Isabelle Bowen Henderson Home & Garden Tour

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From Lemuel’s house to Isabelle’s garden, Lot No. 2 in Raleigh’s Oberlin Village has a rich history with a long legacy of preservation. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Raleigh Historic Landmark, the Isabelle Bowen Henderson House and Gardens is a hidden treasure in the heart of Raleigh that touches on numerous themes in historic preservation. 

Black History: In 1869, Lemuel Hinton, one of the earliest leaders of Raleigh’s freedman’s village of Oberlin, purchased Lot Number 2 and built a house, the front portion of which remains today. In 1897, Lemuel and his wife Lurina sold the property to their daughter, Lemmetta, and son-in-law Allen Haywood, who lived there until 1931. In the small world of NC history and preservation, one of Lemuel’s other daughters was Eleanor Hinton Graves, who, with her husband Willis, built the Graves-Fields House further down Oberlin Road in the late 1880s which now serves as PNC’s statewide headquarters. 

Landscape Architecture: In 1937, the property was purchased by the celebrated Raleigh portraitist and floriculturist, Isabelle Bowen Henderson. Inspired by Colonial Williamsburg, she began a lifetime of curating and editing the house and gardens, including reorienting Lemuel’s house on the property and expanding it. She added Colonial-style outbuildings, display gardens, an herb garden, a brick terrace, and a guest house. Isabelle’s garden was first opened for tours in 1938, and by 1942, it had garnered such a reputation as to be featured in House and Garden Magazine. In addition to being a master gardener, Isabelle was a highly regarded portraitist, having painted more than 1,000 portraits throughout the eastern US. 

Preservation Advocacy: The preservation of Lot No. 2 later fell to Isabelle’s sister, Phyllis Riley, at a time when cities across the nation were constructing expressways through older neighborhoods to accommodate the rising tide of suburban commuters. In the 1970s, a series of proposed highway projects would have decimated some of Raleigh’s prominent historic neighborhoods. The citizens of Oakwood defeated the proposed North-South Expressway than would have cut through the middle of that historic neighborhood; the Pullen heirs sued the City to stop a similar north-south, five-lane arterial proposed to widen Oberlin Road from Glenwood Avenue to Western Boulevard through Pullen Park; and thanks to preservationists like Phyllis Riley, the City was unsuccessful in its condemnation of the Henderson House and Gardens.

Preservation Easement: Today, the Isabelle Bowen Henderson House and Gardens is PNC’s newest protected property. Isabelle’s great-nephew, Russ Stephenson, and his wife, Ellen Longino, donated a preservation easement on December 31, 2025 protecting the 1.2 acre site. Preservation easements are the strongest tool in our belt to truly ensure the permanent protection of a historic property. 

No place experiences springtime like North Carolina, so help us welcome its arrival by attending this special house and garden tour as we celebrate the continued preservation of this important piece of Raleigh history!

LEFT: Springtime view of the famous Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica) in full bloom.

CENTER: Interior view of the living room, featuring both a wall mural and a portrait of the current owner by Isabelle Bowen Henderson.

RIGHT: Raleigh Historic Property Plaque, soon to be joined by Preservation North Carolina’s protected property plaque!

Photos courtesy of Capital City Camera Club