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Worth Saving
The Newsletter of the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office
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Events, Awards, and Grants
For statewide event lists, visit the HPO Facebook event list, Preservation North Carolina events list, or a March - May 2014 calendar and workshop and conference list courtesy of the Federation of N.C. Historical Societies.
****Due to inclement weather, the February 13, 2014 National Register Advisory Committee meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 20, 2014.***
March 11-16 "Fields of Conflict," Columbia, SC. The SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology is sponsoring an international conference on battlefield archaeology in Columbia, SC, in conjunction with the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program. The conference will include a day long battlefield preservation workshop on March 12 in which participants will learn about best practices for battlefield preservation, including mapping sites, analyzing landscapes, using archaeology, and planning for battlefield preservation. See this page for a detailed agenda of the battlefield preservation workshop. For more information about the entire event visit www.fieldsofconflict2014.com or contact Steve Smith at SMITHS@mailbox.sc.edu or 803-576-6569.
March 17 Deadline to submit session ideas and field study proposals for the 2014 National Preservation Conference in Savannah, November 11-14, 2014. See this page for more information. Share your ideas for program content, suggest a dynamic speaker, or propose a field session.
March 19-22 National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, Monterey, CA. Click here for registration and meeting information.
April 5 "From Engagement to Activism: Public History as Civic Responsibility," 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Withers Hall 232, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. NCSU's Department of History is sponsoring a one-day conference exploring public history as activism and engagement, with a keynote address by Cathy Stanton, author of The Lowell Experiment: Public History in a Post-Industrial Town, followed by three consecutive sessions. A reception will follow, inaugurating NCSU's new doctoral program in public history. Registration for the program and reception is free but requested. For more information and to register, click here.
April 9-13 Society of Architectural Historians Annual Conference, Austin, TX. For more information visit this page.
April 10 "Fine & Decorative Arts: An Era of Transition" lecture, 7 PM, Joel Lane Museum House, 160 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh, NC. Leland Little, president of Leland Little Auctions and Estate Sales, Ltd., will speak. General admission is $15, $10 for members. Click here for more information or call 919-833-3431.
April 15 National Alliance of Preservation Commissions is now accepting applications for our 2014 Commission Excellence Awards to recognize and honor outstanding efforts and achievements by local historic preservation commissions and boards of architectural review. Award categories include Best Practices - identification and protection of historic resources, public outreach, and technology - and Commission of the Year. The deadline for applications is April 15. Click here to download a nomination form or contact Paul Trudeau, NAPC Program Director, at ptrudeau@uga.edu or 706-369-5881 for more information.
April 24-25 Cultural Heritage Tourism Exchange, Washington, DC. For more information go to http://www.chtexchange.com/.
May 1 National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions and National Trust for Historic Preservation grant applications are due. (See article below.)
May 1 Deadline for applications for the 2014 National Preservation Conference's Diversity Scholarship Program (DSP). Recipients will participate in programming that reinforces their role as ambassadors for the National Trust and the preservation movement. Scholarship recipients will receive stipends in the form of complimentary registration and lodging. Additionally, DSP participants will have an opportunity to present their preservation work during the conference and take advantage of National Trust programs after the conference. Click here for more information about the program and here for the application.
May 18-21 2014 National Main Streets Conference, Detroit, MI. With the theme "Works in Progress" the conference will offer participants lessons on resilience, innovation and hard work, all of which exemplify the Main Street movement across the country. Click here for more information.
June 17-22 Association for Gravestone Studies 2014 Annual Conference, Franklin, IN. More information will be on this website in March 2014.
July 16-20 National Alliance of Preservation Commissions Forum, Philadelphia, PA. This biannual gathering of local historic preservation commissions and boards of architectural review members and staff is the largest of its kind in the country. For more information and to sign up for updates about the event go to this page.
September 18-20 Slave Dwelling Project 2014 Conference, "Preserving Our Sacred Spaces," Savannah, GA. See this page for more information.
November 11-14 National Preservation Conference, Savannah, GA. See this page for more information.
The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC) is requesting proposals for Forum 2016 Forum is the only national conference focused around the needs and issues of historic preservation commissions and commission staff. It is an interactive conference that blends traditional educational sessions, discussion panels, mobile workshops, and tours to provide participants with essential training and networking opportunities. Forum is held every other year in interesting destination cities and brings local commission members from across the country together with representatives from local, state and national organizations, governments, and federal agencies. Forum 2014 will be held in Philadelphia, PA, July 16-20 (see above). The 2016 RFP can be found on the NAPC website at this page. Please contact Paul Trudeau, NAPC Program Director, at ptrudeau@uga.edu with any questions.
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Announces 2014 Training Courses ACHP staff instructors will offer Section 106 training in six cities next year. These interactive courses feature practical guidance and opportunities to apply learning in case-based exercises.
