Solomon Waddell Nash, Sr. (1779-June 25, 1846) was an African-American carpenter in antebellum Wilmington before and after he was emancipated in 1827. During his career as a builder, especially in the 1830s, Nash worked and spent time in both Wilmington and Fayetteville, port cities linked by trade along the Cape Fear River, both known...

Benjamin Gardner (1792-1860), a builder active in antebellum Wilmington, built and may have designed key Greek Revival buildings including the city's handsome market house. Part of a family established in the city, he appeared in the United States Census in Wilmington in 1820 and in subsequent censuses through 1850, when he was listed as...

Henry Taylor (1823-1891), born a slave, was a prominent carpenter and citizen in Wilmington during the mid and late 19th century. Although few specific projects have been attributed to him, Taylor family tradition associates him with the construction of the immense Bellamy Mansion. He is best known as the father of Tuskegee architect Robert...

James Francis Post (1818-July 15, 1899), a native of New Jersey, came to Wilmington by 1849 and became the city's premier 19th century builder-architect during the years when Wilmington was the largest city in the state. He designed, built, or supervised construction of some of Wilmington's most distinguished buildings, as well building many of...

The Howe Family of Wilmington, North Carolina, encompassed at least four generations of men of color active in the city's building trades. As traced in Strength Through Struggle, they included Anthony Howe (d. 1837) and his sons Anthony (ca. 1807-after 1870), Pompey (d. by 1869), and Alfred Augustus (1817-1892); Anthony's sons Anthony Jr. (dates...

Henry D. Sampson (fl. 1850s-1880s), a Wilmington house carpenter who was born and practiced his trade in slavery before becoming free as a result of the Civil War, was like several of his fellow black artisans a prominent citizen during the postwar era. When Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase toured the South immediately after the...