Forever Grateful tomorrow

Thanks to all those who served or are currently serving our country!

I mentioned this once before, but I just wanted to remind you about the Forever Grateful tribute put together by Scott Farb and Ken Corn that is taking place all day on Saturday. It's a free event with souvenir bags for the kids.

A description:

This FREE day-long event will feature uniforms from every war the American Soldier has taken part in, from the French and Indian War to modern day. Reenactors in uniforms from different periods will enhance your visit to the exhibit. Photographs, helmets, equipment, weapons and war trophies will also be on display. Children who attend will receive a free souvenir package to take home from the event. The exhibit will also feature streaming video shot by local resident Ken Corn, who served as an embedded photojournalist in Iraq.

For more information, please contact event organizers Scott Farb or Ken Corn via Facebook message, or via email, at MarchingThruTime@gmail.com - this is a FREE event, and we certainly hope to see you there!

Plus he added this later:

This event is shaping up to be something big - it will be a memorable day. Come out and see military displays, the likes of which the town has never seen before. We are adding a special display on Medal of Honor recipients, and the US Army Nurse Corps. We hope to see you here!

We'll have to make our way there at some point, although the we've got family in town and a birthday party.

UPDATE: Waxhaw Ghost Walk / Lantern Tour

From the town's Facebook page:

WAXHAW GHOST WALK!! Saturday, October 29 at 9 pm! Hosted by CECELIA NEAL and assisted by UCAPS - UNION COUNTY AREA PARANORMAL SOCIETY.
Meet: Waxhaw United Methodist Church parking lot. This is FREE to the public although donations will be accepted for the MS Society.

Sounds interesting. I may have to try and drag the family out to this.

The Museum of the Waxhaws also is doing a Lantern Tour on October 28-29th. Per the description, it is a lantern tour of a Civil War battlefield put on by the NC 35th Regiment.

The Ghost Walk seems like the more kid-friendly event of the two. But according to the website of the NC 35th Regiment, it appears to be family-friendly as well.

Guided Tours will go thru the woods by candlelight stopping at several historic scenarios and watching for the Civil War soldiers battling throughout the woods. A must see event for the entire family.

Something about a spooky lantern tour of a Civil War battlefield (these were typically gruesome, no?) just screams not kid-friendly. Does anyone know for certain?

UPDATE 10/23: Don't miss Captain Jack's comment down below for an clarification on the Lantern Tours. The Cliff's Notes version: it will begin more kid-friendly and get "progressively realistic" as the night goes on when young children will be less likely to be present. Sounds neat.

The Facade Grant Program

The Union County Weekly has an article on the new Facade Grant program that was recently approved by the town board. This grant program makes $7500 available to certain favorably-located area businesses interested in approving their façades, essentially subsidizing exterior repairs or renewal of favorably situated private property with taxpayer money.

Here's Brian Carlton's description:

The project is a scaled down and reworked version of the historic district proposal that failed earlier this year. By turning it into a grant program, the council made it a voluntary process this time around, so only those interested would be impacted. The project sets aside $7,500 from the town’s general fund, to be used as grant funding. If a business or property owner wants to restore his facility to the way it originally looked, he or she can apply to the Waxhaw Historic Preservation Committee. If the application is approved, the committee can authorize different amounts, up to $7,500 towards the restoration. To qualify, the restoration has to cost a minimum of $250.

I am not sure I agree with this description since the failed historic district proposal would've been imposed on homeowners with no subsidization of repairs; it just would've dictated what changes or repairs could be made to homes and business falling within the specified district. If I'm not mistaken, the only taxpayer money used for this program would be the salaries of the bureaucrats that maintain it.

The Facade Grant program, however, takes taxpayer money and uses it help pay for refurbishments to accepted applicants. I'm not sure money should be taken from taxpayers and doled out to individuals to improve the look of their personal property.

Brett Diller, Erin Kirkpatrick, and Martin Lane obviously feel differently as they provided the necessary three votes to pass this program. On the other hand, Phillip Gregory and Joyce Blythe voted against it, but hold back warm and fuzzies for them quite yet if saving taxpayer money is your thing.

The article seems to suggest Phillip Gregory and Joyce Blythe didn't vote against it because of the transfer of taxpayer money to a select few, but because they weren't entirely comfortable with the Waxhaw Historic Preservation Committee (WHPC) running the program. Personally, I have more of an issue with the fact taxpayer money will be subsidizing select individuals rather than who will be overseeing the program. Although I suppose the WHPC might be more inclined to favor historic properties, but that remains to be seen.

In the article, Erin Kirkpatrick is quoted as follows:

“It’s an investment in our economic development,” Waxhaw council member Erin Kirkpatrick said. “It’s money we’re investing to bring people to our downtown corridor.”

I honestly don't see how improving the exterior of buildings downtown will more than nominally improve economic development in Waxhaw. Will a handful of improved façades downtown make a significant impact in how much money is spent in downtown Waxhaw? Is there evidence to suggest it will?

Maybe offering up much more than $7500 will attract more people (and Brenda Stewart's comment beneath the article suggests they're already looking to expand the program before the ink is even dry), but a more significant economic development would be having shops that regular folks can shop at. I realize that's beyond the scope of the town board (or so I would hope), but I consider myself a regular guy and besides the restaurants, there are very few shops in downtown Waxhaw I would need to set foot in.

Like the Waxhaw Fresh Market before it, the loss of Southport Gifts removes another store I'd pop into periodically. Where is one to shop in Waxhaw for gifts and knick-knacks besides antique shops? Stewart's Gallery comes to mind, but my ventures in there have been limited as I've normally watched the kids outside (so they don't break anything) while my wife looks around.

Museum of the Waxhaws follow-up

This is extremely belated on my part, but the Union County Weekly ran a follow up to the investigation into the Museum of the Waxhaws. (I blogged about this here, here, here, and here.)

The Cliff's Note version: the Secretary of State has closed its investigation into the Museum of the Waxhaws, but forwarded the complaints onto the Attorney General, so apparently there was enough differences between the tax documents and the complaints that they felt the need to pass it along to the Attorney General. Or at least that's the way I read it.

For example, this snippets below suggests that at the very least not all the required financial information was included on their tax forms that should have been:

Union County Weekly obtained copies of both written complaints and the investigation report. The first complaint, dated April 6, pointed out that the Andrew Jackson Historical Society, the parent group that operates the museum, had two significant grants provided to them in excess of $200,000, as well as several smaller grants. Yet in the six day investigation that followed, department officials said they couldn’t find any evidence the museum had received state funds.

...

Proctor said the investigators missed that information because it wasn’t listed in the museum’s 990 tax return for those years.

“The 990 forms didn’t specify any grant money,” Proctor said. “(The investigators) were just able to look over what we received from the nonprofit.”

If anyone gleaned any other information from this article, feel free to share. I'm not ashamed to admit this is all a little confusing to me.

I've yet to hear any definitive results as to whether the Attorney General felt the need to pursue an investigation or not. If I hear anything more definitive, I will pass it along.

For what it's worth, apparently four complaints were made against the Museum of the Waxhaws, one of them originating from the since terminated Scott Farb.

Don't forget the historic walk!

Just another reminder that Joyce Blythe and Melvin Faris are doing a historic walk this Saturday. She has a letter to the editor in the latest issue of the Union County Weekly to remind everyone.

Her description:

Waxhaw native Melvin Faris will be joining me again. He is a walking wealth of information when it comes to reminiscing about his boyhood days in Waxhaw. He will tell you about going to the “moving picture show” and the day he played hooky from school because he heard the town depot was being moved. A momentous occasion that he wasn’t about to miss.

We will share some early turn of the century history of Waxhaw springing to life after the railroad came through, and the town was incorporated. We’ll even go back a bit further and tell you a little something about the Waxhaw Indians and young Andy Jackson.

Now, we don’t claim to know all there is to know about Waxhaw’s history, but we’ll share some of the things we do know.

Read the whole thing for all the details.

