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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 01-24-2013 - 4g1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: January 24, 2013 Action Agenda Item No. 4 -g SUBJECT: Captain John S. Pope Farm National Register Nomination DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No and Recreation (DEAPR) ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: 1) Vicinity Map Rich Shaw, 245 -2514 2) Letter from State Historic Preservation Peter Sandbeck, 245 -2517 Office 3) Elected Official Comment Letter 4) Public Hearing Notice 5) National Register Nomination (excerpt) 6) Photos of the Pope Farm PURPOSE: To consider the Orange County Historic Preservation Commission's recommendation that the Captain John S. Pope Farm be submitted for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. BACKGROUND: The National Register process requires that the Board of County Commissioners offer an opinion recommending for or against the listing of a particular property within its jurisdiction. The owner of the subject farm, Robert Pope, initiated the National Register Nomination for his property to provide this honorary designation as part of his long- term effort to protect and preserve this historic agricultural property. The process has been undertaken in consultation with the Historic Preservation Commission, which endorses this Nomination. A vicinity map of the property is provided as Attachment #1. On December 14, 2012, DEAPR's historic preservation staff received a letter from the State Historic Preservation Officer (Attachment #2) enclosing a National Register Nomination for the Captain John S. Pope Farm, located in the Cedar Grove community. An excerpt of the Nomination is provided (Attachment #5) along with photographs (Attachment #6). As a Certified Local Government (CLG), Orange County has sixty (60) days from the date of submission of a National Register nomination to make comments on the proposal. If the County does not comment on the proposed nomination by February 14, 2013, the County's approval is assumed. (The County's status as a CLG allows it to apply for and receive federal grant funds through the State Historic Preservation Office for local historic preservation projects.) In accordance with CLG guidelines, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) is required to provide an opportunity for public comment during the 60 -day period. To meet this requirement, the HPC will hold a public hearing at its regular meeting on January 23, 2013. A Notice of Public Hearing was published in accordance with the Historic Preservation Ordinance and letters of notification were sent to all property owners within 500 feet of the subject property. (Attachment #4) The National Register of Historic Places was created through the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic and archaeological resources. The program offers honorary status to historic properties through a formal designation process. Listing on the National Register also entitles owners to apply for state and federal tax credits available upon completion of qualified restoration and rehabilitation work. Eligibility for the National Register is determined by a thorough evaluation of the historic qualities and significance of the site, structure, or area. National Register nominations are evaluated based on the following criteria: A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant to our past; C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, method of construction or represent the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction; D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield information important in prehistory or history. The Captain John S. Pope Farm is being nominated to the National Register under Criteria A for its association with agriculture, and Criteria C for its distinctive architecture. The Pope Farm is one of the best - preserved historic agricultural complexes still surviving in northern Orange County, exemplifying a mid -sized tobacco farm of the type that prospered here from the late 19th century until the 1960s. The farm complex consists of the original two -story farmhouse, built 1870 -74 for Captain John S. Pope, and twenty outbuildings dating from the 1870s to the 1960s. The farm has remained in continuous operation by the Pope family and retains the original property acreage as well as the historic pattern of fields and forests. The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) has already endorsed the concept of the proposed National Register Nomination of the Captain John S. Pope Farm and will vote formally to support the nomination at its regular meeting on January 23, 2013. The HPC is also considering an application for this same farm to be designated a local historic landmark through Orange County's Local Landmark Program. If the HPC determines that the property is eligible for designation, it will make such a recommendation to the BOCC at a future meeting. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with the National Register nomination. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board, based on the findings of the Orange County Historic Preservation Commission, recommend approval of the National Register Nomination of the Captain John S. Pope Farm and authorize the Chair to sign the Elected Official Comment Letter (Attachment 3). Captain John S. Pope Farm - 6909 Efland -Cedar Grove Road National Register Candidate Vicinity Map N w . E 0 0.4 0.8 1.6 Miles 5 Pope Farm Streets I . I . I Reservoirs & lakes Parcel boundary Map prepared by IT /GIS Division M Jones <OC220K O: \gishome \gisproj Major streams Municipal boundary \land_ resource \HistPres2.mxd> 12/28/2012 Attachment 2 4 �T+s STATp q, �Qj� pnr m.�m /lye (�pb1 VjCYU auw vacs' North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources State Historic Preservation Office Ramona M. Bartos, Administrator Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor Office of Archives and History Linda A. Carlisle, Secretary Division of H storical Resources Kevin Cherry, Deputy Secretary David Brook, Director December 13, 2012 Mr. Peter Sandbeck Orange County Historic Preservation Commission P O Box 8181 Hillsborough NC 27278 RE: Captain John S. Pope Farm, Cedar Grove vicinity, Orange County Dear Mr. Sandbeck: Enclosed is a copy of the nomination for the Captain John S. Pope Farm, which is scheduled for presentation to the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee on February 14, 2013. A copy of the notification letter sent to the property owner is enclosed for your information. As a Certified Local Government, you normally have sixty (60) days in which to comment on the proposed nomination. If you do not respond by February 14, 2013 on the proposed nomination, approval of it will be assumed. Please note that Orange County is to provide an opportunity for public comment on this nomination according to the terms specified in the certification agreement the County signed with this office. A copy of your notice to the public should be forwarded to our office along with any comments you wish to make on the nomination to satisfy federal and state requirements. Please use the enclosed comment forms to send us your response. If you have any questions concerning this nomination, we will be happy to help. Sincerely, e � � Kevin Cherry State Historic Preservation Officer KC /jct: Enclosures cc: The Honorable Barry Jacobs, Chair, Board of County Commissioners Location: 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh NC 27601 Mailing Address: 4617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699 -4617 Telephone /Fax: (919) 807 - 6570/807 -6599 ATTACHMENT #3: Pope Farm National Register Nomination Recommended Text for Elected Official Comment Letter for Pope Farm National Register Nomination (to he copied onto BOCC letterhead) January 24, 2013 Ms. Ann Swallow National Register Coordinator State Historic Preservation Office Office of Archives and History Department of Cultural Resources 4617 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699 -4617 RE: Captain John S. Pope Farm, Cedar Grove vicinity, Orange County Dear Ms. Swallow: This is to inform you that the Orange County Board of Commissioners have reviewed the National Register nomination for the Captain John S. Pope Farm and find that the property meets the criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as stated in Section 8 of the nomination report. We therefore recommend that the property be submitted for listing in the Register. Sincerely, Barry Jacobs, Chair cc: Mr. Robert Pope 608 Polk Street Raleigh, NC 27604 Attachment 4 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OF ORANGE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA Pursuant to the requirements of the Certification Agreement for Local Governments between Orange County and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History, State Historic Preservation Office and in accordance with Article 4.3 of the Ordinance Creating the Orange County Historic Preservation Commission, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held before the Orange County Historic Preservation Commission in Conference Room A200, 306 Revere Road, Hillsborough, North Carolina, on Wednesday, January 23, at 7:00 p.m. to receive citizen comment on the following nomination to the National Register of Historic Places: Captain John S. Pope Farm, 6909 Efland -Cedar Grove Road, Cedar Grove Township (PIN: 9849 -82 -8366) The Pope Farm is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under two criteria: Criteria A —the property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history, and Criteria C —it embodies distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction. The Pope Farm is one of the best - preserved historic agricultural complexes still surviving in northern Orange County, exemplifying a mid -sized tobacco farm of the type that prospered from the late 19`h century until the 1960s. The complex consists of the original two -story farmhouse built 1870 -74 for Captain John S. Pope, along with twenty outbuildings dating from the 1870s to the 1960s. The original acreage of the farm has remained in continuous operation by the Pope family. The National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list of buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts worthy of preservation for their significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. The listing of a property in the National Register places no obligation or restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter the property. All interested citizens are invited to attend the public hearing and be heard. Questions regarding the meeting may be directed to the Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation located at 306 Revere Road, Hillsborough, North Carolina. Office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. You may also call 245 -2517 for more information. Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Specialist January 9, 2013 NPS Form 10 -900 OMB No. 10024-0018 (Oct. 1990) Attachment 5 7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N /A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10- 900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name Pope, Captain John S., Farm other names /site number 2. Location Street & number 6909 Efland -Cedar Grove Road city or town Cedar Grove State North Carolina N/A ❑ not for publication ® vicinity code NC county Orange code 135 zip code 27231 3. State /Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this ® nominatior ❑ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set for in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ❑ meets ❑ does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant ❑ nationally ❑ statewide ® locally. (See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property ❑ meets ❑ does not meet the National Register criteria. (❑ See Continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that the property is: ❑ entered in the National Register. ❑ See continuation sheet ❑ determined eligible for the National Register. ❑ See continuation sheet ❑ .determined not eligible for the National Register. ❑ removed from the National Register. ❑ other (explain:) Signature of the Keeper Date of Action Pope, Captain John S., Farm Orange County North Carolina 8 Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources in count.) apply) ® private ® building(s) ❑ public -local ❑ district ❑ public -State ❑ site ❑ public - Federal ❑ structure ❑ object Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N /A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A Contributing Noncontributing 20 3 buildings 1 0 sites 1 1 structures 1 0 objects 23 4 Total Number of Contributing resources previously listed in the National Register N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) Domestic: single dwelling Domestic: single dwelling Domestic: secondary structure Domestic: secondary structure Agriculture /Subsistence: processing Agriculture /Subsistence: storage Agriculture /Subsistence: storage Agriculture /Subsistence: agricultural outbuilding Agriculture /Subsistence: agricultural outbuilding Agriculture /Subsistence: agricultural field Agriculture /Subsistence: agricultural field 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) Other:) -house foundation Stone walls Wood: weatherboard Wood: to roof Metal other Brick Asphalt Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Pope, Captain John S., Farm Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x° in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) ® A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. ❑ B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. ® C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. ❑ D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: ❑ A owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. ❑ B removed from its original location. ❑ C moved from its original location. ❑ D a cemetery. ❑ E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. ❑ F a commemorative property ❑ G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years. Orange County, North Carolina 9 County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) Agriculture Architecture Period of Significance c. 1870 -1963 Significant Dates Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked) N/A Cultural Affiliation N/A Architect/Builder unknown Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) 9. Major Bibliographical References Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): ❑ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ❑ previously listed in the National Register ❑ Previously determined eligible by the National Register ❑ designated a National Historic Landmark ❑ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey ❑ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Primary location of additional data: ® State Historic Preservation Office ❑ Other State Agency ❑ Federal Agency ❑ Local Government ❑ University ❑ Other Name of repository: Pope, Captain John S., Farm Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property 73.05 acres UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) 17 664580 4007540 Zone Fasting Northing 17 665220 4007540 Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By Name /title Heather M. Waqner organization hmwPreservation Street & number P. O. Box 355 city or town Durham Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Orange County, North Carolina 10 County and State 3 17 665220 Zone Easting 4 17 665580 ® See continuation sheet _ date August 1 2012 telephone 336.207.1502 state NC zip code 27702 Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items.) