Salisbury Historic District

The Community Building, originally built as the Rowan County Courthouse, is a historic building located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built between 1854 and 1857, and is a two-story, Classical Revival, stuccoed brick building on a granite foundation. It measures 50 feet wide and 85 feet long and features a pedimented portico supported by six Doric order columns. The portico includes a cast iron balcony and the building is distinguished by tall windows. A new Rowan County Courthouse was built in 1914, and the building used as a community center. The building is operated by the Rowan Museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is located in the Salisbury Historic District.

The Rowan Museum is located in a 19th-century courthouse in Salisbury, North Carolina that survived Stoneman’s Raid. The building is considered to be one of the finest examples of antebellum architecture in North Carolina. The museum is dedicated to the history of Rowan County. Listed on the National Register of National Places in March 1970. The courthouse was built and completed by Conrad and Williams contractors between 1855 and 1857. The courthouse is a two-story building with a hexastyle colossal Doric portico along the front facade. A new courthouse was built in 1914 and is now located next door. The courthouse was transformed into the Community Building and has housed the Rowan Museum since 2001, when it moved from the Utzman-Chambers House.Among the museum's holdings is the Old Stone House, a Georgian two-story structure built in 1766 near present-day Granite Quarry by Michael Braun, a wheelwright, printer and carpenter. The house is the oldest in Rowan County and one of the State's few remaining stone houses. Descendants or Braun and the Fisher family worked to preserve the house in the 1950s, when there was the possibility of it being torn down so its rock could be used for roads. The families donated the restored house to the museum in 1966. Other historic properties managed by the museum include the Utzman-Chambers House located in Salisbury and the China Grove Roller Mill in China Grove, NC. On the first floor are exhibits that display the history of Rowan County. The second floor of the museum features the Messinger Room which displays the remnants of a 19th-century courthouse. It is often rented for business and private events during the year. Throughout the year the museum hosts an Antique Show, Germafest, Spring Frolic, summer camps, and Old Stone Christmas.

The Oak Grove-Freedman's Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at the corner of Liberty Street and North Church Street in downtown Salisbury, North Carolina. The cemetery has served as a burial ground for African Americans since it was deeded to the city in 1770. More than one hundred fifty known and unknown African Americans, both enslaved and free, are buried at the cemetery. The Freedman cemetery is part of a larger cemetery parcel known now as the Old English Cemetery, which is home to the graves of soldiers who died in the Battle of Camden in 1780 and to British soldiers who died in Salisbury during Cornwallis' occupation of the city. The two cemeteries were not separated physically until 1842 when a wooden fence was erected around the Old English Cemetery per the will of William Gay. This fence effectively separated the burial sites of African Americans and whites for the first time. In 1855, the fence was replaced with a granite wall, which remains standing today. Between 1903-1940, portions of the Freedman's Cemetery have been violated causing bodies to disintegrate and markers to be removed. The last standing markers were noted in 1940. The City of Salisbury assumed ownership of the cemetery in 1975, at which time the cemetery was closed to future burials.In 1998 the Waterworks Visual Arts Center, under the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and other local organizations, embarked on an eight-year effort to restore parts of the cemetery and erect a public art memorial to honor the historic site. Artist Maggie Smith and landscape architect Sam Reynolds were hired to design and create the memorial which was dedicated on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 16, 2006. Maggie Smith said of the project that, "the restoration and memorialization of the Oak Grove-Freedman's Cemetery has one primary goal: to symbolically and literally bring the desecrated part of the cemetery back into the community's embrace."

The Archibald Henderson Law Office is a historic law office building located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina.

Shaver Rental Houses District is a national historic district located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The district encompasses four contributing buildings built as rental housing between 1899 and 1910. They are one- and two-story, Queen Anne style frame dwellings. Three of the houses on West Council Street feature asymmetrical massing, steeply pitched hipped roofs with cross gables, and one story wrap around porches.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Maxwell Chambers House (also called Utzman-Chambers House) is a historic home located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built between 1814 and 1819, and is a two-story, three-bay, Federal-style frame townhouse. It has three interior end chimneys and a one-story full-width shed roofed front porch with Doric order columns.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is located in the Salisbury Historic District. Cabinetmaker Lewis Utzman bought the site in 1814 from Charles Fisher for $100 and sold it to Judge James Martin for $1026 in 1819. It is believed the house was built for Utzman between these two dates, possibly by Jacob Utzman, who may have been a relative.The house became the Rowan County museum prior to 1979 and was used for that purpose until the museum moved to the former courthouse in 2001.

