Andrew Jackson Centre, 2 Boneybefore, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 7EQ

The Andrew Jackson Centre is a single storey, five bay, direct entry thatched building with whitened plastered walls, dating from the early 19th century or possibly earlier. It stands on the rear of a small forecourt bounded by a low whitened wall with a single leaf metal entrance gate, accessed by turning south off the Carrickfergus to Whitehead road, about a mile and a half from the centre of Carrickfergus, facing north-west towards Belfast Lough.

The building comprises a main thatched section with a suite of ancillary rooms roofed in natural slate adjoining to the south-west. The flax thatch roof is contained within plastered skews. Two corbelled chimneystacks are present: one serving the kitchen hearth and the other over the fireplace in the display gallery to the right of the kitchen. Rainwater goods to the ancillary section are of cast iron.

The front elevation contains, from the north-east corner onwards, a sequence of openings comprising: a timber sheeted door to the byre, a timber sheeted door to the workshop, a 4/6 vertically sliding window, a timber sheeted door to the kitchen, a 6/3 vertically sliding window, two 4/2 vertically sliding windows, a timber sheeted door to a passage, and a timber sheeted door accessing a projecting unit serving as a male toilet. A small opening in the north-east gable is timber sheeted and protected with metal bars. The rear elevation contains two fixed lights, a timber sheeted door to the kitchen, a vertically sliding window with sashes divided into two horizontally, and two vertically sliding windows with plain lower sashes and upper sashes divided into two horizontally. The ancillary accommodation includes a female toilet protected by a wing wall with a timber sheeted door and attached window with horizontal division, followed by two further timber sheeted doors with attached windows in similar arrangement. None of the window openings are provided with sills.

The property is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33 as two structures, though not noted in contemporary valuation records. By the second valuation of circa 1860, it appeared as a single unit, leased by Alexander Donaldson from Snowden Corcoran with a rateable value of £2–10–0. The house stands close to the site of the ancestral home of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States. Jackson's parents, Andrew and Elizabeth, emigrated from Boneybefore in 1765; their former house was demolished in the 1860s to make way for the adjacent railway line, though stones from it were used to build another house nearby which incorporated a window from the original Jackson property. The site of the Jackson home is marked by a commemorative plaque, indicated by railway survey records.

The building was acquired by Carrickfergus Borough Council circa 1980 and converted to a visitor centre celebrating Andrew Jackson's ancestry and life. The conversion retained or replicated traditional detailing. Part of the structure was affected by fire in 1982, necessitating further replacement work. The roof timbers, using logs in traditional form, constitute a reconstruction. The storage section was re-roofed in 1992.