The Hollowells
(Pasquotank County)
Featured Characters – 1860
Christopher
W. Hollowell
Courtesy of Abby Manning
Erected
in 1856 for planter Christopher Wilson Hollowell (1821-1892), Bayside
epitomizes the height of antebellum prosperity in Pasquotank County.
The two-and-a-half-story, double-pile Greek Revival residence has two-story
porches on front and rear. The intact center-hall plan interior features
double parlors on the southwest that contain round-arched Italianate style
marble mantels. Woodwork throughout the downstairs consists of
sophisticated convex, concave, and flat-fluted surrounds. The staircase
has an exuberant octagonal newel with whimsical Gothic-arched balusters.
Christopher
Wilson Hollowell was born in Perquimans
County
in 1821 and remained there until he moved to Pasquotank
County
in order to manage the plantations of his cousin, James Cathcart Johnston who
owned Hayes Plantation. He married Alpine Douglas Bodine in 1855 and built
Bayside Plantation for her, which still remains on Weeksville Road south
of Elizabeth
City.
They had four children before Alpine died in 1867. Three years later, Hollowell
married Parthenia Gatling, born in Perquimans
County
in 1848, and had five children with her. A particularly well-off citizen,
Hollowell was able to give Federal troops 478 bushels of corn, 20 bushels of
wheat, and 2,500 pounds of fodder in December of 1863. Because of this, he was
one of few men granted unlimited access in and out of Elizabeth
City
during Union occupation. Though he had strong Unionist sympathies, Christopher
received the hungry and the wounded, provided forage and shelter, and even
began a wage labor system for his slaves in 1863, which proved crucial in
keeping his large estate productive. After the war, Hollowell managed business
interests at the Nags Head Hotel. Hollowell died in 1892, leaving his estate to
his wife and children.
The
house and much of the original 700-plus-acre farm remained in family ownership
until 1988. Another large portion became what is now the United States
Coast Guard Base. In 1963, items from the Margaret Hollowell estate,
became the foundation for the Museum of the Albemarle.
Margaret was the daughter of Christopher W. and Parthenia Hollowell.