InSites : news from the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites

              Published by the N.C. Division of State Historic Sites, a program of the Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
The division office is in the Dobbs Building at 430 N. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, N.C. (919-733-7862) Kay P. Williams, Director.
Volume XXI, No. 8
August 2005
In This Issue:
Research Begins on
Enslaved People at
Bentonville
page 2
Dot Redford Produces
Another Book
page 3
DC-3 Restoration Be-gins
at Spencer
page 4
Update on Activities at
Fort Dobbs
page 4
Crowds Celebrate Fourth at State Capitol
The North Carolina State Capitol and the North Carolina Mu-seum
of History co-hosted a popular patriotic celebration on the 4th of
July. A crowd of 4,000 people enjoyed entertainment, patriotic ceremo-nies,
exhibits, food from vendors, and tours of both facilities.
The Capitol grounds provided shade for family picnics and ex-hibitors,
while visitors enjoyed hours of lively music by the Raleigh
Concert Band and the St. Mark’s Jazz Band. Long lines formed for
guided tours of the
building.
At noon
Capitol historian
Raymond Beck
read portions of
the Declaration of
Independence and
then in a stirring
address paid high
tribute to the sign-ers,
telling of the
price they paid for
their actions. “They
valued their secu-rity,
but they val-ued
liberty more,”
he said. Military reenactors and veterans commemorated North Caro-lina’s
veterans by placing wreaths at various monuments on the
grounds. Dr. Henry Brown, a reenactor in the 6th North Carolina Revo-lutionary
Troops, led the crowd in a rousing “Hip, hip, huzzah!” at the
end of the ceremony.
Girl Scout volunteers applied more than five hundred temporary
patriotic tattoos to faces and arms. Young children bounced inside an
interactive playground as the tempting smells of kettle corn, pizza, fun-nel
cakes, and hot dogs mingled and drifted across the grounds. Three
Raleigh Heritage Trail museums participated: Oak View County Park
provided a rope-making activity; the Raleigh City Museum offered a
flag-making craft; and Mordecai Historic Park told the story of North
Carolina’s three presidents, near the Three Presidents’ Statue.
Visitors to the Museum of History lined up early for a hat-making
activity and stayed late to appreciate the fancy footwork of the
Wolfpack Cloggers. In between, they enjoyed games, exhibits, a
square dance performance by the Magic Squares, and a chair-caning
demonstration by Elizabeth Faison from House in the Horseshoe.
Check Our Website:
nchistoricsites.org
August 2005 2
Research Progresses on Enslaved People at Bentonville
The first evidence of Harper family
slaves is in the 1831 will of James Woodard
(Woodward) of Sampson County, in which he
gave his wife five Negroes (Grace, Tilly, Lucy,
Charity, and Arnel), with his two daughters as
her heirs. One daughter, Amy Ann Woodard,
married John Harper in 1838. As part of her
possible dowry, he received two slaves, Lucy
(16) and her child Alexander (7 months) from
James Woodard in 1838. Before 1840 Harper
acquired another enslaved person from an un-known
source. The 1840 census lists three blacks in his household: 1 male under 10
(Alexander), 1 female under 10, and 1 female between 10 and 24 (Lucy).
In 1843 John Harper purchased two more people, Elizer (Eliza) and Oliver, from
Calvin Jernigan. By 1850 he held five slaves. The census listed them as “29 F [Eliza],
27 F [Lucy], 15 M [possibly Oliver], 11 M [Alexander], 9 F [unknown].”
Between 1850 and 1860 Harper sold two slaves, possibly Eliza and Oliver,
though no record of sale has been located. By 1860 the census listed John Harper
owning 3 slaves and a slave cabin. The 38-year-old female and the 21-year-old-male
imply Lucy and Alexander were still with the Harpers. An unnamed 19-year-old female
was also present. Previously some people thought she was handicapped, but there is
no such evidence in the census.
In 1860 the slave census for Sampson County listed Amy Woodard (Amy
Harper’s mother) with ten slaves and two slave cabins. By 1864 Amy Harper received
two slaves, Tilla and Arnold (and possibly their children) from her mother’s estate.
In March 1865 the armies of Generals Sherman and Johnston fought near Ben-tonville.
With the Harper House a Union field hospital, it is likely the Harper slaves were
freed. Most ex-slaves during the Carolinas Campaign followed Sherman’s army as
refugees, but some from Bentonville remained near their former homes.
The former Harper slaves moved to Sampson County after the war, as shown in
the 1870 census for Piney Grove
Township, which has three Harp-ers
listed as “black”: Arnold (age
43, wife Hannah), Alexander (age
31, wife Clarrisy) and Abram (age
25, wife Charity) Harper. Perhaps
Lucy had died; she could not be
located in the 1870 N.C. census.
Alexander was a Harper slave; his
wife (aged 29) might have been
the unnamed 1860 slave, though
further research is needed to
prove this theory.
(Continued on page 3)
August 2005 3
(Enslaved People at Bentonville, cont. from p. 2)
Examining the census of 1860 for Sampson County and comparing ages of
slaves, it is possible three of the “Harper” slaves were actually part of Amy Woodard’s
estate, namely Abram and his wife Charity, though Arnold could be one as well. Amy
Woodard’s will stated that Amy Harper would receive Arnold and Tilly and their chil-dren,
and it is likely that Abram was Arnold’s child. Amy Woodard held a male aged 15
(possibly Abram), a female aged 11 (possibly Charity) and a male aged 30 (possibly
Arnold). In both James Woodard and Amy Woodard’s wills, slaves named Lucy, Char-ity,
Tilly, Arnold/Arnel, and Grace appear; these names are consistent with names of
Harper slaves. The census is a good primary resource, but some census takers made
recording mistakes or received false information. Abram Harper and Charity Harper
filed for a co-habitation marriage license in Johnston County in 1863: perhaps Amy re-ceived
them before her mother’s will was probated in Sampson County in 1864.
By 1880 Alexander (Alec) Harper was living in Sampson County; Arnold Harper
was in Duplin County; and Abram and Charity were not listed in the census in the
state.
Lacking private records of the Harper family, I believe (from probate, will, and
census records), we can say the Harper slaves were once part of the Woodard estate,
were part of Amy’s inheritance from her parent’s estate, and moved back to Sampson
County after the war. Further research in public records is needed to understand these
forgotten people. Documented copies of my work are available.
(Becky Sawyer)
Dot Redford Has Another Book on the Way!
Somerset Place’s Dot Redford is at it again. She has a
new book, Generations of Somerset Place: From Slavery to
Freedom, about to be produced and for sale by Arcadia Publish-ing
in its popular illustrated Images of America series. Through
an eclectic assortment of vintage images collected by Dot, Gen-erations
of Somerset Place presents the faces and stories of
former slaves, slave owners, and their descendants. Many of
them still live in the Creswell area.
When the institution of slavery ended in 1865, Somerset
plantation was the third largest plantation in North Carolina. Lo-cated
in the rural, northeastern part of the state, Somerset was
ultimately home to more than eight hundred enslaved blacks
and four generations of a planter family. During the eighty years
that Somerset was an active plantation, workers farmed hundreds of acres planted with
rice, oats, wheat, corn, peas, beans, and flax. Today Somerset Place offers a realistic
view of what life was like for the slaves and free men who lived and worked on the
plantation, once one of the Upper South’s most prosperous enterprises.
Dorothy Spruill Redford is a descendant of Somerset Place slaves, director of
Somerset Place, and author of Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage.
The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns,
and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents distinc-tive
stories from the past that shape the character of the community today.
(Adam Latham, Arcadia Publishing)
August 2005 4
Cooperative Venture Restoring NCTM’s Piedmont Airlines DC-3
The North Carolina Transportation Museum’s efforts to restore its Piedmont Air-lines
DC-3 aircraft got a boost in June.
Thirty students and instructors in the Transportation Division of Guilford Techni-cal
Community College (GTCC) visited the museum for lunch and an inspection of the
plane.
As a result, the college’s aviation
maintenance program agreed to restore the
control surfaces of the plane at its campus,
located in the T. H. Davis Aviation Center at
Piedmont Triad International Airport near
Greensboro. The control surfaces consist of
the ailerons (attached to the wings) and ele-vators
and rudder (attached to the tail).
“This will be a really good experience
for the students,” says Larry Belton, an in-structor
in aviation maintenance at GTCC.
“It’s part of the history of North Carolina
aviation.”
Douglas Aircraft Company manufactured more than 10,000 DC-3s and military
C-47s (essentially the same airplane) from 1935 to 1947. This remarkable aircraft ad-vanced
commercial aviation and contributed to the Allied victory in World War II.
Veterans of Piedmont Airlines serve on the museum’s active DC-3 committee.
Members include Capt. Howard Miller, who flew DC-3s early in his career, and Ronnie
Macklin, who maintained the planes. The committee plans to purchase a missing land-ing
gear (including two wheels) for the museum aircraft and will re-create the plane’s
trademark insignia, “Douglas Around the World.”
The Piedmont DC-3 will be displayed in NCTM’s Back Shop exhibit hall.
(Walter Turner)
John Bechtel and Knox Bridges check the DC-3 wing.
What’s Up at Fort Dobbs?
We have received preliminary drawings of a conjectural reconstructed fort from
archaeologist Dr. Larry Babits of East Carolina University based on his analysis of old
and new sources about the fort and the French and Indian War.
Site master planning continues. Plans and initial supporting documents for garri-son
development, 1750s clothing guidelines, and juried event forms were developed.
The highly-qualified costume designer, Luther Sowers, has been contacted to begin
work on the garrison uniform.
Plans are underway to reopen for garrison weekends, long hunter camps, and
other programming. Preparation is ongoing for special events, including N.C.’s Great
Wagon Festival and 18th-century Trade Fair. Interpreters regionally and nationwide will
attend that event. Local businesses have agreed to help with funding.
The Fort Dobbs Alliance (our support group) is moving forward with a capital
campaign and membership drive. The group also has received $5,000 for educational
programming from Iredell County.
(Beth Carter)
August 2005 5
Civil War Trails Sites Selected in Edenton
Two sites in the Edenton area are included in the new North Carolina Civil War
Trails program, a series of wayside exhibits across the state. Phase One, the Carolinas
Campaign, focuses on Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign in North Carolina and sites
east of Salisbury.
The Civil War Trails bugle logo and sign for the Battle of the Albemarle Sound is
located at the Edenton harbor in the downtown area. A display describes the three-hour
battle during which the Confederate ironclad ram Albemarle defeated a Federal
flotilla on May 5, 1864. Information is included as well about men from the Albemarle
area who served in the Union navy and those who fought for the Confederate cause.
The Edenton Bell Battery, as Company B, Third Battalion, N.C. Light Artillery was
known, also is featured.
Located at the Cannon’s Ferry Riverwalk fifteen miles north of Edenton is the
War on the Chowan River sign. U.S. Navy vessels patrolled the Chowan River from
Franklin, Virginia, to Edenton during the period when the river served as the boundary
between Federal-occupied counties to the east and Confederate-held counties to the
west. Information about the Federal gunboats Shawsheen, Lockwood, and Underwriter
are featured at the Cannon’s Ferry site.
The free North Carolina Civil War Trails brochure is available at the Historic
Edenton visitor center.
(Kathy Busby)
Illuminations Summer Performing
Arts Series Winds up at Festival
Park
This year’s
“Illuminations”
summer series,
presented by the
N.C. School of the
Arts, soon will be in
its final week, end-ing
August 6 with a
closing week’s worth of film festival.
Since early July the series has
brought such performances as jazz and
percussion bands and various dancers to
the coastal park.
The se-ries
also offered
classical music
on weekday af-ternoons
in July.
(Tanya Young)
August 2005 6
Fort Anderson Flag Reclaimed
Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson has raised the $40,000 necessary to acquire the
actual garrison flag that flew over the fort late in the Civil War. Now the historic flag will
be brought back for conservation and display at the fort. During the past six months
local supporters, businesses, reenactors, and historical organizations all have “pitched
in” to help purchase the flag from a private collector.
The flag will be displayed and the interesting story of its 1865 capture from the
fort by Union forces will be detailed in displays later this year. In addition to a panel ex-hibit,
a donor board will recognize contributors.
(Fay Mitchell Henderson)
Grant Puts Railroad History in N.C. School Libraries
Middle school students in our state will now have access
to the story of Southern Railway’s Spencer Shops, thanks to a
grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Semans Foundation.
The N.C. Transportation Museum, in the former Spencer
Shops, where Southern’s steam locomotives were repaired and
maintained for more than half a century, is using the $3,500
grant to distribute 223 copies of Southern Railway’s Spencer
Shops: 1896-1996 to middle school media centers in the Pied-mont
region of the state.
The 105-page book, written by Duane Galloway and Jim
Wrinn in 1996, tells the story of shop workers who repaired the
giant locomotives, depicts life in the town that grew up around
the shops, and details the evolution of the site from a booming
repair facility to a museum preserving the history of transportation in North Carolina.
The heavily illustrated book is the story of “unsung heroes,” according to its in-troduction—
the workers who kept the railroad operating smoothly. “For every thunder-ing
freight train wheeling textiles, tobacco and furniture out of North Carolina, hundreds
labored in the cavernous Spencer back shop,” the introduction reads. “So many steam-era
railway shops have closed, as Spencer did, only to be forgotten.”
(Misty Ebel)
Land Transferred at Horne Creek Farm
After years of intermittent negotiation, Horne Creek at last is, in a real estate
sense, a full-fledged state historic site. The Dept. of Environment and Natural Re-sources
(DENR) has transferred 104 acres to the Department of Cultural Resources.
The land formerly was managed by DENR as part of Pilot Mountain State Park.
Site and park staff have cooperated in managing the resources since October 1987,
when the land was designated a historic site. Even after both agencies agreed upon
the transfer and new site boundaries, the reallocation still required legislative action
(since the land is in the State Nature and Historic Preserve), approval by the Council of
State, and the signatures of both departmental secretaries. The new arrangement will
allow streamlined operations for the Horne Creek staff and the division.
(Jim McPherson)
August 2005 7
Festival Park Features Children’s Shows
On July 12-15 clown Bob Berky offered a fast-paced and var-ied
program including mime, juggling, and physical comedy. In both
a charming and inviting style, he encouraged participation from his
audience. While most of the performance reflected Berky’s comic
gifts, it was equally wonderful to sense his passion and respect for
the clowning tradition. Berky has per-formed
as a solo artist throughout the
world
Juggler Mark Nizer brought his
original comedy and world-class jug-gling
to the stage at Festival Park July
19-22. Nizer’s mother signed him up for
a juggling class twenty-four years ago, and he has been
juggling ever since. Performance Magazine called his
show,” nothing less than brilliant.” Since winning the Inter-national
Juggling Championship, Nizer has taken his one-man
show to thousands of venues around the world.
Both programs were made possible by the Outer
Banks Community Foundation.
(Tanya Young)
Editor Says Farewell to Historic Sites
As many readers already know, this is my last issue of InSites and its predeces-sor,
the Staff Bulletin. That publication, by the way, was begun in July 1985, succeed-ing
the monthly Historic Siter edited by Nancy Murray, who still serves in the division
office. Nancy and I had already been around for some time, both of us being
“mossbacks” who had come to Historic Sites in the 1970s. A few other original moss-backs
remain, including the coiner of the term, Archie Smith of Town Creek.
I want particularly to thank all the folks who over the years have contributed arti-cles,
photos, and ideas to our newsletters. You know who you are, and I am grateful to
each of you. In addition to the regular public affairs folks and correspondents at various
historic sites who sign articles, special words of gratitude are due Jim Willard, who for
years cheerfully has provided countless quality images for all of the division; Mary
Cook and Sandra Foil, who have spent many hours proofreading and improving copy;
and Elizabeth Sumner, assistant editor and MS Publisher guru in several recent years.
I also appreciate the kindness and help I have received for more than three dec-ades
from all my friends past and present at Historic Sites as well as Archives and His-tory
in the newsletter and other ventures at various sites. Thanks to each of you!
For me, it’s a new day. Thad Eure, who served as N.C. secretary of state seem-ingly
forever, might have said the “oldest rat in the [Historic Sites] barn” is leaving.
In the words of John Denver’s 1967 song (and one of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s
biggest folk hits):
I’m leavin’ on a jet plane. . . . Don’t know when I’ll be back again.
Que pase bien. Vaya con Dios.
(Rick Knapp)