Established on farming and hunting grounds for the Occaneechi and Saponi peoples, the land was granted to colonist Francis Corbin by the English and made into a working plantation.

[2] On April 25, 1891, tobacco industrialist and white supremacist Julian Carr purchased the 663-acre property for $10,000 from James Hogg and his sister, Margaret.

The Carrs hired Jules Gilmer Körner to redecorate Poplar Hill, which was originally a plain farmhouse.Körner redesigned the house as a stereotypical Greek Revival plantation mansion, with a widow's walk, large front porch colonnade, and a shallow balcony.He also put in French windows in the downstairs and created two formal entrances along the porch.

[1]Carr also constructed a half mile horse track on the southern bank of the Eno River, northeast of the farm buildings.

[1] Poplar Hill was advertised for sale on October 26, 1923, in the Durham Morning Herald, listed by Carver Real Estate.

[1] In 1980, Poplar Hill was moved from its original location to the other side of the Eno River, on the southern end of Cameron Street in the Hillsborough Historic District, by James Freeland.