HPC Meeting Summary 01242024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS a. Investigation of stone mounds at Blackwood Farm: Recently Judge Scarlett toured the burial ground for the enslaved at Blackwood Farm, and while there, noticed that there were several large stone mounds in that general vicinity, similar to the stone mounds that she's identified over the eastern part of the county that may be associated with the Indian population—those that the HPC toured last fall. She has asked that the county take positive steps to protect these. Staff plans to meet with her at the site to discuss her concerns and develop some general guidelines for how the county takes care of these in the future. Staff will arrange to meet her in the next week or two, with Noe joining. Some members expressed interest in joining so staff will share the date and report back. b. Screeninq of H. Lee Waters movies from 1930s: Staff explained that Waters was a well-known itinerant film maker who traveled through many small towns in NC to make movies of local people doing everyday tasks, and then showed these at local movie houses to promote attendance, in return for some payment, as a business model during the Depression. These focus on the communities around the Black high schools in both Chapel Hill (old Orange Co Training Institute) and Hillsborough (Central High School) and show a wealth of detail. His close-ups of typical people and students are warm and engaging, and clearly reflect his talent for generating interest and increased attendance. These are priceless documentaries now. c. Old Courthouse tour dates: Staff and members discussed possible dates in the upcoming two weeks. January 30th and February 7th looked promising but still one or two conflicts. Staff will request some additional dates later in February, from the 121h to the 161h, and let everyone know, in the interest of finding a date that works for all. ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS a. Presentation of Annual Report and Work Plan to BOCC: The date has been set for Feb. 15th for Menius to make our annual report presentation. b. County Land Use Plan 2050 and HPC input: Staff reported on the county's current process of holding public information meetings and soliciting public input from various stakeholders. The HPC will have a chance to develop our own Historic Preservation Component to become a supplement to this plan. The Planning staff hope that HPC members will participate in some of these information sessions. Staff will share additional updates as they become available. c. Archaeological Project at Moorefields: Noe presented an informative PowerPoint presentation to provide an overview of the process of the archaeological survey project at the Moorefields property. The areas being covered include the cemetery and several high probability zones around the house. There has been a geophysical phase including GIS mapping, followed by an excavation phase. The consultants employed magnetometry and ground penetrating radar to identify areas of potential interest where some limited excavation might be employed. Mapping of these two techniques can create a composite of the findings that provides more insight and help pinpoint areas for further investigation, such as old trash deposits, foundations, roadbeds, utility lines etc. Then they can employ shovel testing on grids that can let them zero in on features. They identified some features that could be remains of early outbuildings, perhaps a kitchen or slave quarter. The excavation work is limited due to the scope of this project so they probably won't be able to reveal any substantive evidence of the outbuildings. Mr. Draper-Savage did demolish several outbuildings during his ownership so some important evidence has been lost. They also targeted an area near the old barn site where they found numerous nails, which are being cataloged now. They encountered a strong chemical smell in the soil here in the 2