Judaculla Rock (Jackson County), prepared by J. Loubser, listed 3/27/13

Judaculla Rock is North Carolina's best known and largest example of an American Indian petroglyphs site and is a landscape component of a prominent Cherokee legend that chronicles the vast supernatural and physical realm of Judaculla, a human-like giant with supernatural powers.  The petroglyphs on the Judaculla Rock are believed to be the most extensive and complicated not only in North Carolina but also in the entire region east of the Mississippi River, with the carvings dating from about 500 A.D. to possibly the late 1700s.

(Related news coverage can be found here)

The ca. 1921 W. J. Hicks House in Raleigh's Oakwood Historic District (Wake County) was rehabilitated for continued single-family rental residential use utilizing the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits at a private investment rehabilitation cost of $63,000.

The W. J. Hicks House before (left) and after (right) rehabilitation

The ca. 1891 Battery Park Hotel Stables with a ca. 1951 façade at 82 North Lexington Avenue in the Downtown Asheville Historic District (Buncombe County) was rehabilitated for continued retail uses on the first floor and four apartments on the upper two floors utilizing the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $570,000.

The Battery Park Hotel Stables before (left) and after (right) rehabilitation

Queen Anne's Revenge Exhibit to Open in May

An anchor from the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck

A traveling exhibit of artifacts from the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck will begin its run May 31, 2013, and will continue until November 1, 2014, with stops at ten venues covering most of the state.  The tour will be launched in Asheville at the Western Office of the Department of Cultural Resources and will run for six weeks at each of its stops with special programming at each location. Click here for the proposed exhibit itinerary.

After A $5 Million Renovation, Bodie Island Lighthouse Opens to the Public for the First Time

 

Sec. Susan Kluttz with state Rep. Paul Tine, U.S. Coast Guard Captain Anthony Popiel; Outer Banks group of national parks Superintendent Barclay Tremble and Dare County Commissioner Warren Judge in front of the Bodie Island Light Station.

The 1872 Bodie Island Lighthouse, in Dare County, recently underwent a three-year, $5 million restoration but is now stable and open to the public for the first time in its history. Department of Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz and SHPO Kevin Cherry attended the relighting ceremony during which Secretary Kluttz helped relight the beacon with six descendants of one the lighthouse's last keepers. The lighthouse is one of about 15 in the country that still has its original Fresnel lens and one of only a dozen lighthouses that is at least 150 tall. Three other tall lighthouses are also in North Carolina:  the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, also in Dare County, Currituck Lighthouse in Currituck County, and Cape Lookout Lighthouse in Carteret County. Click here to learn more about the Bodie Island Lighthouse renovation.

 

Historic Chatham County Courthouse Opens

The Chatham County Courthouse after rehabilitation.  Photo courtesy of newsobserver.com

The historic Chatham County courthouse, burned to little more than a brick hull three years ago, reopened Saturday with the gathered crowd showing a deep reverence to its past. For more information, click here.

District Shading Added to HPOWEB

Last month saw a change to the symbology used in HPOWEB; this month sees a similar small, but potentially effective, change in the way historic districts and other boundaries are displayed. HPOWEB users will notice that semi-transparent, colored shading has been added to all historic districts (HDs) and other historic resource boundaries. The new shading layer appears in the HPOGIS Layers table of contents. Users may uncheck and check the entire shading layer, or individual sublayers.

 

Boundary shading has been added to the HPOGIS layers

The shading for each class reflects the color choice of the associated points: National Register HDs appear light blue, Study List HDs appear light green, Determined Eligible HDs appear light orange, and Local HDs appear light pink. Where two or more district boundaries overlap, a blending of these colors appears.

 

This change will be most effective in highly complex, urban areas such as Wilmington.  Below is a screen capture of what eastern Wilmington looks like in HPOWEB without shading - it is difficult to say which portions of town are inside historic districts:

Wilmington, N.C., with boundary shading turned off

Now, with shading, it is much easier to discern the portions of town inside historic districts:

 

Wilmington, N.C., with shading turned on

If you need to view an aerial image of a building with absolute clarity, simply uncheck the shading. The boundary outline will still display, unless you uncheck that as well - outlines are listed below each point layer.

Boundary outlines can be turned off by unchecking the box beside its name

 

Western Carolina University's Public History Students Explore Historic Preservation 

HPO Western Office's Annie McDonald and Jennifer Cathey collaborated with instructors Jessie Swigger and Suzanne McDowell during Western Carolina University's spring semester to provide support for historic preservation coursework and spend time with students embarking on careers in public history.  HPO staff members lectured at WCU's Introduction to Historic Preservation class, with Ms. McDonald presenting regional case studies related to national historic preservation policy and Ms. Cathey teaching historic landscape preservation.  Fulfilling a course requirement to shadow preservation professionals, graduate students Nelson Edmondson and Kayla Pressley spent an afternoon shadowing HPO staff to learn about various aspects of the profession.  Both students already have significant experience in the field, each having completed internships at North Carolina historic sites-Ms. Pressley at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville and Mr. Edmondson at Tryon Palace in New Bern.

