John J. Briggs (1770-1856), a highly skilled and widely respected Raleigh house carpenter, began work in the capital city during its early days and continued for more than a half-century. Along with accomplishing the fine carpentry work on a number of town and plantation houses, he served as "boss" carpenter at the North Carolina...

Conrad and Williams was a firm established in 1850 by John W. Conrad of the Conrad Family of builders and John Wilson Williams. It was founded to accomplish a major project and continued in business for several years. The firm, like the Conrad Family, constructed some of the most important and advanced buildings in...

Jack Dewey (fl. 1830s) was a slave carpenter from New Bern whose work for the Cameron family in Hillsborough and Raleigh is documented in their records. He belonged to Charles Dewey, cashier of the State Bank in Raleigh. He may have gained his training from Charles's father, New Bern carpenter John Dewey. In addition, he...

John Abisha Faucett (Fawcett, Fossett) (1793-August 25, 1847), was a Hillsborough house carpenter and the informal partner in the 1820s of brickmasons John Berry and Samuel Hancock. A son of Henry Faucett, Sr., John A. Faucett was part of a large extended family in the Eno River valley that included many craftsmen, chiefly woodworkers...

Asa King (ca. 1782-1843) was a highly skilled house carpenter who executed unusually fine Federal period woodwork in some of New Bern's most outstanding buildings. New Bern, the state's largest and most elegant city in this period, presents the state's premier assemblage of urban Federal style architecture, much of which shares similar forms, workmanship...

Joseph (Joe) Nichols (ca. 1822-after 1880) was a mulatto house carpenter in Hillsborough, who spent his early years as the highly valued slave of the noted local builder John Berry, then worked as a free man for Berry and for himself after emancipation. Like Berry, he worked mainly in Hillsborough and Orange County, but...

William Nichols (1780-December 12, 1853), an English-born house carpenter, architect, and engineer, worked in North Carolina from 1800 until 1827, during which time he planned and built some of the state's finest and most advanced buildings. The first resident architect in North Carolina since John Hawks, he was also the first North Carolina architect...

Elhannon Nutt (fl. 1800-1810s) was a carpenter and joiner who fashioned elaborate and high quality woodwork, most notably mantels, for the houses of some of the central Piedmont's wealthiest men, where his work was combined with that of carpenters John J. Briggs and William Jones. According to Jean Bradley Anderson, Elhannon was the third son...

Martin Palmer (ca. 1742-Oct. 31, 1832), a prominent Orange County house carpenter and joiner, is one of the few 18th century builders whose name is linked with specific projects in and around the Piedmont town of Hillsborough. From the 1770s onward Palmer lived in a Quaker farming community north of Hillsborough. According to research...