Agenda - 09-05-2023; 8-a - Minutes

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26 1 expand, they found that the corner of the church would have been on what is assumed to be 2 two unmarked slave graves and because of that, they agreed with the church in Hillsborough to 3 provide a place and a dedication and marker for the unknown graves. He said those were 4 moved and reburied to Little River. 5 Commissioner Fowler thanked Peter Sandbeck for the history of the landmarks. 6 7 A motion was made by Art Menius, Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, 8 seconded by Commissioner Richards, to open the joint public hearing. 9 10 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 11 12 PUBLIC COMMENT: 13 Paul Kleever and his wife Sally Freeman said that John Wesley Thompson was one of 14 the builders of Harvey's Chapel. He said that he, his wife, and their neighbors live on land that 15 was owned by John Wesley Thompson. He said they are members of the Eno Friends Meeting 16 of Hillsborough. He said that their name is from the historic Eno Friends. He said that they are 17 privileged to be part of the legacy of the community of Harvey's Chapel, and they speak in 18 endorsement on behalf of their neighbors. 19 John Bell said there has been an effort for over twenty years to document the cemetery. 20 He said it does not have an owner or access, except through a neighboring property. He said 21 without proof of ownership, the Chapel Hill Society of Friends, felt that the landmarking process 22 was the best way to preserve the property. 23 Frank Alford said his mother is a part owner of the 700-acre Crutchfield property that 24 adjoins and surrounds the original church site. He said he was curious how landmark status will 25 affect his mother's property. 26 Peter Sandbeck said that landmark status will not affect neighboring properties. He said 27 that the goal of the designation is to preserve the status quo. He said it will not injure the 28 surrounding land. 29 Frank Alford asked if the church is still the owner of the land and that the family story is 30 that part of their land was given for the church. 31 Peter Sandbeck said the church is still the owner and there is a deed from 1892 where it 32 was conveyed. 33 Vice-Chair McKee said it mentions in the information packet that the Quaker burial 34 ground was leased. 35 Peter Sandbeck said that is the problem and there was no deed. He said that no one 36 was keeping track of all of property deeds. He said that Harvey's Chapel cemetery is one 37 example of hundreds of cemeteries in the county that are not maintained. He said ultimately 38 there needs to be a mechanism of ownership and that creating a landmark is one step to that. 39 He said they have discussed creating a trust to maintain the cemetery. 40 Commissioner Greene said the commission had mentioned using ground penetrating 41 radar to mark graves and that could be something at Little River as well. 42 Peter Sandbeck said that the Town of Hillsborough had used the technology in the old 43 town cemetery to identify burials and they found a couple dozen graves. He said that is a great 44 tool for places like that. 45 Vice-Chair McKee said he was glad to hear mention of the other possibly hundreds of 46 cemeteries. He said that two of the farms that he has leased for years have family plots on 47 therm. He said that in 50 years of leasing them, he only had one instance where a family 48 member came to try and track it down. 49 Peter Sandbeck said that outside of Hillsborough, Governor Burke is buried next to 50 Latta's Egg Ranch and to access it, you have to go through a cow pasture that is privately 51 owned. He said they let you do that, but access is an issue for many burial sites.