The big question is what exactly does Joyce Blythe have against WAA families? Other than the historic walk she kindly did for some local Cub Scouts, it seems like every other walk has been scheduled during baseball season. And we've always got a game.

How can one become well-versed in local history if you cannot attend these walks?

Diary of John Osborne cont.

Scott Farb shares another portion of the diary of John Osborne in last Friday's issue of the Union County Weekly. The first column featuring excerpts from John Osborne's diary was mentioned here.

Both are definitely worth checking out if you have any interest in local history.

Dorothy Maloney back

In print. And badder than ever, I suppose.

With the untimely death of the Waxhaw Exchange, I thought we'd seen the last of Dorothy Maloney, Waxhaw's social columnist. But at the Enquirer-Journal's site the other day, I discovered that her column has been resurrected there.

Read the whole thing if interested.

The highlight is that Commissioner Joyce Blythe is giving another town historic walk. The snippet:

Saturday, October 15th at 10:00 a.m., is the date Town of Waxhaw Commissioner Joyce Blythe, and Melvin Faris have scheduled their Historic Tour of Waxhaw. If you have not had the pleasure of one of these tours, you should not miss this one. Both Joyce and Melvin are superb tour guides. The tour takes about an hour and a quarter, starting at the Waxhaw Methodist Church. You will truly not regret attending this tour. Just show up at 10:00 a.m. on October 15th.

But once again, our schedule prohibits me from attending.

Elisabeth's back

...and she's got a reputation.

Elisabeth Arriero is back on the Waxhaw beat -- at least for one article. She provides a follow-up on the Scott Farb dismissal.

Worth snippeting:

Although the board did not disclose the reason for the firing, an email sent from board member Ron Cook to Farb suggests it was over Farb's decision to complain to the state about the museum's operations.

"Your manner of dealing with your frustrations was not productive and, in fact, was counterproductive," said Cook in an email dated June 3. "Because you apparently prefer to attempt to use intimidation and threats to express your concerns rather than open and deliberative discussion, it was felt that your presence was no longer needed and that you should be dismissed."

...

The board also wants to increase the number and quality of exhibits that will attract community members as well as appeal more to the private sector for donations, she said.

But there still appears to be a large gap between revenue and expenses. According to the museum's 2009-10 tax exempt form for their 501(c)3 designation, the museum's revenue totaled $65,671 while their expenditures totaled $111,034.

The majority of the museum's expenses - or $82,042 - went to occupancy, rent, utilities and maintenance. The next largest amount of $15,600 went to bank service charges, office equipment, advertising and other items.

...

But Farb said the museum's lack of long-term planning is why the museum is chronically short on funds.

"My complaint has always been that the state gave you a lot of taxpayer money, and I don't think you've been good stewards of that money," said Farb.

Every year, the county and the town of Waxhaw gives money to the museum. During fiscal year 2010-11, the county gave $4,500 and the town gave $10,000.

From my conversation with Scott a couple weeks ago, he mentioned that the Andrew Jackson Historical Foundation board was responsible for the fundraising at the Museum of the Waxhaws. Based on the numbers provided by Elisabeth, the revenues totaled only roughly $65000. Does this number include the nearly $15000 donated by the town and county?

If so, even with all that taxpayer money, the eighteen members of the board were well short of the approximately $82000 to cover just occupancy, rent, utilities and maintenance, let alone the total expenditures of approximately $111000.

On another note, the radio silence mentioned by Gay Diller didn't last long as both her and Sandra Glenn appear to have spoken with Elisabeth for this story.

A little more on Scott Farb and the museum

A few things worth mentioning:

* The Enquirer-Journal's article that ran (but that was strangely excluded from the E-J's website) was also fittingly on the front page of the Waxhaw Exchange a couple Sunday's ago. I OCR'd the entire article, but I'm reluctant to share it lest Alan Jenkins yell "Off with his head!" in my general direction.

That all being said, there was not a lot in this unlinkable article that couldn't be found in Brian Carlton's article in the Union County Weekly. A couple items of note from Gay Diller indicates the Andrew Jackson Historical Foundation (AJHF) is maintaining radio silence since Scott's termination -- except for Gay in this instance I guess.