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) Name Robert P Street & number 608 Polk Street city or town Raleigh state NC 4007130 Northing 4007130 telephone 919.621.1150 zip code 27604 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listing. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P. 0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013 -7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024- 0018), Washington, DC 20303. NPS FORM 10 -900 -A (8 -86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 10 Section 8: Statement of Significance Narrative Statement of Significance: Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina OMB ApprovIl lo. 1024 -0018 The Captain John S. Pope Farm meets National Register Criterion A for agriculture for its role in the history of tobacco farming in Orange County. The farm is a well - preserved example of a mid -sized tobacco farm, typical of those that existed throughout northern Orange County in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The farm has remained in continuous operation by the Pope family since at least 1870 and retains the 1874 acreage as well as its historic arrangement of fields and forests. The property also meets National Register Criterion C for architecture. The two- story, triple -A- roofed I -house is one of the earliest extant and most intact examples of this rural house form, which was found throughout Orange County in the mid- to late nineteenth century. The property retains one of the largest collections of agricultural outbuildings in Orange County with buildings dating from c.1870 -1874 through 2008, illustrating typical rural North Carolina building practices of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The house and its collection of twenty contributing outbuildings illustrate the property's continued use as a tobacco farm from the 1870s through the early 1960s. The locally significant Captain John S. Pope Farm remains one of the best - preserved rural complexes in northern Orange County with a period of significance extending from c.1870 to 1963, during which the complex achieved its current appearance. The house was constructed c.1870 -1874 and the majority of contributing buildings were erected from c.1870 -1880, 1900 -1930, and 1945 -1960. While the property remained in continuous operation as a tobacco farm into the twenty -first century, there is no basis for a claim of exceptional significance for the later use of the farm and for those buildings less than fifty years old. History of the Captain John S. Pope Farm The 73.05 -acre Captain John S. Pope Farm is a portion of the larger John Alphonse McDade (1807- 1869) farm in northwest Orange County. McDade acquired the land in 1806 and lived nearby, but it is not known if he farmed the 73 -acre tract. McDade had five children before his wife Nancy M. Woods McDade's death in 1845. At the time of her death their youngest daughter, Josephine, was only two years old and may have left the farm to live with other family. By 1850, the federal census lists McDade as a farmer in the "Northwest Division" of Orange County with the oldest four of the couple's five children still living on the farm: John M. (1831- 1893), William Woods (1833 - 1862), Mary Jane (1835 - 1917), and Henry Lee (1838 - 1913). 12 NPS FORM 10 -900 -A OMB Approval No. 1024 -0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 11 Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina On May 8, 1859, Mary Jane McDade married John Saunders Pope. Born in 1836, Pope was the sixth child of Thomas P. and Mary Wheeley Pope, also listed as farmers in the Northwest Division of Orange County in the 1850 federal census. Shortly after their marriage, on October 6, 1861, Pope enlisted as a private with the North Carolina 31St Infantry Regiment and fought in the Civil War. He had reached the rank of captain when he mustered out of the military on April 26th, 1865, after the surrender at Bennett Place in Durham. Family legend holds that John and Mary Jane Pope began construction of their house shortly after their wedding on land given them by her father, but the construction was interrupted by the war. When John left for the war, Mary was seven months pregnant; she lived nearby with her father for the duration of the war. The couple legally acquired the land in 1869 when, after his death, John Alphonse McDade's 183 -acre tract of land was divided among his five children with each child receiving approximately 36.6 acres.' The house was likely still incomplete in 1870, as the federal census lists John S. Pope as a farm laborer living with Mary and their two eldest children (Thomas and Josephine) in Heightown Township, near Prospect Hill, in Caswell County. Mary's