Orange County NC Website
of the landmark evaluation form is proving to be heavily biased in favor of properties that <br /> are 100-plus years old and that are listed on the National Register, and as a result, tends <br /> to disfavor historic resources associated with underrepresented communities. Because of <br /> this, the final total score for the Harris House, averaged out of all members present, was <br /> 48.5, which is just below the minimum score of 50 points needed to potentially qualify for <br /> landmark status. <br /> b. Rigsbee's Rock House: Staff explained that the owners reached out recently to see if the <br /> county could help avert potential damage to the historic stone walls that might be caused <br /> by the current program of installing underground fiber optic cables at the intersection of <br /> US 70 business and Lawrence Road. Since this is a county-designated historic landmark, <br /> staff made a site visit to assess the situation. The current owners, who purchased the <br /> house in 2022, love the house but didn't know the house was a landmark. They're pleased <br /> to learn that it is. Dickinson noted that he did the sill repairs to the house for a former <br /> owner in the 1980s. Staff showed a PowerPoint with views of the exterior and the various <br /> historic walls and site features. Overall, the house and site are very well preserved and in <br /> good condition. The issue with the fiber optic was actually created back in the 1960s or <br /> 1970s when NCDOT widened Lawrence Road, and in doing so, widened their right-of-way <br /> from 30' to 60', and thus that line now runs well inside the stone wall. So, when the fiber <br /> optic installers mapped their route, they understandably believed they had that extra right <br /> of way to work with, while in fact the wall was encroaching significantly. Staff provided a <br /> letter asserting that the landmark status required that they obtain a COA before they <br /> would be allowed to install anything near the wall, including boring and trenching. Since it <br /> can take two months to get a COA, the fiber optic folks agreed to shift the majority of their <br /> work to the opposite side of the road to the extent possible and agreed to avoid the wall. <br /> Staff is providing the owners with assistance in locating qualified craftspeople to do <br /> carpentry repairs and install new gutters and other needed work. <br /> c. Blackwood Farm Park: proposed memorial marker for the burial ground: Staff <br /> provided an overview of a new project being proposed by the county's Human Relations <br /> Commission (HRC), to design and install some type of permanent historic marker or <br /> monument/stone at the burial ground for the enslaved workers and their descendants. <br /> This is in the conceptual stages right now. Staff met at the site with HRC staffers Paul <br /> Slack and Courtney McLaughlin, to take them on a tour of the cemetery and provide an <br /> overview of what we've learned about the site through extensive archaeological work. The <br /> HRC will present a more formal proposal at a later date. Staff has offered to take HRC <br /> members on a tour of the site. <br /> d. Old Courthouse Preservation Project Launch: After almost 11 years of lobbying by the <br /> HPC and staff, the county facilities team is ready to initiate a major project to do <br /> preservation work on the old courthouse and to carry out a major landscape master plan <br /> for updates and improvements to the square itself, through a public process involving all <br /> local stakeholders, including the Town, local non-profit groups that use the square like the <br /> Arts Council and the Alliance, and a cross-section of other community members. The <br /> county purchasing officer will soon issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to get <br /> proposals from teams composed of historic preservation architects, structural engineers <br /> and landscape architects. The goal will be to try to select the most qualified team and get <br /> an initial contract signed this fall, with research and planning to take place this winter and <br /> spring. Staff and HPC member Todd Dickinson will be assisting in the selection process. <br /> e. Lynching memorial marker on Courthouse Square: This is an update of a topic that <br /> was discussed at a prior meeting as a preliminary proposal, for a project by the national <br /> group, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and the local Orange County Community <br /> Remembrance Coalition, to erect a historical marker on the courthouse square to <br /> commemorate the five documented Lynchings that took place in this county since 1869. <br /> The proposed marker will be identical in appearance to the other markers that the EJI has <br /> placed throughout the deep South. The proposed location remains the same, in the lawn <br /> at the southeast quadrant of the square, near the present stone walkway from Court St. At <br /> present, the groups are hoping to install the marker sometime this fall, date TBD. <br /> 2 <br />