Board members have been advised not to comment about the incident involving Farb, Gay Diller, a member of the museum's board of directors, said.

Since Farb's departure, a new museum director has not be been chosen.

Board members have been taking turns keeping the museum open, she said.

Attempts to contact Sandra Glenn, president of the board of directors, were unsuccessful.

* I put out an email to Sandra Glenn (President), Tommie Wall (VP), and Ron Cook (position TBD) with a few questions, but was directed to Chris Duggan, who is the attorney for the AJHF. He got back to me after a couple days.

* It is my understanding that there are 18 members currently on the board of the Andrew Jackson Historical Foundation and that it's had as many as 26 board members. I was wondering how many board members were required to terminate Scott's employment. Chris Duggan responded with "Majority of the quorum present at the meeting." Since he did not share how many members are necessary to have a quorum per the AJHF charter, this isn't particularly informative. Unless I missed something, which is a possibility, since I have no experience with boards, quorums, etc.

* One of my questions to Chris Duggan is exactly who comprises the board of the AJHF. From what I can gather, here's a partial list of AJHF board members:

Sandra Glenn (President)
Tommie Wall (VP)
Ron Cook
Gay Diller
Joe Hudson

At 18 members, the board is rather large, so there's lots of people missing from this list. If you've got anyone to add to this list, drop me a note.

When I asked Chris Duggan for a complete list of board members, he told me he'd look into it. Since I've yet to hear back, I suspect there isn't one available for public consumption.

* I spoke with Scott Farb briefly a few weeks back and he stressed a couple things:

1. 1) He wasn't accusing anyone on the board or the board in general of being involved in any intentional wrongdoing
2. 2) As museum director, he had no say in how the money raised by the AJHF for the Museum of the Waxhaws was used.

* The board is moving forward with fundraisers with an upcoming August corn hole tournament

and a evening concert and dinner.

* It'd be nice if there was some way the AJHF board could reconsider their decision so the museum can move forward in a positive manner, but I doubt that's a realistic possibility at this point.

I will say they will be hard-pressed to find someone as enthusiastic to fill Scott's shoes and the many unpaid hours he put towards the museum. During our conversation, Scott suggested he was only getting paid for about 17 out of 40 hours on a weekly basis and it had been recently requested by the board that he spend additional time helping them with fundraising.

UCW on Scott Farb's termination

Brian Carlton of the Union County Weekly has an informative article on Scott Farb's termination in this week's issue. For what it's worth, apparently the Enquirer-Journal article had an article in the Tuesday edition, but it's not online for some reason.

A few snippets, but for those interested in Scott's firing, the whole article is a must-read:

Three weeks after firing museum director Scott Farb, the Andrew Jackson Historical Foundation board faces questions, both about what triggered the termination and the way funds are used. The board fired Farb during their June 2 meeting, after he informed them via email that he had filed a complaint with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office, in regards to the board’s methods of handling funds.

...

Even before the complaint was filed, there appears to have been a contentious relationship between the board and their museum director. In a May 16 email, Farb wrote to board members, asking what their fundraising plans were for the rest of the year, as he was working on a projected budget. If there wasn’t a long term plan in place to fund the museum, Farb wrote, he wasn’t sure he could afford to stay.

Former Waxhaw Elementary principal Tommie Wall, the foundation’s vice president, responded to everyone on the board list, including Farb, in an email that appeared to be meant for President Sandra Glen only.

“Sandra, let’s don’t plan any fundraisers, so he can exit,” Wall wrote.

...

Farb’s complaint is one of four that have been filed with the state since March concerning the board. The Secretary of State’s nonprofits division granted the foundation its charter and monitors their tax exempt status. Division spokeswoman Liz Proctor said she could only speak to the first two of the four complaints, as the last two haven’t been completely filed yet.

The first complaint was anonymous, Proctor said, filed in March with no supporting documentation.

“(The division) looked into it, but they didn’t find anything,” Proctor said. “With no supporting evidence, that complaint was dismissed.”

The second was filed earlier this month by Farb and Proctor confirmed there were supporting documents and evidence to go along with it.

“I cannot comment on things I don’t know about,” Cook said. “The only complaint I am aware of is the one that Scott notified the Board that he had filed and he didn’t give us any specifics.”

Go read the whole thing so Brian doesn't get mad at me quoting so much.

And who knows, maybe the Enquirer-Journal's article may appear in this Sunday's Waxhaw Exchange. Of course, whether your copy gets delivered is another question entirely...

Vandalism at the Waxhaw Women's Club

Some vandals broke a bunch of windows at the Waxhaw Women's Club (ie. Belk building) early Monday morning. Rowdy teens are heavily suspected if you examine the Facebook buzz; I suspect troublemakers of some kind.

WCNC has the story.



My first question based on the beginning of this clip: a "spree" of vandalism? Has there been a lot of window-breaking in Waxhaw recently that I haven't heard about or is WCNC mistaken in using this term?

Anyone with information as to the perpetrators should call Waxhaw police at 704-283-5600 or Crime Stoppers at 704-283-5600

On a side note, here's a little discussion of the history of Belk building that may be of interest to some of you. Also, per the town's historic pamphlet:

R.J. Belk Store

Originally called “New York Racket,” the Waxhaw branch of the Belk Store was one of the first two branches to be located outside of Monroe, NC; the other was in Charlotte. Founder William Henry Belk’s cousin, Ralph, operated the Waxhaw branch until the branch closed in 1936. Since that time, the building has served many purposes, most notably Gambles Drug Store. The Belk family donated the building to the Waxhaw Woman’s Club in 1971. The Waxhaw Woman’s
Club has made repairs to the building and uses it for meetings and special events.

Additionally, the apparently defunct (or at least inactive for the last half year) Waxhaw Natives group on Facebook has some interesting discussions and pictures for those of you interested in Waxhaw of yesteryear.

After skimming through it, I am very interested in learning the true story behind the big brown jug, which per Miss June Plyler, is Waxhaw's third best kept secret. And it goes without saying I want to know the first two as well. If anyone's got a contact email for Miss Plyler and you don't think she'd mind getting an email from me, please pass it along to my email address. As for the other best kept secrets in Waxhaw, anyone want to take a stab as to what they are?

Scott Farb out at the Museum of the Waxhaws

I'd been meaning to post more on happenings at the Museum of the Waxhaws and eventually planned to email director Scott Farb to include me on any kind of press release emails that went out so I was aware of what was taking place.

While camping this weekend, I got an email about the museum. Based on the subject, I figured it was simply meant to inform me about some upcoming event and I thought now would as good a time as any to get started on keeping tabs on their happenings.

Unfortunately, I was shocked to be informed that Scott Farb had been let go by the museum's board of directors. I don't have a specific date when it occurred, but the earliest reference on the museum's Facebook page to his being let go was June 8th. Perhaps more notable is the fact that the museum's last update on its own page was June 3rd.

I haven't been able to find one mention of this fact in any of the local media outlets, such as Union County Weekly, Waxhaw Exchange, or the Waxhaw Gazette. Perhaps they're working on the story as we speak or perhaps this is one my rare exclusives (thanks purely to readers who send me tips, of course)

That all being said, this clearly is a net loss for the museum. He has graciously hosted local Cub Scouts for camping events and den nights. I'd only spoken briefly with Scott on a couple occasions and I'm sure he did not realize he was speaking to Waxhaw's most secretive blogger. On both occasions, he was dressed in full historic garb and I honestly can say I've never seen him in regular clothes.

His enthusiasm for history seems readily apparent based solely on the Union County Weekly columns and constant Facebook updates for the museum, which went quiet in early June as I mentioned earlier above. I'm sure others could detail his many other contributions to the museum or history in general better than I; feel free to leave a comment if you'd like.

I've got a note out to Scott to see if he can provide any more details. In the meantime, is there anyone out there with a list of those on the board of directors for the museum? They seem to be the ones responsible for the decision, so queries for clarification from those seeking answers should be directed their way. If anyone happens to get a response, please pass it along to me if you'd like to share.

