Spring Hill

Spring Hill. . A Working Plantation, a People Enslaved For over 100 years beginning in the late 1700s, this land was part of the Spring Hill plantation owned by the Hunter family and worked by enslaved African Americans. Theophilus Hunter Sr. was a Revolutionary War officer, Justice of the Peace, and plantation owner who was instrumental in founding the City of Raleigh. , When Theophilus Hunter Sr. died in 1798, he willed his property to his family including the Spring Hill plantation to his eldest son and over 59 enslaved people to his wife, children and grandchildren. , Theophilus Hunter Jr. had enslaved Africans build the house you see in front of you about 1818. The gravesite of Theophilus Hunter Sr. is located to the left of the house and is the oldest known marked grave in Wake County. , The living quarters and gravesites of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the Spring Hill plantation have not been located. In 1850, the Hunter family sold 29 acres to the State of North Carolina for the construction of the state's first mental health hospital. , Spring Hill House is located on NC State University Centennial Campus East property. , Rediscovering the Legacy of John Hunter Until emancipation following the end of the Civil War in 1865, enslaved African Americans lived and worked on Spring Hill. , One of the enslaved men was John Hunter. According to a Raleigh News obituary in 1876, John Hunter lived until the astonishing age of 112. Research by city historians has found a remarkable family tree linking John Hunter to descendants living in Raleigh, Washington DC and New York. John Hunter's family tree includes Stewart Ellison, an enslaved carpenter who worked on the original hospital building and later became a North Carolina state legislator; Spanish-American War veterans, Tuskegee Airmen; women who defined modern dance and shattered glass ceilings on Wall Street; and many other influential African Americans who helped shape our country. , [Captions] , Left side: Theophilus Hunter, Sr.; Will of Theophilus Hunter Sr. This is not a comprehensive record of all the enslaved individuals connected to this land, but we preserve these names to honor the lives of all the people who were enslaved here as work continues to uncover the experience of African Americans during this period. Courtesy of North Carolina State Archives , Right side: John Hunter's obituary, Raleigh News, 1876.; Stewart Ellison