Photo: 20 people gathered at the Pigeon Multicultural Development Center last week to discuss an African-American history grant--

Grant will collect, preserve African-American history in Waynesville
by Mary Ann Enloe Mar 5, 2018

Folks in Waynesville's African American community gathered Thursday evening to celebrate a $10,000 grant which will enable a survey of its community's cultural resources and the collection of oral histories.

This is part of statewide preservation efforts by the State Historic Preservation Office to document African American architectural and cultural resources throughout the state, said Annie McDonald, state preservation specialist who represents 25 Western North Carolina counties including Haywood.

The rainy Thursday night's group of about 20 was enthusiastic. Lin Forney, director of the Pigeon Street Community Development Center where the meeting was held, and Bryon Hickox, land development administrator for the Town of Waynesville, moderated the discussion.

Hickox introduced Sybil Argintar, a consultant with Southeastern Preservation Services of Asheville, who will conduct the Pigeon community's survey.

"I'll be asking some of you to drive me around, not just on Pigeon Street, but Bryson Street, Boyd and Daisy Avenues and anywhere that is important to you. We want to know what you think is important to your history. What is gone as well as what is still here," she said. "We want you to tell the stories."

The State Historic Preservation Office provided a $6,000 grant which required a $4,000 match from the town of Waynesville. Elizabeth Teague, Waynesville's director of development services, and , and Hickox successfully shepherded the grant request through the town's procedural paths.

"Elizabeth Teague and her department really got this grant going," said Waynesville Historic Preservation Commission member Sandra Owens, who attended the meeting. She was joined by commission members Alex McKay and Bill Revis.

Gregory Wheeler suggested the community's two prominent churches — Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church and Jones Temple A.M.E. Zion — and Dix Hill cemetery. He was there Thursday night with his mother, Nancy Wheeler, a retired nurse who is remembered by women who birthed babies in the old Haywood County Hospital's third-floor maternity ward in the 1970s.

"Quite a few of us were involved in obtaining this school (the African American community's elementary Pigeon Street School). We've been working to get it on the National Register of Historic Places. We're excited about this project," Wheeler said.

He went on to say that he has a photograph of his mother standing on the school's foundation as it was being built.

"She was pregnant with me," he said.

When Haywood County schools were desegregated, the school board used the Pigeon Street school as a media center for several years. It then decommissioned the building, and per state statute the old school reverted to the Haywood County Board of Commissioners. The BOCC later gave the school to the community, which converted it to a multi-purpose community center.

The survey project is scheduled to wrap up in October. Waynesville will be able to include it in its on-line files, and the information will be archived and available to the public in Asheville.

"The public will be engaged all the way through the process," said Argintar, who will maintain a presence in Waynesville two days a week. "At the conclusion of the project, we'll give a formal PowerPoint presentation. That's when you need to take it and run with it and knock on Byron's door and ask for another grant."

Avid history activist Alex McKay shared his newly-acquired photograph collection at the meeting's conclusion. He now has files, photographs and negatives from Sherrill's Studio which was housed for decades in the Ensleys' Art Deco building across the side street from the Historic Courthouse.

"I'm going through the photographs now to find local African American images. It's important for us to document history. We're losing too much information," McKay said as he shuffled through a stack of vintage photos.

Doing her part is Lin Forney, who collaborated with the African American community, Western Carolina University and the Haywood County Library to compile a fascinating collection of memoirs of her elders. The soft-back book called "Lift Every Voice", was published in 2017 by the Western Carolina University Print Shop and is chock-full of photographs and memories — certainly a 'must-read' for those interested in the area's rich African American culture.

"We'll be continuing the work Lin Forney started, with more stories and more history," said Argintar as folks filed out. "The archives will be something people can add to and expand over the years."

Source: http://www.themountaineer.com/.../article_30707c4e-20ad...