Poplar Grove Historic House & Museum

Description

Poplar Grove sits just north of the New Hanover County line on US 17 in Scotts Hill, on land the Foy family farmed from 1795 until 1971. The 12-room Greek Revival manor house, built in the early 1850s, anchors what was once the largest peanut plantation in North Carolina and has operated as a museum since 1980. Guided tours run about 90 minutes and cover the manor house plus original outbuildings including the smokehouse, kitchen shed, carriage house, and the tenant house that belonged to Nimrod Nixon. The staircases make the house tour a poor fit for children under five, but the grounds suit younger kids. Three heritage art studios (the Basket Gallery, the Print Shop, and the Blacksmith Shop) are open for viewing, and an agricultural exhibit houses a peanut thrasher alongside interpretation of the Gullah Geechee people whose skills built the farm. Livestock stables and gardens maintained by the Pender County Master Gardeners sit on the property, and the adjacent Abbey Nature Preserve protects 63 acres of woodland trails, with parking on the north side of the manor house and leashed dogs permitted. An open-air market runs Wednesday mornings in summer. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and within the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.