WILSON COUNTY
Updated 12/31/99
In 1993 the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office provided technical assistance to the city of Wilson by establishing the bounds of the abandoned County Home Cemetery and making recommendations for its protection, thus avoiding legal action against the county and local businesses. The Historic Preservation Office statewide inventory contains information on over 260 archaeological sites in Wilson County.
Locally sponsored comprehensive surveys have recorded hundreds of historic places in Wilson (1979-1980) and Wilson County (1980-1981). Surveys are cooperative local-state projects accomplished with grants and staff assistance from the Historic Preservation Office.
Architectural surveys in Wilson and Wilson County, National Register nominations throughout the county, and publication of the Wilson survey have been funded with federal matching grants totaling $57,146. State appropriations totaling $139,500 have been essential to the restoration of Coon School, Mercy Hospital, Wilson Community Theatre, and the Wilson Collegiate Institute.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The county's twenty-seven listings in the National Register of Historic Places include five districts in Wilson, districts in Lucama and Elm City, three rural historic districts, and seventeen individual properties across the county.
LOCAL PRESERVATION COMMISSIONS
At the request of the commissions, the Historic Preservation Office has provided assistance to the Wilson Historic District Commission and the Wilson County Joint Properties Commission on matters pertaining to their ordinances and reports for three districts and sixty-six landmarks. The City of Wilson has qualified to participate in North Carolina's Certified Local Government program.
PRESERVATION PLANNING
The Historic Preservation Office executed a Programmatic Agreement with the city of Wilson to facilitate their Housing and Urban Development housing program in East Wilson.
Nineteen income-producing tax credit projects have been completed in Wilson County at a total construction investment of $4,671,100, including the Cherry Hotel and Colonial Apartments, both in Wilson; two additional projects, including the former Mercy Hospital in Wilson, are currently undergoing renovation. One residential renovation is underway to utilize the new state tax credits for non-income-producing historic structures. The Historic Preservation Office reviews and provides restoration technical services for all tax credit projects.
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PUBLICATIONS
The Historic Preservation Office assisted the city of Wilson in publishing Wilson, North Carolina: Historic Buildings Survey in 1980, and assisted Wilson County in publishing Wilson County's Architectural Heritage in 1981. Historic Preservation Office staff co-sponsored a statewide historic preservation commission conference hosted by Wilson in 1994, and an investment tax credit workshop in 1997.
The Historic Preservation Office has provided consultation services in the rehabilitation of the former Federal Building, Mercy Hospital, Verita Apartments, Chery Hotel, and the Wilson Depot in Wilson; and the Alfred Thompson House, the Ward-Applewhite-Thompson House a nd other projects across the county.