Barker House
Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Barker House. Home of Thomas Barker, N.C. agent to England, and his wife Penelope, reputed leader of the Edenton "Tea Party," 1774. Stands 3 blocks south.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
The Barker House was home to Thomas Barker, North Carolina's colonial agent to England, and his wife Penelope, remembered as the reputed leader of the Edenton 'Tea Party' of 1774. That October, some fifty women signed a public resolution to boycott British tea and cloth, one of the earliest recorded political actions by American women. The house stands three blocks south, overlooking Edenton Bay.
Why it matters
The Edenton Tea Party gave women a visible, organized role in the resistance that led to revolution, a striking early assertion of women's political voice in America.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1770s, the American colonies were sliding toward open conflict with Britain. Anger over taxes imposed from across the ocean had already sparked protests in northern ports, and the cry of "no taxation without representation" was spreading south.
Edenton, on the shores of Albemarle Sound, was one of colonial North Carolina's most important towns — a busy port and a center of political life. Its leading families were deeply tied to trade with England, which made the growing boycotts of British goods both a patriotic gesture and a genuine economic sacrifice.
It was a world in which politics was considered men's business, conducted in assemblies and courthouses. That makes what happened in Edenton in 1774 all the more remarkable, because the people who acted were women.
People & events
The Barker House was home to Thomas Barker, who served as North Carolina's colonial agent to England — the man who represented the colony's interests in London. While he was often away, his wife Penelope became a figure in her own right.
Penelope Barker is remembered as the reputed leader of the Edenton "Tea Party" of 1774. That autumn, a group of local women signed a public resolution pledging to support the boycott of British tea and cloth. Roughly fifty women are said to have put their names to it — an unusually bold, open declaration for the time.
What set the Edenton action apart was its visibility. These women were not acting anonymously; they signed their names to a political statement, knowing it might be read and mocked in England. Their home, the Barker House, still stands a few blocks south of this marker, overlooking the bay.
Its place in the American story
The Boston Tea Party is the famous act of tea-related defiance, but the Edenton gesture is significant for a different reason: it was women stepping openly into the political arena at a moment when that was almost unheard of.
By organizing and signing a public boycott, the women of Edenton claimed a role in the resistance that would soon become revolution. They demonstrated that the fight over British rule was not confined to men in colonial assemblies — it reached into households and drew in half the population that had no vote and little formal voice.
In the long arc of American history, this stands as one of the earliest recorded political actions by women in the colonies. It is a small but genuine root of a much longer story about women claiming their place in public life.
If you visit
Come to Edenton and you'll find one of North Carolina's best-preserved colonial towns, with tree-lined streets, waterfront views, and old homes that make the 1770s feel close at hand. The Barker House itself is a landmark near the water, three blocks south of this marker.
As you walk, picture a group of women in this very community deciding to put their names to a public stand — and imagine the courage that took. The setting still has the calm, dignified feel of an old port town, which makes it easy to slow down and reflect.
Edenton rewards an unhurried visit: stroll the historic district, take in the views across Edenton Bay, and let the marker anchor a wider walk through the town's Revolutionary-era past.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Penelope Barker
- · Thomas Barker
Related events
- · Edenton Tea Party
Themes & tags
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Edenton Tea Party
Edenton, NC
In October 1774 some fifty women of Edenton, led by Penelope Barker, signed a public pledge to boycott British tea and cloth in support of the colonial cause. Their coordinated stand — one of the earliest known political actions by American women — drew mockery in the British press but real admiration at home. It announced that women, too, would take sides in the coming Revolution.
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Dr. Hugh Williamson wore many hats — physician, scientist, Revolutionary patriot, and scholar — but he is best remembered as one of North Carolina's signers of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. He also served in Congress and wrote an early history of the state. His Edenton home once stood four blocks to the southeast.
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Joseph Hewes built his fortune as an Edenton merchant and shipowner before politics carried him to the Continental Congress, where in 1776 he became one of North Carolina's signers of the Declaration of Independence. Overseeing naval matters, he is often remembered for helping lay the groundwork of an American navy. His store once stood a few blocks south of here.