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Spring Hill House
The Theophilus Hunter, Jr. House

   
Spring Hill is located on the site of the large plantation owned by Colonel Theophilus Hunter, a pioneer settler of Wake County and an early leader in Wake County and Raleigh. He served as first Judge of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in 1771, as a colonel in the Colonial Militia, as Representative to the House of Commons, as first county surveyor, as first county tax assessor, as one of five commissioners supervising the erection of the first State House in 1791, and as one of seven Raleigh City Commissioners in 1795. In the late 1700's Colonel Hunter built a smaller house just behind where the present house stands, on a high knoll overlooking the city. He named the house "Spring Hill" for a spring which was located at the foot of the hill near several large rocks.

Colonel Hunter died in 1798 and is buried near the present house. His grave is the oldest marked grave in Wake County. Theophilus Hunter, Jr., inherited a large portion of the 2,500 acre plantation. About 1816 he built the present two story frame house of late Georgian style with a one story rear wing adjoining the small late eighteen century home of his father. The house, standing on a high foundation of heavy stones and mortar with brick piers, was an impressive sight located on the highest hill on the plantation and flanked by cedar trees. The slave quarters were located to the west near the present Council Building. When Theophilus Hunter, Jr. died in 1840, the plantation encompassed 5,000 acres.

The Hunter family owned and occupied Spring Hill until 1864. Sheriff William Henderson High purchased Spring Hill and 160 acres in that year. He and his family lived there until 1872 when he sold the house and farm to William Grimes, a weathly philanthropist who used the house as a summer home. In 1908, Mr. Grimes' widow sold the Spring Hill property and 160 acres to the State Hospital.

The house was occupied by hospital staff members over the next 66 years. The original small house burned during this period. Since 1976, Spring Hill has been the headquarters of Dorothea Dix Community Relations Department and the Dorothea Dix Volunteer Service Guild. It functions as a social, educational, and public relations area for patients, staff, volunteers, and the community.

It was named a Raleigh historic site in 1978 and was listed on the National Register in 1983. It became a museum house in 1982 when an historic exhibit and memorabilia of Dorothea Dix Hospital was located in the house. The Spring Hill House is located on the Central Regional Hospital (CRH) - Raleigh Campus at 705 Barbour Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina. The house is open for public viewing Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST. For information call 919/733-5454.

Exterior Of The House

The exterior of the house retains many Georgian elements, such as the still intact molded siding and the three-part molded window frames with robustly molded sills. The siding is painted white, one of the original colors.

The house originally had a two story porch with Doric columns across two-thirds of the front facade. There were three exterior chimneys, two on the south end and one on the north end, and a plain gable roof. There was an entrance between the two south chimneys to the parlor, an entrance from the rear small porch to the hall and two entrances from the narrow porch along the south wall of the kitchen wing. The front entrance still has the original door frame and transom. The door sill and double door were installed in 1960.

Extensive renovations have been made. The first in 1908 was in the classic interpretation of the colonial revival of the early 1900's. The upper porch was removed and the porch door was replaced with a double window alcove. A slate roof was put on and extended on the gable ends. Three dormer windows were installed in the roof (two single and one double).

At the same time, the two southern exterior chimneys and corresponding four interior fireplaces (two in the parlor and one in each of the south bedrooms) were removed and replaced by windows fashioned like the original ones. The outside entrance in the parlor was replaced with a fireplace and interior chimney.

During the 1920's the back porch off the center hall was enlarged, and a closet and bathroom were built over it on the second floor. The north chimney and corresponding corner fireplaces in the dining room and the north bedroom were removed.

Further renovations in 1960 included the pouring of a cement floor and the replacement of columns on the front porch. A screened porch was built adjacent to the south side of the kitchen. In 1980, in order to conform with state law concerning handicapped, a cement ramp with brick pillars along the sides was built leading to the porch entrance.

Interior Of The House

The interior follows a center hall plan, one room deep. The rooms are spacious with 12 foot ceilings. All walls are 18-24 inches thick with cross trusses for reinforcement. These were originally covered with wood lathes and plastered, except in the center halls. There, the trusses were covered with horizontal yellow pine sheathing fastened with T-head nails. The original baseboards were narrow. The original sheathing may now be seen in the downstairs hall next to the front door. Traces of "ghost marks" of the chair rail and of a former hat and coat rack above head level, as well as the original baseboard, can be seen. The sheathing was painted to resemble a plaster wall in early days.

In the early 1900's renovation, a thin wall board was placed over the sheathing in the hall and rooms and wider baseboards over the original baseboards. Many layers of wallpaper were uncovered in 1988 when the house was re-decorated.

All window frames are original with the exception of those replacing fireplaces. The wooden pegged frames are constructed in three molded parts; a beaded board, the applied molded backboard and the frame. The interior door frames are the original frames, with turned molding. The first floor original pine floors were covered with hardwood floors in 1920 and these were replaced in 1960. A new floor was laid in the rear wing about 1930.

Center Hall And Storage Area

The entrance hall spans the depths of the house and thus serves as a breezeway in the summer. The back door formerly led to a small back porch with an outside cellar stairway located under this porch.

A window at the back of the hall was located over the first landing on the stairway to the second floor. In the 1908 renovation, the stair rail to the second floor was replaced and the inside stair to the cellar was relocated under the second floor stairway.

The porch (screened in 1920's) was made into a kitchen in the 1940's when the house was divided into apartments. In 1960 it became a utility room and now is a computer work area for the Volunteer Guild.

