This site offers a view of life during the period before the Civil War. During its eighty-year existence as an active plantation (1785-1865), it encompassed as many as 100,000 acres and became one of North Carolina's most prosperous plantations. It was home to more than three hundred enslaved men, women, and children of African descent. Since the early 1950s archaeology has been used to reveal undocumented information about Somerset Place. The most recent digs enrich the African American aspect of the plantation's history. Hands-on educational programs introduce visitors to the plantation system and daily life at Somerset during the antebellum period. Participants learn the impact of African culture and traditions on Somerset's enslaved community and the Collins family. The main house is furnished with pieces from the period and a few from the Collins family. Outbuildings include the kitchen, the smokehouse, the dairy, and a boarding school for the Collins' six boys.