Daughtridge Farm, Edgecombe County
THE STATEWIDE ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY
Daughtridge Farm, Edgecombe County
THE STATEWIDE ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY
For three decades the State Historic Preservation Office in the Office of Archives and History has conducted North Carolina's statewide architectural survey program. The Preservation Office sponsors and co-sponsors, assists and guides dozens of local and regional architectural surveys throughout the state--all part of the statewide program whose mission is to identify, record, and encourage the preservation of North Carolina's rich and varied historic and architectural heritage.
See the County Summaries for brief descriptions of survey activities in each county.For each community and county, as for the state and nation as a whole, creating a photographic and written record of historic places is the first, crucial step in recognizing, valuing, and preserving the heritage of the past for the benefit of the present and the future. Each survey project provides a local base of information about community history and architecture. Ideally the surveyor and the survey serve as a prism--gathering information from many different residents and many different places, then reflecting that knowledge back to the community in a way that offers residents and others new understanding of the whole and its parts.
Benefits of Architectural Surveys: The bedrock of preservation planning and actions, a thorough local survey forms the basis for many preservation decisions. Survey reports, files, and maps are maintained as a permanent record with many longterm benefits: they permit evaluation of properties for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places; facilitate decision-making about the potential impact of government funded or licensed projects on historic properties; benefit protection of local districts and properties by local preservation commissions; and boost private investment in renovation and preservation of historic buildings for new uses. Over the years, architectural surveys in town after town and county after county have provided the first step toward preservation success stories--directing new attention to familiar sights and encouraging citizens to rescue long neglected houses, rejuvenate traditional neighborhoods, and focus new investment in the economy and quality of life in historic town centers.
Survey Status: County surveys have been completed in 58 of the state's 100 counties, and regional overview surveys have recorded selected properties in an additional 27 counties. Municipal surveys have been completed in about 60 communities. Several thematic surveys encompass specific types of places statewide, such as truss bridges and county courthouses. Cumulatively, these surveys compose an important record of North Carolina's historic architecture.
Survey Records: Survey files, organized by county, are maintained at the Survey and Planning Branch, State Historic Preservation Office, and at the regional offices of Archives and History, along with survey project reports and detailed maps showing the locations of every recorded property. The survey data base is organized by county, property name, and site number. Photographic negatives are curated separately in the Archives and Records Section of Archives and History. The extensive collection of survey files, maps, photographs, and reports constitutes a research and reference source on the state's architecture and history, as well as providing private citizens, preservation organizations, and government agencies with a guide to the historic places that merit recognition and protection. Survey records are also available in local repositories.
Survey Publications: A hallmark of North Carolina's statewide preservation program is the publication of local architectural surveys. Because of the lasting public value of survey publications as popular, accessible sources of knowledge about each community's unique heritage, the statewide survey program emphasizes publication as a primary goal of any survey project. To date, 38 county surveys and 32 municipal surveys been published. Most of these are books of several hundred pages offering a fully illustrated overview of local history and architectural development plus a catalog depicting and describing significant individual properties and neighborhoods. Thematic studies of courthouses, industrial complexes, truss bridges, early twentieth century suburbs, and other topics have been published, as well as North Carolina Architecture, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern [and Western] North Carolina, and other general studies that have grown out of the statewide survey. A number of these publications have won national prizes for excellence. (Click here to see a list of publications).
Development of the Survey Program: To meet the basic goals of creating a lasting record of North Carolina's historic places and encouraging their preservation, the statewide survey program has changed and developed over the years. Working with communities, counties, and regional organizations, with private preservation and historical societies as well as government bodies--and often in public-private partnerships--the statewide survey program has proceeded in a variety of ways. Initial funding for recording selected historic places in 1967 was granted by the Richardson Foundation, and further funds for the survey were obtained from state and federal sources. This first phase of inventory developed as part of North Carolinians' and Americans' growing concern for historic preservation in the decades after World War II, but it built upon the accomplishments of earlier generations, particularly such work of the 1930s as the the Historic American Buildings Survey and The North Carolina Guide. During the late 1960s and into the early and mid-1970s, Survey and Planning Branch staff members conducted surveys of several counties' most prominent historic sites with assistance from local preservationists and historians.
Beginning in the late 1970s, a program of matching grants to interested county and town sponsors generated a series of more comprehensive surveys that encompassed a full range of architecturally and historically significant properties. State funds have provided a strong basis for the statewide survey, both as direct funding to local survey projects and in support of the statewide program. In addition to survey grants from national preservation funds designated for certified local governments, in some years the State Historic Preservation Office is able to use a substantial portion of its national preservation funding to provide grants for survey projects in jurisdictions that are not certified local governments. In other cases, localities have used local public and private funds for projects that are part of the statewide survey program.
As understanding of the richness of North Carolina's heritage and the complexity of its architecture and history has expanded, survey projects have broadened to address the diverse places that make each community itself--from the earliest and most imposing buildings of the distant past to the more typical farmhouses and landscapes, neighborhoods, and town centers of the late 19th century and the 20th century. These strong local studies have enhanced knowledge of local and regional history and the relationship to national and state currents. They offer new understanding of the state's architectural traditions--both the familiar vernacular patterns of the rural landscape and the accomplishments of the architectural profession in growing towns and cities. At the same time these state and local studies, together with others conducted throughout the nation, are building a national body of fieldwork that is yielding new insights into American social and architectural history.
Currently in North Carolina, most municipal and county surveys are supported by state and Federal grants matched with local funds. They are conducted by professional architectural historians employed by the community and working under the auspices of the State Historic Preservation Office and the community. The strength of the North Carolina survey program has drawn from the combination of state and local commitment to preservation, and the professional knowledge and energy of the surveyors who have created a lasting record of the heritage of towns and counties throughout the state.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Survey Program contact the Architectural Survey Coordinator, Survey and Planning Branch; for information on Survey Grants contact the Grants Administrator (919-807-6575), both at State Historic Preservation Office, Office of Archives and History, 4617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-4617.
(10/1/07)