The historic exhibit of the hospital and nursing school is located in the hall.

Theophilus Hunter Room
(Parlor)

The parlor is named in honor of Colonel Theophilus Hunter, Sr., the original owner of the large plantation. Colonel Hunter is buried several hundred feet from the house. His grave is the oldest marked grave in Raleigh (1798) and may be seen from the parlor.

When the house was built, there were two fireplaces in the south end of the parlor and the story is told that Theophilus Hunter, Jr., believed that children should sit at one fireplace, adults at the other. He had a large family of seven children, six girls and one boy. The high mantel and narrow shelf of the present fireplace are said to be from one of the original fireplaces.

An empire sofa and reproductions of early American furniture furnish the room. Over the mantel is a landscape formerly used in the hospital. An historic panel about Spring Hill is hung on one wall. This room is used for meetings, programs and social events.

The Dorothea Dix Room
(Dining Room)

This spacious room is named in honor of Dorothea Dix, who in 1848 persuaded the North Carolina Legislature to pass the bill establishing the first "Hospital for the Insane" in North Carolina. It was named "Dix Hill" in honor of her grandfather and was built on a portion of the plantation owned by a member of the Hunter family, Maria Hunter, granddaughter of State Colonel Theophilus Hunter. Mrs. Hall sold 53 acres to the state of North Carolina on September 10, 1850, and the first building of the hospital was built on that property.

The historic exhibit panels placed here depict Miss Dix's successful effort to establish a state hospital in North Carolina and her lifelong interest in the hospital. Also in this room are her portrait and two landscapes given by her to the hospital.

The dining room also contains a portrait of Dr. Edmund Strudwick, the first superintendent of the hospital, and a Victorian dresser from the first hospital building. A second Victorian dresser is in the butler's pantry.

The Butler's Pantry

The butler's pantry, adjoining the dining room, originally had an inside cellar stairway. In the 1908 renovation the stairway was closed, floored and made into a storage pantry. In the 1930's it became a bathroom. At some point, a utility closet was built in the butler's pantry.

Kitchen Wing

The kitchen wing had two rooms. A bedroom was located on the site of the present kitchen and a kitchen in the present meeting area. A narrow porch ran along the length of the wind and a door to each room.

This wing became one of the apartments in the 1940's. In 1960 the partition between the two rooms were removed, changing the front area into a dining area.

This kitchen wing and the porch are used for meetings, informal social events and preparation for refreshments for all social occasions in the house.

Cellar

The cellar is excavated only under the center hall and dining room. A cement floor was poured over the dirt floor in later years (note soil under the parlor area).

The foundation base for the former dining room corner fireplace can be seen. The marks in the beams above this denote the location of the foundation sand cradle for the dining room fireplace. A bake oven was once located near this fireplace but was removed in the 1930's in order to repair beams and sills at that end.

Under the parlor on the fireplace wall, bricks have replaced the foundation for the two original fireplaces, and two windows have been placed in these spaces. The original wide pine flooring may be observed under the parlor. Note the handwrought hook under the parlor.

The large beams and boards for the house were cut by the Hunter slaves at the sawmill on the plantation. This was located near the old Raleigh Waterworks on Fayetteville Street southwest of Memorial Auditorium.

Note the large center beam under the partition between the hall and dining room. There are wooden pegs in this and Roman numerals scratched into the beam at intervals, no doubt marking the location of the studs. Whitewash marks can be seen on some beams as well as T-headed nails in the beams under the kitchen wing. Some of the beams have had to be replaced with steel over the years. A stairway leading to the pantry was probably the first inside stairway.

Second Floor
(Offices)

When the house was built, the second floor had one large bedroom and two smaller bedrooms and a wide center hall. No doubt there was a door leading onto the upper front porch.

In 1908 during the colonial revival renovation, the upper porch was removed and the door leading to the porch made into the present double-window alcove. Perhaps, at this time a partition was made along the inner wall of the large bedroom, forming a hall closet and another closet in the bedroom. In the 1920's a closet and bathroom were added to the rear of the house over the back porch.

The original wide pine flooring may be seen in the bedrooms and T-headed nails are also visible in the boards in the small bedrooms. Patching in the floorboards of the two bedrooms denotes former locations of the fireplaces above those in the parlor. Indications of a fireplace in the large bedroom over the former one in the dining room may be noted by the piercing of the floorboards and the cracks in the plaster on the long wall between the windows. The three bedrooms are now used as offices and for small meetings.

Memorabilia Of Dorothea Dix Hospital

In 1982 an historic exhibit of the hospital was completed and hung in the entrance hall and Dorothea Dix Room. The twelve panels enclosing the hospital exhibit are framed in turned molding to match the interior door frames of the house, as is the panel depicting the history of Spring Hill in the parlor.

Documents and letters from the early history of the hospital have been copied on paper made in the mid-nineteenth century. Appreciation is expressed to the North Carolina Division of Archives and History for assistance in making this exhibit possible.

Memorabilia of Dorothea Dix Hospital have been located at Spring Hill since 1976. In addition to the Victorian dressers and bed frame, several reproductions of old furniture and a chandelier which were found in the present hospital buildings have been placed in the hall, parlor and dining room.

Portraits of Dr. Edmund Strudwick, the first superintendent of the hospital, and Dorothea Dix are hung in the Dorothea Dix Room as well as two landscapes presented to the hospital by Miss Dix.

Click on the Spring Hill House images below to see full-sized.

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