Yes, it is
Your house appears in the 2022 nomination as a contributing or non-contributing structure. If it contributes, rehabilitation work may qualify for tax credits. Read the two blocks below, then talk to your accountant before you start work.
Property owners
The historic district and tax credits
Zebulon's district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in August 2022. This page answers the questions we are asked most often on the phone.
What the district is
The Zebulon Historic District covers nearly 160 acres and includes 316 contributing structures: houses, storefronts, churches, and outbuildings that together show how the town was built and used.
Listing on the National Register is an honor and a research record. It does not restrict what you may do with your own property, and it does not create a local design review board. What it does is open the door to state and federal rehabilitation tax credits.
District boundary
A boundary map is being prepared for this page. Until it is posted, call or email us with your street address and we will check the nomination for you.
Is my home in the district?
No, it is outside
Tax credits will not apply, but the research help does. We can still tell you when your house was built and who lived in it, and your family's story still belongs in the Memory Project.
Rehabilitation tax credits
North Carolina state credit
North Carolina offers a credit for qualified rehabilitation of certified historic structures, available for both income-producing buildings and owner-occupied homes. The homeowner credit has a minimum spending threshold and requires approval of the work before you begin.
Applications are reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Office.
Federal credit
The federal credit applies to income-producing certified historic structures, such as a rented apartment or a storefront with a business in it. It is claimed over five years and requires a three-part application reviewed by the National Park Service.
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the federal credit.
Preservation Zebulon is a volunteer organization, not a tax adviser. Confirm every figure with the State Historic Preservation Office and your accountant.
Researching your home
Start with the deed chain at the Wake County Register of Deeds, then work backward through Sanborn fire insurance maps, town directories, and the newspaper. The 2022 National Register nomination already contains a short entry for most structures in the district, including a construction date estimate.
The Little River Historical Society holds records that reach beyond the town limits, and we can point you to them.
A tax credit and research workshop at Zebulon Town Hall, where much of this information is walked through in person.
Building plaques
- Request a plaque application from the Historic Plaque Program Chair.
- Gather evidence of the construction date: deeds, maps, photographs, or the nomination entry.
- Submit the application with your documentation and the plaque fee.
- The committee reviews the evidence and confirms the date to be cast.
- The plaque is ordered, and we install it with you once it arrives.
Still have questions
Email is the fastest way to reach us, and it lets us send you documents back. Call if you would rather talk it through.
SUPPORT THE WORK
Zebulon's history stays here because people keep it here.
Membership and gifts fund the films, the tours, the plaques, and the archive. None of it comes from the Town.