From left to right, students Nelson Edmondson and Kayla Pressley and HPO's Annie McDonald at the historic Haywood County Courthouse

HPO staff selected the Town of Waynesville as fertile ground for students to observe historic preservation work in action. With numerous National Register listings and an active historic preservation commission, the community boasts several completed historic building rehabilitations and research and consultation is ongoing for historic designation of several additional properties. Paul Benson, the town's Director of Planning and staff for the preservation commission, provided the group with an overview of preservation initiatives in Waynesville, including ongoing work to formulate design guidelines for local historic landmarks. The group visited the historic Haywood County Courthouse and accompanied Ms. McDonald on a National Register consultation for the Windover Inn, a 1910 Queen Anne/Colonial Revival bed and breakfast owned and operated by Glenn and Jen Duerr. A tour of the well preserved inn concluded the shadowing experience for Ms. Pressley and Mr. Edmondson, who will soon receive their degrees and move on to new educational and professional experiences. 

Pender County has a rich history. It was settled by 1725 and in 1776 the Battle of Moore's Creek, in southwestern Pender, ended British rule in North Carolina, but it was not until 1875 that Pender was formed, partitioned from New Hanover County to the south. Largely rural Pender County covers approximately 930 square miles on North Carolina's southeastern coast. There are six incorporated communities in the county: Atkinson, Burgaw (the county seat), St. Helena, and Watha on the mainland and Surf City and Topsail Beach on Topsail Island. Holly is the largest of the county's ten townships, covering more than twenty-five percent of the county and encompassing the Holly Shelter and Angola Bay game lands with their tens of thousands of acres of Carolina bays and pocosin swamp. With approximately 54,000 residents in 2012, Pender is one of the state's fastest growing counties due to it coastal development and proximity to burgeoning Wilmington.

Before the mid-1990s, the county's only systematic historic architectural survey was the reconnaissance that was part of the Tar-Neuse project conducted by the HPO in 1976 to 1977. Local preservation efforts were focused on restoration of individual properties, including a number of the eleven Pender County properties listed in the National Register prior to 1999: Moore's Creek National Military Park, listed in 1966, and a boundary expansion listed in 1987; Sloop Point, one of North Carolina's oldest extant houses, listed in 1972; the Pender County Courthouse, listed in 1979; three nineteenth-century plantation houses listed in the 1970s; the Burgaw Depot, listed 1985; and three buildings associated with the post-World War II U. S. Ordnance Testing Facility (a.k.a. Operation Bumblebee) on Topsail Island that were listed in 1993.

Former U.S. Naval Ordnance Testing Facility Tower, Topsail Island

Then in 1996 the county historical society received state and federal grants for a comprehensive architectural survey. Consultant Ed Turberg of Wilmington was hired to conduct the survey, with assistance from consultant Beth Keane, and at the conclusion of the project in January 1998, twenty-eight individual properties and seven historic districts were placed on North Carolina's National Register Study List, adding to the three properties already on the list. The survey results prompted the Town of Burgaw to sponsor a National Register of Historic Places nomination for a district encompassing the heart of the county seat that was prepared by Beth Keane.

Canetuck Rosenwald School. Photo courtesy of  Claudia Stack

Canetuck Rosenwald School had been placed on the state's National Register Study List at the end of the county architectural survey, and four more of the county's eight (possibly nine) extant Rosenwald schools were added to the Study List  thanks to Ms. Stack's contact with HPO staff. A National Trust for Historic Preservation grant funded by the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation facilitated restoration of Canetuck School's exterior, which was completed in 2011. Both the HPO and the Historic Wilmington Foundation continue to work with Ms. Stack and others in the county to document, evaluate, and promote the preservation of Pender County's historic schools.

Updated 1937 Plan for Penderlea Homesteads by John Nolen (John Nolen Papers, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library)

In 2005, the museum moved into one of the original Penderlea houses and since then has been preserving and reconstructing the associated outbuildings. The Penderlea Historic District had been placed on the National Register Study List at the conclusion of the county architectural survey in 1998, and in 2009, under the leadership of Carolyn Booth, the museum's board took the initiative to have a National Register nomination prepared for the district. The project began with a comprehensive architectural survey of Penderlea that was conducted by Sidebottom Preservation of Charleston, SC, under the supervision of HPO staff. Currently, MdM Historical Consultants of Durham is completing the nomination for the more than 9,000-acre district, which is expected to be presented to the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee at its meeting next month.