The Section 106 Essentials covers the fundamentals needed to carry out or participate in a federal historic preservation review. A case study and small group exercises provide opportunities for participants to apply the ACHP's regulations to real-life scenarios.
The Advanced Seminar is a one-day course focused on the effective management of complex or controversial undertakings. Experienced Section 106 practitioners will improve their consultation and agreement drafting skills by sharing ideas and working through problem-solving exercises in a smaller class setting.
Visit this page for registration details and pricing. Please contact Cindy Bienvenue at cbienvenue@achp.gov if you have any questions.
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Recent National Register Listings
Dennis, William, Pottery Kiln and House Site (Randolph County), Archaeology, listed 1/22/14
Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (Orange County), completed by H. Slane, approved 1/22/14 (no boundary changes)
Durham Hosiery Mills Dye House (Durham County), completed by Gary Kueber and Eddie Bellk, listed 1/22/14
The Durham Hosiery Mills Dye House is historically important as an integral part of the Durham Hosiery Mills Corporation's operations headquartered in Durham. Built in 1920-1921, the building served as a dyeing facility for mills that were part of the largest cotton hosiery manufacturing company in the United States by the early 1920s. The company owned 15 mills by that time and it is likely that this dye house served two nearby mills without dye houses-in Carrboro and in Mebane-in addition to the company's mills in Durham.
Oakdale Cemetery (Henderson County), completed by J. Harpe, listed 2/05/14
Established in 1885, the 22-acre Oakdale Cemetery, which includes memorials to veterans of both World Wars as well as a paupers' cemetery, is locally significant in the areas of social history and African American heritage for its representation of Hendersonville's diverse population. The cemetery is also significant for its collection of funerary art. Expanded in 1913, 1943, 1938, and 1950, the cemetery has a period of significance from 1885 to 1960.
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Rehabilitation and Tax Credit Project Highlights
Durham County, Durham, Y. E. Smith School
The 2012-2013 rehabilitation of the 1910 Y. E. Smith School in the East Durham Historic District resulted in the long-vacant building being reused as a new facility for an established school-the Maureen Joy Charter School, which school serves kindergarten through eighth grade. The project was spurred by the use of the federal and state historic income-producing tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $7,260,000.
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Y. E. Smith School before and after rehabilitation
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Gaston County, Gastonia, City Hospital-Gaston Memorial Hospital
The 1924-1957 City Hospital-Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia was rehabilitated 2012-2013 for use as affordable housing with 75 apartments and amenities. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $9,656,000.
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City Hospital-Gaston Memorial Hospital before and after rehabilitation
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New Hanover County, Wilmington, Robert Taylor House
The ca. 1911 Robert Taylor House in the Wilmington Historic District was rehabilitated 2011-2012 for continued rental residential use as two apartments. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $60,000.
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Robert Taylor House before and after rehabilitation
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Wake County, Raleigh, Gethsemane Seventh Day Adventist Church
The 1920 Gethsemane Seventh Day Adventist Church in the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District has been mostly vacant since 2005 and was severely damaged by the April 2011 tornado. With the incentives of the federal and state historic preservation tax credits for income-producing property, the downtown church building was rehabilitated in 2012-2013 for commercial use with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $130,000.
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Gethsemane Seventh Day Adventist Church before and
after structural and interior rehabilitation
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Crabtree Jones House Has Been Moved
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HPO's Jennifer Cathey Assists with Ruth School Adaptive Reuse Plan
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Ruth School, Rutherford County, then and now. Documentary photo courtesy of rccatalyst.com
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Jennifer Cathey, Restoration Specialist in the HPO's Asheville office worked with the NCDOT, Rutherford County, and the Isothermal Planning District Commission to create an adaptive reuse plan for the Ruth School. Located in Rutherford County, the school opened in the fall of 1928 and served students in kindergarten through eighth grade until its closure in 2005. The main building contains classrooms and a large auditorium, and the 1951 building a cafeteria and classrooms. A gymnasium was constructed to the west of the classroom buildings in 1960. Click here for the reuse plan.
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Genealogists are finding our GIS mapping website, HPOWEB, helpful. Click here to read why, according to the National Genealogical Society.
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Stephen Decatur Memorial Wallpaper Discovered in Salisbury House
While researching the 1820 Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House in Salisbury, the Historic Salisbury Foundation discovered wallpaper that memorializes Stephen Decatur (the commodore who once lived at Decatur House on Lafayette Square, now home to The White House Historical Association).
 | | Stephen Decatur memorial wallpaper in the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House. Courtesy of the National Trust's Facebook page |
Historic Salisbury's executive director, Brian Davis, shared, "The vibrant Prussian Blue block print wallpaper ... features two ships in battle and has a broken column with a cartouche of Decatur and his name on the base of the column. Since Decatur was killed in a duel in March 1820 and the house was finished in December of that year, we feel this was a memorial paper."
Click here for more information about the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House.
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Archaeological Survey at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site
The last time a survey was completed of the Civil War-era Fort Anderson, today part of the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, was in 1865. Paul Shivers, a Project Manager from Highfill Infrastructure in Wilmington has been working on a hyper-detailed survey of the existing fortification of Fort Anderson since 2012, using much less primitive techniques than those available 150 years ago. Click here to learn more about the ongoing project.
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State Archives Adds Rosenwald Schools Papers to Its Digital Collections
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Morrison Grove School near Hamlet, Richmond County, shortly after construction in 1925. Photo courtesy N. C. State Archives, African American Education Collection
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The State Archives has recently added a variety of papers associated with Rosenwald schools to its African American Education Collection housed online. The ready availability of this material enhances efforts led by the State Historic Preservation Office to document and preserve North Carolina's remaining Rosenwald schools.
The Rosenwald rural school building program was a major effort to improve the quality of public education for African Americans in the early 20th century South. At the program's conclusion in 1932, it had produced thousands of new schools in addition to hundreds of teachers' homes and shop buildings at a total cost of nearly $28.5 million. These buildings served more than 650,000 students in 883 counties of 15 states. North Carolina, under the leadership of Nathan Carter Newbold, the state's Director of African American Education, had the highest number of these schools, with 813 out of the 5,357 Rosenwald buildings erected in the South. The papers digitized and recently made available online by the Archives largely consist of correspondence relating to the planning and construction of those buildings, as well as a few dozen photographs. Check out the new papers online here.
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Rosenwald Schools Continue to Get Media Coverage
A recent article in Roanoke Rapids' Daily Herald on the Allen Grove School in Halifax County is part of a positive trend in the media coverage of Rosenwald schools, simultaneously reflecting and helping to spread awareness of these iconic buildings. Click here for more information.
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 Applications for Several Grants Now Being Accepted
Applications for National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions are due May 1. These grants help small and mid-sized institutions-such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities-improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials. For complete details see this page. Program questions should be directed to NEH's Division of Preservation and Access at 202-606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov.
Also due May 1, 2014, are applications for several National Trust for Historic Preservation grants, including:
- Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors, awarding grants for the planning phases of interior restoration projects. Grants range from $2,500 to $10,000 and require a dollar-for-dollar match.
- Hart Family Fund for Small Towns, providing preservation planning and education grants to projects taking place in communities of fewer than 5,000 people. Grants range from $2,500 to $10,000 and require a dollar-for-dollar match.
- Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation, providing funding to deserving organizations demonstrating commitment to the protection of natural and cultural resources in the Mid-Atlantic region. Grants typically fall in the $1,000 to $2,000 range and no match is required.
If you have any questions, please contact the National Trust grants office at grants@savingplaces.org or 202-588-6277.
Online sources of other grant information:
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency have compiled a 44 page publication, Federal Resources for Sustainable Rural Communities, that lists programs, grants, and resources directed to rural communities. The publication is online here.
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Historic Preservation and the "Monuments Men"
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Out of Bounds notice. Courtesy of fold3.com
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The Smithsonian's Archive of American Art in Washington, DC, is opening a new exhibit entitled, "Monuments Men: On the Frontline to Save Europe's Art, 1942-1946." The "Monuments Men" are best known for their efforts to save artwork from the destruction of war and conquering armies, but did you know they also helped save entire buildings? The "Monuments Men" teams included architects and had the authority, through U. S. General Eisenhower to mark intact or damaged historic buildings with an "Out of Bounds / Off Limits" notice, forbidding removal of stone or other material, souvenir hunting, writing on the wall, or damage. Click here to view one of these notices.
One of the "Monuments Men," Denys P. "Peter" Myers, was an architectural historian with the National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey. See some the historical sites he documented when he worked for HABS in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection in The Library of Congress at http://goo.gl/AXf6PH.
Click here for more information about the Smithsonian exhibit.
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Study on Cost-Benefits of Reusing Department of Defense Buildings Released
 Last year, a study was issued entitled "Demonstrating the Environmental & Economic Cost-Benefits of Reusing DoD's Pre-World War II Buildings." This research was funded by the U. S. Department of Defense's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), which is responsible for identifying and demonstrating innovative and cost-effective technologies and methods that address the agency's high priority environmental requirements.
Among its conclusions, the study found that:
- Renovation of pre-World War II buildings can be cost effective compared to new construction on a life-cycle cost basis.
- Modernization of such buildings can achieve comparable levels of energy consumption as new construction at a LEED Silver level.
- On a life-cycle cost basis, pre-war buildings generate less total greenhouse gas emissions compared to new construction.
Such benefits can be negated, however, if antiterrorism/force protection and progressive collapse standards are applied in a rigid and prescriptive manner.
Click here for the report and here for the appendices.
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A Who's Who of Historic Preservation Organizations
The Huffington Post has created a basic primer of the major players in historic preservation and their roles, a Who's Who of Historic Preservation Organizations. Click here for the list.
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A Few Links for Education and Enjoyment
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