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5 <br />SCOPE OF WORK <br />Cultural and Archaeological Survey <br />Blackwood Farm <br />Orange County, NC <br />I. Proiect Background <br />Orange County owns a 152 -acre property (the former "Blackwood farm ") that is being <br />planned for future use as a public park. The property is located midway between <br />Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, near the intersection of NC 86 and New Hope Church <br />Road, and just east of Interstate 40 (Exit 263), (See vicinity map). <br />The property is surrounded by a combination of undeveloped and rural residential <br />properties.. It is bounded to the east by NC 86 (New Hope Elementary School is <br />across the road), to the south by a 16 -acre undeveloped property (Strayhorn) and <br />New Hope Church Road, to the west by a 50 -acre forested tract (Keenan- Ritchey) <br />and Interstate 40, and to the north by eight wooded residential lots. A 1998 <br />orthophoto of the property is provided as Map 1, <br />The former farm was in the Blackwood family from 1906 until Orange County <br />purchased the site in 2001, Prior owners included the Strayhorn family who also <br />farmed the land over a long period beginning in late 1700s. Preliminary deed <br />research has been completed for the property, and will be available for this project. <br />Most of the original farm is intact; the old farmhouse, (ca. 1827 with later additions), <br />and supporting outbuildings are surrounded by agricultural fields and mature <br />woodlands in a highly scenic rural setting. Some of the setting was compromised by <br />the construction of nearby 1 -40 in 1988. Structures on the property are clustered <br />around the farmhouse located at the west end of the driveway entrance from NC 86, <br />They include a large barn, smokehouse, milk house, milking parlor, chicken house, <br />corncrib, and garage', <br />The Blackwoods operated a dairy and sold their dairy products and vegetables in <br />Durham (taking their wagon door -to door). Traces of an old roadway runs by the <br />front of the house and through the property, which was once a principle north -south <br />road between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. The property also includes an <br />overgrown cemetery, which recent members of the Blackwood family believe had <br />been for slaves who worked on the farm, Orange County ERCD has gathered a <br />good deal of information about the Blackwood Farm from various sources, including <br />farm records, deed research, old maps and aerial photos, and oral histories by the <br />UNC Southern Oral History Program. Much of this information will be available to the <br />Contractor and useful for site interpretation once the park is open to the public. <br />i Since acquisition of the Blackwood Farm in 2001, the County has taken several actions to care for <br />the property in the areas of building maintenance /improvements, grounds keeping, and security <br />2 <br />