between carriage house and slave quarters was rebuilt during the 2001 project. The original wall was partly to keep the compound sealed in. This had obvious implications for enslaved workers on site in the early 1860s as the carriage house, the wall, and the slave quarters had no windows, gates, or doors facing north. That fact prevented unseen escape and, along with those parapet walls on the buildings' roofs, also acted as a firebreak.

The reconstruction of the carriage house on the original footprint in 2001.

As the rebuilt 2001 carriage house and original 1859 slave quarters appear in 2025.

A notion of the original carriage house sketched in the 1990s.

A draft layout of the first floor of the 2001 reproduction carriage house as it was built for offices and a visitor center.