his wife Caroline Gilliam- Wood. However, Wood also fathered a daughter with a slave. His biracial daughter, Mariah was raised in the Wood home and was reared by her aunt Sarah Wood-Walker (house servant). Mr. Wood and his family moved to Hayes and members of the Wood family live there today. It is a working farm with numerous crops, including cotton, tobacco, peanuts and various grains. The modern day Wood family has hosted many functions and gatherings at the home including the North Carolina Supreme Court, the North Carolina House of Representatives, Governors Terry Sanford, James B. Hunt Jr., Pat McCrory and numerous other dignitaries. The main house, considered by architectural scholars to be "one of the South's most accomplished examples of a five-part palladian villa," was designed by English-born architect, William Nichols, Sr., famous for his early Neoclassical-style buildings in the American South and for designing statehouses for three Southern states. Construction of the house began in 1814, but was not completed until 1817. The central block of the house is connected to its dependencies by curved hyphens. A broad belvedere crowns the roof of the central block. The plantation house is privately owned, but was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 26, 1974. Hayes is located east of Edenton, overlooking Edenton Bay to the south and Queen Annes Creek to the north. Just outside the home is a small graveyard called Johnston's cemetery. Many notable figures were buried here, including Penelope Barker, leader of the Edenton Tea Party; James Iredell, an associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court; Samuel Johnston, Governor of North Carolina; James Iredell, Jr., Governor of North Carolina; and James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the chief authors of the U.S. Constitution. Wilson's remains were moved in 1906 to Christ Church Philadelphia by the state of Pennsylvania. In 2007, John G. Zehmer published a book on the plantation called Hayes: The Plantation, Its People, and Their Papers. The book consists of many historic documents, photos, and memories from various members of the Wood family and those who know it best. See also List of National Historic Landmarks in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places listings in Chowan County, North Carolina References External links Hayes: The Plantation, Its People, and Their Papers Historic American Buildings