HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC meeting summary 06222022 Corrected
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Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
June 22nd, 2022
Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough
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MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Loter, Cecelia Moore, Paul Noe, Steve Peck
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: Todd Dickinson, Art Menius
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AG ENDA: None
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for March 23, 2022 (Attachment 1): Moore moved to
approve the minutes; seconded by Noe; motion approved.
ITEM #4: TEMS FOR DECISION:
a. Ridge Road School: approval for staff to proceed to hire a consultant for the
National Register Nomination Process: Staff provided an overview of the historical and
architectural significance of the school and shared a PowerPoint with exterior and interior
photos. Research indicates it was built sometime in 1932, after the Board of Ed voted on
May 30 of that year to approve an amount of $500 as their contribution toward the building
of the school, as noted in those meeting minutes: “Delegates from the Sunnyside district,
colored, and the Ridge Road district, colored, appeared before the board in the interest of
their new building. Both districts agreed to furnish some rough lumber, labor, and hauling.
The Board promised the people that it would build these houses….” The building
possesses a great deal of architectural integrity, retaining its original siding, doors, coat
rooms, and foundations, along with beaded board walls and ceilings on the interior. The
original moveable panel still remains in place in the internal partition walls that separates
the two classrooms. Some early or original school furnishings still remain inside. The large
original wood windows were replaced with smaller wood windows, probably in the 1950s
or 1960s but the original window size is clearly shown by the patched areas of the siding.
The building and site are owned by the Jones Grove Baptist Church, which dates back to
1926 on the adjoining lot. According to oral tradition, this school was built on or near the
site of an older Black school that was in poor condition. Members discussed the story of
the church and expressed their support. At this stage, the church congregation does not
wish to propose this for a landmark, due to the requirement for HPC review of any
proposed work. Peck moved to direct staff to proceed with the National Register project,
seconded by Moore. Discussion followed and motion approved.
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Oaks Community Rural Historic District Project—next steps: Staff would like to get a
sense of the feeling of the HPC as to their interest in moving this project forward as a
potential National Register Rural Historic District. Staff shared a map showing the
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proposed district, as developed by the SHPO staff after we carried out our initial county-
wide architectural inventory in 1992. Members discussed those boundaries and the
inclusion of the sites visited during our field trip, including extending the district to include
the historic roadbed and mill site. It may be possible to extend the boundary to the north
along Mebane-Oaks Road depending on the integrity of the historic resources there. It
may be necessary to adjust the eastern boundary to pull out the Pluck Farm land given
the level of new construction there. Staff noted that the great range of resources, from the
archaeological sites to the road to the various standing structures that date from the late
18th century up to the 1922 church. As of this time, we don’t have a good understanding of
the presence of any resources with ties to the African American community—this is
something the folks in Oaks are reviewing now. Moore discussed her research on the
Mary’s Grove Church and the Black community that lived and worked around that church,
but that is a bit farther north in Alamance County. Outstanding questions include: what is
the real level of community support for this project, and what will the current SHPO staff
think about this as a proposed project? Discussion followed about next steps, including
getting pricing from consultants, getting SHPO staff to visit, and having further discussions
about how this will be funding. The future of the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church is also an
issue too—staff needs to follow up with church members to see what has happened.
b. Ideas for Identifying and preserving slave cemeteries: Staff provided a PowerPoint
presentation to give members an overview of the ongoing question of how to preserve and
protect these fragile historic resources. The county learned a great deal from our work on
the project to preserve the Strayhorn Slave Cemetery out at Blackwood Farm Park, where
we conducted archaeology to map out all the burials. The mapping revealed clear family
groupings and showed numerous youth burials as well as adults. Other cemeteries were
discussed, including the Stadler’s Slave cemetery up on 86 north, the Johnston Slave
Cemetery, the Harvey Clark cemetery at the Durham Tech property, the one at the
original site of Harvey’s Chapel on Crabtree Creek, and another up in the northeast corner
of the county. Looking ahead, there seems to be a responsibility for the HPC to take steps
to help identify and protect these endangered sites and to develop a process for
protection, for example, permanent markers, fences and interpretive signs. Only a small
percentage of these resources have been mapped. In many cases, these are burial
grounds for both slaves and then free blacks, often with burials continuing well into the
20th century. This can be an asset to current efforts by Black descendants seeking to
locate their ancestors. Some BOCC members are very interested in this topic. This will be
an ongoing discussion.
c. Summer Meeting Schedule: Staff noted that most years, the HPC agrees to take one
month off each summer. Members discussed options and agreed to cancel the July
meeting. Our next meeting will be August 24th.
d. Membership: Staff has been discussing HPC membership with several qualified
candidates and has some positive leads. With luck, we will be able to enlist a new
member this fall to replace Susan Ballard.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Book Project: Author Laura Phillips is now working on editing her initial drafts of the
architectural and historical essays, after Catherine Bishir looked at them and directed her
to create better introductory paragraphs. Then she will go back over all the entries and
edit those as her final phase of work.
b. Annual Report and Work Plan feedback from the BOCC: Menius and staff attended
the work session and received positive feedback on the book project and the cemetery
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study. There is also interest in our proposed marker program, so we will need to
reconvene our marker subcommittee to move this forward.
c. Open air time: No items to report.
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ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:43 pm.
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff