HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Minutes 082218 Attachment 1
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Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting Summary
August 22nd, 2018
Old Orange County Courthouse
106 W. King Street, Hillsborough
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MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Tom Loter, Art Menius,
MEMBERS ABSENT: Bob Ireland, Steve Peck
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: Paul Noe and Becky Paxton
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ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER
Chair Dickinson called the meeting to order at 6:33 pm. He recognized our prospective new
members Paul Noe and Becky Paxton.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: None
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for June 27, 2018 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to approve
the minutes, seconded by Loter; motion approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Property Evaluation Exercise: Harvey’s Chapel and Old Site and Cemetery:
Chair Dickinson provided an overview of the evaluation process and how this relates to
the HPC’s efforts to designate properties as local landmarks. Staff presented an overview
of the present-day Harvey’s Chapel, along with the historic cemetery and old church site
of Harvey’s Chapel, located above Crabtree Creek, adjacent to the boundaries of the
County’s Seven Mile Creek Preserve. This church was featured in the links from UNC
student Rachel Cotterman that were shared. The congregation purchased the land in the
1890s, then established a cemetery and built a small frame church there. The County
ceased maintaining the small dirt road leading there, forcing the congregation to abandon
this site and move to Dimmock’s Mill Road, where they built their present church in 1940.
There are perhaps 8-10 elderly members, so they are looking for a way to preserve their
history. They wish to deed the old site and cemetery to the county, and those parcels can
be added to the existing Seven Mile Creek Preserve property. At the old site there is the
outline of the old church foundation (28’ long by 16’ wide, with the foundation of some sort
of small front entry porch. There was evidence of perhaps 150 burials in the cemetery,
most without markers. Staff reviewed various old maps showing the church site and old
road network starting around 1906 and moving forward in time. Members and guests then
proceeded with the evaluation process for the three resources: the old church site, the old
cemetery, and the “new” church and cemetery. After much discussion, members provided
their scores, which averaged 59.3. By tradition, prospective landmarks must score at least
50 in the evaluation process to be considered eligible to participate in the program. Staff
noted that the county has obtained a bid from a local surveyor to perform the necessary
work to will proceed to have a landmark application prepared.
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b. UNC Campus archaeological discovery and 3-D model:
Loter provided an overview of the discovery of a 19th century stone lined well that was
discovered under the driveway of the Carolina Inn during a repaving project. He was
notified of the discovery by the Inn management because the Inn is on the National
Register. He brought in Dr. Steve Davis with the UNC Research Labs of Archaeology,
then coordinated with the Office of State Archaeology and the State Historic Preservation
Office. Members examined the remarkably detailed 3-D computer generated model of the
old well. Once the well was fully documented by Dr. Davis and his students, it was re-filled
and covered over again, so it is still preserved in-situ. It is now officially mapped.
c. Old Courthouse Square archaeology:
Staff explained that the project archaeologist, Deborah Joy with Legacy Research, Inc. in
Durham, completed the final report on the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) that her firm
did for the county on the Old Courthouse Square. Staff showed GPR images, old photos
and maps documenting the activities and buildings that stood on that site over time. The
county has budgeted for a major project to preserve the courthouse, along with research.
d. Membership:
Dickinson explained the process for appointment of new members. We hope to have one
additional applicant this fall to fill Bob Ireland’s expired position. He thanked Mr. Noe and
Ms. Paxton for their patience with the process. Letters of recommendation for both Noe
and Paxton have been presented to the BOCC for appointment at their Sept. 4th meeting.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Book project status:
Staff provided a brief update on the progress. Our editor/author Laura Phillips is working
hard on writing the property entries for the rural parts of the county. She is on schedule
and doing a nice job. Catherine Bishir has agreed to work on our project as our editorial
consultant. This is a great development. The Alliance will contract with her shortly.
b. Occaneechi Village project status:
The Alliance held another successful volunteer workday with the county on Saturday,
August 13, with approximately 15 volunteers showing up.
c. Wood artifacts on Stillhouse Creek:
Staff reported that the Office of State Archaeology was interested in these but was
assessing how the process should work given that these appear to be on federal property
(ie, the post office) and are therefore subject to various complex federal rules
d. Current landmark and National Register projects:
Staff is contracting with consultants for our current projects, the Schley Grange and the
Old Eno Quaker Burying Ground.
e. HPC web site improvements
Staff reported that the county is creating a completely new web site that is supposed to be
released in the next 1-2 months. We will be able to add content once this is up.
f. Other county project updates: None
g. Open Air Time for members to share information: None
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Loter moved to adjourn, seconded by Menius; meeting adjourned at
8:35 pm
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff