MOORE COUNTY
Updated 12/31/99
The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office statewide inventory contains information on more than 350 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites in Moore County. The Gordon Payne Site located along the Deep River is an early, well-preserved village site identified with the Pee Dee Indians and Town Creek Indian Mound. Excavations have revealed an abundance of prehistoric pottery and some of the earliest evidence for corn agriculture in North Carolina.
Architectural surveys have been conducted in Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Cameron, and Aberdeen. These projects were cooperative local-state projects accomplished with grants and staff assistance from the Historic Preservation Office. In 1997-1998 the Historic Preservation Office sponsored a reconnaissance survey of rural Moore County.
Since 1979, $32,550 in federal subgrants have been awarded, including $10,000 for restoration work at Weymouth (1979) and $7,550 for the Southern Pines survey and publication (1979). Since 1983, $208,500 in state grants have been awarded for such projects as the Pinehurst Fair Barn, Weymouth, and the Shaw House
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
Moore County's twenty-four National Register listings include numerous houses and farms, the Gordon Payne Archaeological Site, the Jugtown Pottery Complex, the Lincoln Park School near Pinebluff, the Pinehurst Race Track, and districts in Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen, Carthage, and Cameron. The Pinehurst Historic District also is a National Historic Landmark.
LOCAL PRESERVATION COMMISSIONS
Southern Pines has a historic district commission and Aberdeen had a historic preservation commission from the 1980s to 1999. A historic district in Southern Pines and a district and four individual properties in Aberdeen have been locally designated. The Historic Preservation Office provides regular technical assistance to these commissions. Historic Preservation Office staff is consulting with the town of Aberdeen on the re-establishment of its commission.
Nine income-producing tax credit projects have been completed in Moore County at a total construction investment of over $20 million, including the Holly Inn in Pinehurst, which has the largest investment for a preservation tax credit project in the state to date. Two residences are currently undergoing renovation to utilize the new state tax credit for non-income-producing structures. The Historic Preservation Office reviews and provides restoration technical services for all preservation tax credit projects.
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PUBLICATIONS
The Historic Preservation Office assisted the town of Southern Pines in publishing the findings of the architectural survey in Perspective on a Resort Community: Historic Buildings Inventory of Southern Pines, North Carolina in 1981. The Historic Preservation Office participated in public hearings in the county by the North Carolina Building Code Council in 1993 relating to a new section of the building code that addresses existing buildings, including historic buildings.
The State Historic Preservation Office provided technical assistance for the restoration of the Malcolm Blue Farm, Old Bethesda Presbyterian Church, Faith Presbyterian Church, the Malcolm J. Blue House, and the Aberdeen and Rockfish Depot, all in Aberdeen; Weymouth (James Boyd House) and the Jefferson Inn in Southern Pines; the Black-Cole House near Pinehurst; the Moore County Courthouse in Carthage; and many other buildings throughout the county.