HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC meeting summary 04242024 Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
April 24th, 2024
Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough
MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Tom Loter, Art Menius, Cecelia Moore, Anne Whisnant
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck
GUESTS: None
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 6:34 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: None
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for February 28th, 2024:
Whisnant moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Moore; motion approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Landmark Evaluation Exercise: Morrow's Mill: Staff handed out a brief description of
Morrow's Mill, in Bingham Township on Cane Creek, then explained that the owners had
recently had to raise up the mill several feet as a result of serious flooding over the past
five years. The operators of the Cane Creek reservoir are now releasing more water as a
precaution in advance of heavy rainfall, which has been more of an issue in the last few
decades. These releases created short term flooding that raised water up to a couple of
feet into their living spaces. The present-day NC DOT bridge for the road creates a dam
effect during these heavy releases. Staff provided a detailed PowerPoint presentation
about the c.1878 mill and its history and significance as one of the county's two remaining
water-powered grist mills from the 19th century. Photos showed the mill site, its setting
near its intact stone dam, and the location of the still-extant mill race that leads from the
dam to the mill. A historic photo shows how the building itself hasn't actually changed in
its exterior form. It was purchased by Sample and Ina Forbus and converted into a
residence in 1938, at which time additional windows were installed, and the interior
finished out with colonial revival woodwork to create an attractive residence. Additional
photos showed how it looked in the 1960. SThe mill essentially has two periods of
significance, first as an important community milling center, then in the 1938-1960s
period, as the residence of a notable writer who was part of the group of professionals
(often attracted by UNC and Duke) into the area, who then purchased country residences
and adapted them to modern living. A proposed landmark boundary would include the
mill, the dam and the race but probably cut out the modern structures to the north.
Members then carried out the landmark evaluation exercise, with extensive discussion
about its architectural significance and overall physical integrity. The final total score,
averaged out of all five members present, was 57, which is above the minimum score of
50 points needed to potentially qualify for landmark status. Staff explained that the next
landmark evaluation will be one for the Neville Log House, along old 86 just south of New
1
Hope Church Road. This is an important example of the county's log history and worthy of
landmark status. Staff wants to reach out to the owners to see if they will entertain
landmark status with the goal of allowing the HPC and others to help fund the
preservation of the structure.
b. Strayhorn House National Register Project launch: members viewed a video
presentation of the unveiling of the recent Truth Plaque that was awarded for the
Strayhorn House in Carrboro, on Sept. 1, 2023. The house was built in 1879 for freed
enslaved farm workers Toney and Nellie Strayhorn. The house remains in the ownership
of the family, now Dolores Clark. Preservation Chapel Hill obtained a Covington
Foundation grant to fund structural repairs to the floor system and now wants to partner
with us on a National Register nomination. Members agreed that this is a project the HPC
should support. Staff will proceed to negotiate with Preservation Chapel Hill and a
prospective consultant to get this underway.
c. Potential for log building workshop at Davis Farm: staff reviewed our work on the
Davis Farm Cotton Gin and Barn, which we landmarked last year. We're interested in
helping do some sort of log restoration work on the barn as well as stabilize the leaning
cotton press. Dickinson explained his recent work to help the Eno River Association with
the restoration of their old log building from the 1930s, and also the Piper-Cox House at
the Eno River State Park. He explained that a log workshop will need to be broken up into
separate phases or components, so that each step can be demonstrated in an effective
manner, and that would allow participants to actually do something. Another approach is
to create a video using a sort of time-lapse technique, creating the videos in sequence
over several working sessions. So the challenge is going to be to figure out how to have
the attendees be able to participate in a meaningful way, to make it an effective workshop,
along the lines of our previous workshops at the Burwell School and the Norwood Law
Office. In our previous workshops the attendees expressed interest in attending multiple
workshops, so perhaps this could be handled by having several workshops over the
course of a couple of months. The other challenge is to find a source for good logs to use
for the rebuilding. This can be discussed at a subsequent meeting, after Todd and Peter
meet with the owners.
d. Field Trip Opportunities: Morrow's Mill is one option, along with the Faucette Mill
outside of Hillsborough, near Chatwood.
e. Membership update and review of roster: We're still looking for prospective new
members with strong backgrounds in history/historic preservation, archaeology, landscape
architecture or architecture. Dickinson indicated that Rob Golan expressed interest in
applying. Staff will follow up with him. Members should be on the lookout for potential
applicants. One suggestion was the current landscape architect at UNC, who lives near
the Belleview mill complex in Hillsborough. Another archaeologist might be a good
candidate, perhaps Anna Agbe-Davies at UNC. Please share any prospects for staff
follow up. Staff will likewise scout for applicants.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Historic Hillsborough Excursion Event: Dickinson added this topic to report on the
upcoming historic excursion day on May 18t", sponsored by the Alliance and other local
historic sites. Tours of Ayr Mount, the Burwell School, He'll be stationed at the Dickson
House as a tour guide to explain his role in the restoration.
b. Report back on the review of outside agency grants with County Manager: Staff
reported on the outcome of the zoom meeting held by the manager to allow each agency
to make a pitch to present their applications. These were informative and helpful. Staff
was able to ask the director of the Museum about their financial sustainability plans; she
acknowledged the issues and said the board was actively engaged in addressing this
problem. We won't know any details about the grant awards until the county budget is
approved in June.
2
c. Henry Calvin Andrews House easement: Staff made a site visit with Chris Hirni (county
land conservation manager) to meet with the owner and tour the site. It's in a beautiful
wooded setting, now clearly a much overgrown former farmstead. The log house and two
log outbuildings are being proposed for this easement project. Staff will be following up to
develop easement language and will share back with members at a future meeting. There
may be a opportunity to partner with Preservation NC on this effort.
d. County Land Use Plan 2050 and HPC input: In the interest of time, staff suggested
postponing this presentation until the following meeting.
e. Book Project update: Staff met with the book design team at BW&A Books, who gave
lots of valuable input about how their process works and what we needed to do to get all
of our materials ready for them to use. Based on their input, we are looking into hiring a
book production expert, Dan Pezzoni, to help with the entire pre-production process and is
available soon. He's done similar work for at least 14 other books produced by other
counties and towns in NC. Staff will be working on making all this happen quickly to meet
the design team's schedule.
f. Open air time: No information was shared in the interest of time.
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Whisnant moved to adjourn 8:22 pm.
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff
3