grandfather, William Woods, lived in the Corbett community just west of Prospect Hill and the family was likely living with him until the house on Efland -Cedar Grove Road was completed. The house was likely complete by 1874. That same year, Mary's brother Henry Lee McDade transferred his inherited portion of the land to Mary to create an approximately 72.8 -acre tract .z By 1880, the federal census lists John S. Pope as a farmer in Cedar Grove Township in Orange County. Pope is listed with his wife, his three children (Thomas, Josephine, and Carl), and an unrelated African American servant, William Thompson, occupying the property. According to family legend, shortly after the construction of the house, Pope learned that the house had actually been constructed on the west property line, the front of the house resting on a narrow strip of land between the Pope property and Efland -Cedar Grove Road that was owned by David and Mary Wells. An 1879 deed records the transfer of one -half acre of land along Efland -Cedar Grove Road (then Hillsborough Road), and adjoining John Pope's tract, from Wells to Pope, confirming this belief and creating the distinctly- shaped 73.05 -acre parcel that remains today. Pope's youngest son, Carl McDade Pope, married Lindia Lee Harris in 1892 and the couple initially lived on a farm on nearby Lees Chapel Road. Captain John S. Pope died in June 1895 just after the birth of Carl and Lindia's second child. In the 1900 census, Mary Jane Pope was sharing the house with her son Carl, and his growing family, which included daughters Lottie May, Jodie Ruffin, and Mary Lee. Carl did not sell his property on Lees Chapel Road until 1904, when Mary Jane completed ' William Woods McDade and his wife Frances Murphey McDade both died of illness in 1862, leaving a son, William H. McDade, who was raised by his uncle Henry L. McDade, to whom his father's portion of the inheritance passed. 2 It is unclear from deeds whether this was Henry Lee McDade's portion or the portion passed to William H. McDade when he became of age. NPS FORM 10 -900 -A (8 -86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 12 Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina 13 OMB Approval No. 1024 -0018 her will leaving the farm to Carl. In 1909, Carl leased a portion of the farm from Mary Jane Pope "for the purposed of running a government distillery." In February 1910, Mary Jane Pope formally deeded the 73.05 -acre property, known as the John S. Pope Homeplace, to her son Carl McDade Pope. That same year, federal census records show Carl and Lindia and their seven children (Lottie, Jodie, Mary, John, Thelma, Lacy, and Inez) living on the property with Mary Jane Pope, then in her 70s. Mary Jane Pope died in 1917. Carl and Lindia raised a large family on the farm. Robert Harris Pope, the couple's youngest child was born in 1914, giving the couple a total of eight surviving children.3 Additionally, with the death of his older brother, Thomas, around 1914, Carl's four nephews also moved onto the farm. Carl, who owned a sawmill, was responsible for several alterations to the house including renovations around the turn of the twentieth century that included the replacement of the original Greek Revival -style front porch with a shed - roofed porch on turned posts with sawnwork details and the addition of a decorative front gable to give the house a Queen Anne -style exterior. At this time, Carl also erected an addition to the garage, which in the 1920s, housed a truck Carl had purchased to haul lumber to and from his sawmill. Carl McDade Pope died in 1927 and Lindia Lee Harris Pope remained in the house with her three sons running the farm. In the early 1930s, the current front porch and a small wing on the south side of the rear ell were erected by Carl's youngest child, Robert Harris Pope. Robert Pope married Janie Sue Hester in 1936, and they lived in the house, electrifying it in 1937, the same year his son, Robert Harris Pope Jr. was born. Water and plumbing were run to the house in 1943 -1944, relieving the need for heating water in the nearby washhouse. Shortly thereafter, a one -story wing was added to the north side of the rear ell. (Both rear wings were removed in stages from 2002 to 2007.) In 1947, Lindia Lee Harris Pope died and the house and farm went to auction, from which Jodie, John, and Robert Harris Pope acquired the property in 1948. Robert continued to farm the land and in 1952, purchased an additional 1.46 acres from the heirs of David Wells on which he constructed a tenant house with its own well house. By 1967, he had purchased an additional .75 acres from the Wells heirs, adjacent to the 1952 parcel, and erected a garage for the second home. By 1980, both John and Jodie had died and Robert Harris Pope took full ownership of the property. He farmed the land, raising tobacco, just as his father and grandfather had, until the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004. In 2006, Robert Pope deeded both the original 73.05 -acre tract and the 2.28 -acre tract that he had acquired in 1952 and 1967 to his son, Robert Harris Pope Jr. Robert Jr., the great- grandson of Captain John S. Pope, uses the land to pasture -graze meat lambs and proudly holds farm tours of the property and farm dinners in the house. He removed the wings added to the rear ell, constructed a new bathroom s Carl and Lindia Pope had a ninth child who died in infancy in 1908. NPS FORM 10 -900 -A (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 13 Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina 14 OMB Approval No. 1024 -0016 in a portion of the enclosed rear porch, and maintains the property and outbuildings so that they can be interpreted by tour - goers. The 1952 and 1967 additions to the property were combined into the main parcel, but are not included within the National Register boundary. Agricultural Context: Tobacco Farming in Orange County Agriculture has long played an important role in the history and economy of Orange County. The topography of the county is predominantly gently rolling hills and flatland with a combination of sand, silt, and clay soils over an underlying base of rock. The sandy loam, which provides the drainage necessary for tobacco farming, are located throughout the county, but larger concentrations of the soil are found in the northern part of the county, making tobacco farming more successful there. With the popularity of brightleaf tobacco in the years leading up to and following the Civil War, the economy of northern Orange County came to rely heavily on tobacco cultivation. The number of county farms tending the brightleaf soared from 10.8 percent to 40.7 percent from 1850 to 1860 and the quantity of tobacco grown rose five -fold, exceeding a million pounds.4 While wheat and corn continued to be grown in all parts of the county, by 1860 seventy -five percent of tobacco growth in the county occurred in its northern section.5 Tobacco remained the major cash crop in northern Orange County from the mid - nineteenth century through the early twenty -first century and was grown by small and large farmers alike. In 1850, three - quarters of the county's farms contained less than 100 acres, while just a handful had more than 500 acres. The average size of farms dropped from 285 acres to 198 acres between 1860 and 1870, in part because of the lack of slave labor to work the fields, and the value of farms fell by half during the same periods However, the expanding tobacco markets in nearby Durham made tobacco increasingly more profitable at the same time. The 1870 United States federal census listed tobacco production at 530,442 pounds (though those figures included Durham County, which was still a part of Orange County).' Like many mid -sized farms in northern Orange County, tobacco was the primary cash crop cultivated on the Captain John S. Pope Farm. It was a labor- intensive crop requiring leaves to be picked and strung by hand, so the Pope family employed a farm laborer as early as 1880, when the federal census lists an unrelated African American servant, William Thompson, living on the property with the family. A log building at the rear of the property housed the laborer, who likely took meals with the family and 4 Mattson, Richard L. "History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina," Unpublished manuscript. Hillsborough, NC: Orange County Planning and Development Department, 1996, pg. 20. 5 Carter, Jody, and Todd Peck. "Historic Resources of Orange County." Unpublished manuscript. Hillsborough, NC: Orange County Planning and Preservation Department, 1993. 6 Mattson, pg. 36. Lefler, Hugh. Orange County 1752 -1952. Chapel Hill: The Orange Printshop, 1953, pg. 122. NIPS FORM 10 -900 -A (8-80) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 14 Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina 15 OMB Approval No. 1024 -0018 used the small building only to sleep. The current owner remembers a farmhand living in the small log building as late as the late 1940s and the farm census records from 1925 and 1945 indicate that the cultivated acreage was worked not by the owner (C. M. Pope and later his widow), but by a tenant . 8 In 1930, sixty -five percent of the acreage in Orange County that was dedicated to tobacco was located in Cedar Grove Township.9 In addition to cultivating tobacco, the Pope family and its tenant farmers also planted grains and small quantities of vegetables and managed livestock. In 1925, twenty acres were dedicated to tobacco, ten acres to corn, and seven acres to soybeans for hay. Additionally, there was a small family garden, twenty -five laying hens, and three milk cows.10 The 1935 census indicates a similar distribution of cropland with nineteen acres of tobacco, ten acres of corn, four acres of wheat, and three acres of rye. Additionally, the family had thirty fruit trees, four workhorses or mules, and four milk cows." By 1945 the land use had shifted slightly with fourteen and a half acres of tobacco, seventeen acres of corn, and seven acres of hays, and the family had invested in poultry, selling 1000 broilers and fryers in 1945, and raised hogs and sheep on the land. 12 Orange County remained predominantly rural well into the twentieth century, even as areas to the east were more fully developed. As late as 1952, seventy percent of the 254,729 acres that make up Orange County were considered farmland, one -third of county residents lived on farms, and twenty percent of the workforce was employed in agriculture. 