410 W. Margaret Ln. / Lisbon & Clarena Berry House / Berry-Gordon House

Its original site, looking west on West King St.; the Baptist Church is visible at left, 1973 (NCSHPO via Tom Campanella)

This house started life on W. King Street on historic Lot 129. In 1983 it was moved to 410 W. Margaret Lane (part of historic Lot 229).

On June 22, 1896 an undeveloped eighth-acre lot on King Street was purchased from Charles and Sarah Cooley by Lisbon P. Berry. Lisbon Berry had this house built for his bride Clarena Cannon. The house was was built by local carpenters Joseph Nichols and his son James Nichols sometime between 1896 and 1899. He added to the property with additional purchases (all part of Lot 129) between 1897 and 1909.

On May 5, 1918 the Berry family sold the house and property to Brown P. Gordon and his wife Mabel Lloyd Gordon. The Gordon estate sold the house and property to Rodney and Nancy Barfield in 1979; Nancy had the house moved in 1983 and conveyed the King Street property to the Baptist Church.

1900 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at #511 King St.)

1905 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at #511 King St.)

1911 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at #511 King St.)

1924 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at #511/34 King St.)

1943 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at #511/34 King St.)

At its new location, 07.31.2016 (S. Kueber)

Former site of the house, view south, 07.31.2016 (S. Kueber)

(Below in italics from the National Register nomination; not verified for accuracy by this author)

The two-story, front- gabled house is two bays wide and double-pile with a shed-roofed, two-story bay on the right (east) elevation, a shorter, two-story, side-gabled wing flush with the rear elevation and a projecting, cantilevered square tower at the front left (southwest) corner. It has German-profile weatherboards with wood shingles in the gables and on the upper portion of the tower, and a pressed metal roof. There are one-over-one, wood-sash windows throughout and the four-panel door on the right (east) end of the façade has ten-light sidelights and is sheltered by a full-width, hip-roofed porch supported by square posts with decorative sawn brackets. There is a small rectangular window in a half-round panel and a decorative, lattice-work bargeboard in the front gable. There is a canted bay on the first-floor level of the left gable end of the rear section. Both the canted bay and the square tower have decorative brackets supporting them. The right end of the rear section was constructed after the move and has a lower, asphalt-shingled roof and a second-floor balcony on the south elevation of this section has been recently removed. There is a one-story, gabled ell at the rear that is flanked by one-story, hip-roofed additions.

Photo by family descendant Richard Berry (via Betty Eidenier), 09.26.2026

REFERENCES:
Orange County deed book 56, page 10; deed book 54, page 449; deed book 61, page 385; deed book 74, page 164; deed book 313, page 72; deed book 325, page 171; deed book 362, page 455; deed book 397, page 382; deed book 428, page 550; deed book 542, page 335; deed book 633, page 334; plat book 30, page 76.