Bernhardt House, also known as the Paul Mathias Bernhardt House, is a historic home located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. It was built in 1882 and remodeled in 1902, and is a two-story, center-hall/double-pile plan, Italian Villa-style frame dwelling. It features arch-headed windows with heavy projecting hoods, an L-shaped porch, and bracketed eaves and gables. A rear addition was built in 1948 and the house was converted to four rental apartments. Its builder Paul Mathias Bernhardt (1846–1922) was a son of George Matthias Bernhardt (1820–1885), who built the George Matthias Bernhardt House near Rockwell, North Carolina.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Salisbury station is an Amtrak station located in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is served by three passenger trains: the Crescent, the Carolinian, and the Piedmont. The street address is Depot and Liberty Streets, and is located in the Salisbury Railroad Corridor Historic District.

Mount Zion Baptist Church is a historic African-American Baptist church located at 413 N. Church Street in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The sanctuary was built in 1907, and is a red brick Gothic Revival style building. It features stained glass lancet windows and small triangular shaped windows and former towers capped by octagonal conical roofs. A brick-veneered educational/manse wing added between 1913 and 1920.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Brooklyn–South Square Historic District is a national historic district located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 65 contributing buildings in predominantly residential section of Salisbury. It largely developed between about 1875 and 1925, and includes notable examples of Federal, Greek Revival, and Late Victorian style architecture. Notable buildings include the Woodson-Overcash House (c. 1840), Blackmer-Propst House (c. 1856), Mowery-Peeler House (c. 1880), Keen-Bastian House (c. 1895), William Trott House (1905), J. W. Glover House (1920s), Cross-Crowell-Rufty Store (1920s), Burges-Lyerly-Fifty/Fifty Store (1920s), and the former St. Peter's Episcopal Church.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Ellis Street Graded School Historic District is a national historic district located at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 76 contributing buildings and 1 contributing structure in a predominantly residential section of Salisbury. They were built between about 1867 and 1948, and include notable examples of Italianate and Bungalow / American Craftsman style architecture. Notable contributing resources include the Ellis Street Graded School building (1881) and Shober Bridge (c. 1940).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

The Fulton–Mock–Blackmer House is a historic home built in 1820 in Salisbury, North Carolina, USA, whose most famous resident was the actor Sidney Blackmer. It was severely damaged in a 1984 fire, then left largely neglected for nearly three decades. A full restoration was completed in 2015. It is located in the West Square Historic District, created by the city in 1975, and is a contributing structure to the Salisbury Historic District.John Fulton, for whom Fulton Street was named, built the Federalist style house in Salisbury in 1820. An ad in the January 1, 1821 Western Carolinian said, "The subscriber is now finishing a large and commodious house in this place, on the western side of the town, situated between the Male and Female Academies, which he intends as a boarding-house for young ladies." Fulton died in 1827 and his stepson Maxwell Chambers inherited the property. President Andrew Jackson appointed Fulton's nephew William S. Fulton governor of Arkansas. Girls who attended Salisbury Academy lived in the house, and later the house became a school. Davidson College owned the house at one time. The A.J. Mock family owned the house and added Italianate brackets above the front windows. They also replaced original Federal style windows, of which one remained.Actor Sidney Blackmer bought the house in 1931 and the family lived there. Blackmer planted cedar trees, a holly tree and a cucumber magnolia. The 5000-square-foot house at Fulton and Innes Streets sat vacant after a December 1, 1984 fire, after which Suzanne Blackmer could not afford a restoration. Four ionic columns added between 1906 and 1908 were stored, though a base of one was left as a guide for a possible restoration. Contractor Al Wilson also fixed the roof and foundation in 1989, actions credited with keeping the house from falling down during years of neglect. In 2008, Jonathan Blackmer, son of Sidney and Suzanne, asked that the house either be torn down or restored for "any public use", such as a museum devoted to his father's career. In June 2012, Historic Salisbury Foundation, which had done some work on the house over the years, agreed to buy it, paying $109,611 to Jonathan Blackmer. Renovation was under way, and in April 2013, the public was allowed inside the house for the first time in 28 years. Architect Joseph K. Oppermann pointed out its "Federal-style windows and shutters, false wood graining on doors and early wallpaper." Blue wallpaper with the photo of Commodore Stephen Decatur was found in the front parlor. Brian Davis, Historic Salisbury Foundation executive director, said the roof would be raised to where it was originally, restoring a full attic. Materials from the historic Grimes Mill, which burned in 2013, were to be used in the house.In February 2014, the Dixons bought the house from the Historic Salisbury Foundation for $150,000. Historic preservation tax credits helped the Dixons with the restoration, which was completed in early 2015. The Fulton–Mock–Blackmer House won a 2015 historic preservation award from Historic Salisbury Foundation, in the category Private Preservation & Neighborhood Revitalization. The chimneys were replaced, but their old bricks were used as a facade. Otherwise, the couple planned to keep as much of the house's history as possible. The restored 20-foot columns were returned July 14 but still needed capitals.Old photos and Jonathan Blackmer's memories helped determine what needed to be done. As much as possible, each section of the house would look as it had at some point in its history. Interior doors dating to 1820 are still in use.