Old Pender County Jail, Burgaw. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Emerson

Local interest in historic preservation continues to grow: county planning staff is updating the architectural survey; county officials recently decided to rehabilitate the old Topsail High School as county offices instead of demolishing it as once planned; and the Town of Burgaw is preserving the old jail. While important resources such as St. Helena Russian Orthodox Church and a number of Rosenwald schools remain endangered, continuing collaboration between private individuals, county officials, the Pender County Historical Society, the Historic Wilmington Foundation, and the HPO promises to make the future of the county's historic places more secure.

The results of a National Park Service review to expand the use of the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program have been released. The program promotes the rehabilitation of historic buildings, especially in urban and economically depressed areas, as a way both to preserve the past and to create jobs and promote economic revitalization in the present. Since 1976, the program has certified more than 38,700 rehabilitation projects, revitalizing neighborhoods and communities across the nation. Examples include the renovation of abandoned or underutilized schools, warehouses, factories, churches, retail stores, apartments, hotels, houses, and agricultural buildings for business or other income-producing uses. All told, these projects have created more than 2.4 million jobs. Eight actions were recommended by the National Park Service, among them:

• Increase promotion and training to build awareness of the program for developers, the preservation community, state and local partners, and the general public;

• Partner with the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote the historic tax incentives program in economically depressed areas, using Detroit for the pilot partnership effort.  If effective, this partnership model could be repeated elsewhere;

• Work with the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to discuss issues related to tax policies that may restrict the appropriate use of the historic preservation tax incentives; and

• In consultation with preservation partners and other stakeholders, reexamine and revise, as appropriate, guidance on applying program standards concerning certain interior treatments and to the review of large multiple-building complexes.

The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS) and the State Historic Preservation Offices for the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, is accepting applications for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior will consider applicants that have been approved by the Gullah Geechee Commission in making new appointments for Primary and Alternate Commissioners.  Applications will be received on an ongoing basis and reviewed on an as-needed basis. Applicants must provide a short biography or resume that highlights the skills and abilities listed below:

• General experience working collaboratively with others in the Gullah Geechee community

• Credibility with and support of the Gullah Geechee Community

• Active participation in the preservation of Gullah Geechee culture

• Knowledge about Gullah Geechee culture

• Participation in the development of products, projects, fund raising, and publications about Gullah Geechee culture

Freedom Tower, Miami, FL, photo courtesy of National Park Service

The theme study is a publication of the National Park System Advisory Board and features 17 essays written by nationally recognized scholars addressing the contributions and experiences of American Latinos. It will provide a framework as the Service works with partners and communities around the nation to identify, preserve, and interpret buildings, landscapes, and other sites that tell the story of Latinos in America.

The theme study is organized under four major sub-headings: Making the Nation, Making a Life, Making a Living, and Making a Democracy. The essays address many areas of Latino contributions and history representing the full spectrum of society, from labor, law, and education to religion, sports, food, and medicine.

The study is serving as a model for future theme studies that address other communities in the United States, including studies currently underway that highlight the Asian American and Pacific Islander and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities.

A link to the theme study and a list of the scholars and essay authors can be found at: www.nps.gov/latino.

The Blue Ridge Music Trail, part of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area in North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Blue Ridge National Heritage Area

The inaugural issue of The National Heritage Areas Newsletter, a partnership between NPS and the Alliance for National Heritage Areas highlighting the importance of these places of history, cultural and natural wonder, has recently been released. Click here to read this first issue.

A 1961 photo of Jane Jacobs. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

In her 1961 classic, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs opposed what she called "one size fits all" planning. The idea of letting a mixture of land uses and housing styles evolve over time  set her in contrast with the approaches of Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and Robert Moses, who preferred to redevelop large swaths of the city at once. On the contrary, wrote Jacobs, healthy neighborhoods must "mingle buildings that vary in age and condition, including a good proportion of old ones." 

In a recent study, Duke sociologist Katherine King studied surveys of Chicago neighborhoods that included measures of community relations.  Then she matched this information with data on the "age diversity" of housing.  It looks like Jane was right -- gradual redevelopment does promote community.  For more information about the study, click here.

Over half of the Smithsonian's 2013 Best Small Towns to Visit have National Register properties and are also Certified Local Governments (CLGs). Local communities that appreciate the value of their cultural heritage are the most entertaining to visitors and know that their historic fabric is an important resource that they have to protect.