13 By the mid - twentieth century, the dominant farm size in Orange County was a small one. According to the 1950 United States federal census, there were 2,038 farms in Orange County and the average size was 87.9 acres. Eighty percent of farms contained between ten and 179 acres with those farms less than ten acres representing small vegetable patches and the farms larger than 180 acres utilizing mechanized farming practices. 14 However, the amount of acreage contained on a farm was not necessarily a direct correlation to the amount of harvested acres. In 1952, seventy- percent of Orange County was considered farmland, yet the total acreage in cultivation was only 48,958 acres. 15 In addition to harvested cropland, total farm acreage included pastured cropland, unharvested and unpastured cropland, open pasture, and 8 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1925, 1935, and 1945 Farm Census Reports, Orange County. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh. 9 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1930 Farm Census Report, County Summaries, Orange County. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh. 10 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1925 Farm Census Report, Orange County. 11 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1935 Farm Census Report, Orange County. 12 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1945 Farm Census Report, Orange County. 13 Lefler, pgs. 228 -229. 14 Lefler, pg. 231. 180 farms under 10 acres, 667 farms b/t 10 -49 acres, 557 farms b/t 50 -99 acres, and 405 farms b/t 100 -179 acres, 132 farms b/t 180 -259, 79 farms b/t 260 -499, and 18 farms over 500 acres. 15 Lefler, pg. 229. NPS FORM 10 -900 -A (8 -86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 15 Captain John S. Pope Farm Orange County, North Carolina 16 OMB Approval No. 1024 -0018 unpastured woodlands, which alone comprised forty -six percent of farmland. 16 Additionally, the production of tobacco, which required much hand labor and was grown on approximately one -half of the farms in Orange County, contributed to the relatively small number of harvested acres. Thus only about twenty percent of farmland was being actively cultivated and harvested in the mid - twentieth century. The historic landscape of the Captain John S. Pope Farm is typical of a mid -sized farm in Cedar Grove Township with field patterns dictated by the type of soil and changing little, if at all, in the early twentieth century and a majority of the land remaining wooded or undeveloped. Farm census records from 1925 indicate that only thirty-nine acres of the ninety -three acres held by Carl M. Pope (twenty acres were part of a non - contiguous parcel) were cultivated with fifteen acres cleared but not tilled and thirty-nine acres being "woods, waste, pasture, etc. "17 By 1935 and 1945, forty -four acres were in cultivation with thirty-nine acres remaining unimproved.18 Much of the unimproved land was located near the spring and its resulting stream, just south of where the farm road turns; this low -lying ground is not suitable for row crops and remained forested. Additionally, fields nearest the house were seasonally used as small garden plots but were used predominantly for the grazing of livestock. The fields at the north and east ends of the property were used to cultivate row crops, including tobacco, corn, and other grains based on the type of soil that dominated each field. The farm census records indicate little change in the number of acres dedicated to each crop and aerial photographs taken by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1938, 1955, 1966, and 1972 show little change to the field and forest pattern of the farm in the twentieth century. While the farm no longer cultivates row crops, the shift from cultivated fields to pasture has minimal visual impact on the landscape. Tobacco remained the prominent cash crop in Orange County through the early years of the twenty -first century. Four generations of the Pope family grew tobacco on the property from the 1870s through 2005. While the farm is no longer viable as a tobacco farm, the land remains in use, its open fields used to pasture -graze meat lambs for sale at local markets and restaurants. The family is proud to have the farm recognized as a Century Farm by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture for its continued agricultural use by a single family and is seeking a conservation easement to ensure its continued agricultural use. 16 Lefler, pg. 231. 17 Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1925 Farm Census Report, Orange County. " Department of Agriculture, Statistics Division. 1935 and 1945 Farm Census Reports, Orange County. Attachment 6 Captain John S. Pope Farm: overall view of farm (above) and 191h century log house (below), one of 20 historic outbuildings