Historic walk on Saturday

Commissioner Blythe is doing another historic walk on Saturday at 10am. I imagine it kicks off at Waxhaw UMC as usual.

Of course, I've got a couple baseball games to attend so we'll miss as usual.

Waxhaw Women's Club book

The Waxhaw Women's Club has been in existence for the last 100 years, so they've likely been celebrating and whatnot.

The Union County Weekly has the story.

One interesting note is that the Women's Club has put together a book celebrating the 100 years of its service to the community. From the article:

As the current chair of the club’s Historical Committee and given her knowledge of the town and the club, it seems fitting the group chose [Gladys] Kerr to pen a book honoring its upcoming 100th anniversary on Friday, March 11.

Rather than just collect records, “I wanted to write a story that was exciting to read even if you’d never set foot in Waxhaw,” Kerr recalled recently. The Historical Committee agreed, and she spent the past year interviewing past and current club members and even her former fifth-grade teacher, Lois Collins Sims. Sims’ father, was a former Waxhaw mayor, and the teacher wrote her own historical account years ago.

The title for the 100th anniversary book, “Crossing the Street,” came to Kerr in the middle of the night and aptly describes the club’s 2007 move from its former building to its current location directly across the street at the former Belk Building in downtown Waxhaw.

The book is available at the Waxhaw Antique Mart for $25 and I hope to stop by and check it out one of these days.

Re: Andrew Jackson

The Museum of the Waxhaws had their Andrew Jackson birthday celebration today. Next weekend, Andrew Jackson State Park in Lancaster County will be having their birthday celebration.

Both locales claim to be the birthplace of the seventh president of the US as I touched upon last year.

Here's a more recent WBTV article on the debate.

Diary of John Osborne

Scott Farb had a short piece in a late January issue of the Union County Weekly. He apparently came into possession of a copy of a young man's diary from the early 1800's, compliments of Mark Hernig of Kick n' Stitch Broom Shop fame. Scott's description:

The Diary of John Osborne is a record of daily life in the Waxhaws from 1800 to 1803. Osborne was a young man who recorded many daily events, some of them quite mundane and others quite amazing. Yet there are four things young John seems to engage in on a regular basis: distilling whiskey for his uncle, traveling to Lancaster and Charleston to buy stills and distilling equipment, visiting with many young women, and listening to sermons. This was quite an adventurous life for a young man on the outskirts of Charlotte, and one where his activities are probably not what would normally come to mind when we think of the post-Revolutionary South.

Read the whole thing as it's rather interesting. Apparently there was lots of whiskey distilling going on, making a small part of me yearn for those simpler times.

And Scott will be sharing more tidbits from the journal in his monthly column in the Union County Weekly, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

His next article was rather interesting as well regarding a notice for the sale of dental equipment in the old Charlotte Journal. Scott garnered quite a bit of information from a little sales notice. Definitely worth reading.

Aww shucks

No, the title of this post isn't a segue to discuss Blind Boy Fuller's "Weeping Willow," a nice old blues song. For those of you haven't heard it, you can listen here.

The family and I made the short trek down to the Aw Shucks corn maze last Sunday, coincidentally on the same day the Observer had a story on the old McCain store that was moved from Waxhaw (on Lancaster Highway) to the Aw Shucks farm outside Monroe.

We hadn't been for a few years, so were a little surprised to see how much it'd grown. Corn maze, hayrides, a farm area, old train car, and nature trail among other things.

The theme of this year's corn maze was the 100th anniversary of scouting, so that was neat being a scouting family. We did it once as a family and then split up into two teams to see which team could successfully exit the maze first. My team didn't win, and perhaps it's no coincidence, but my team did explore most of the areas of the maze before we exited.

The old McCain store was pretty interesting, especially if you like old buildings and the knick knacks contained within. I had fun taking pictures of miscellanea on the walls while the rest of those inside waited in line for the snack bar.

For those who've seen the episode of History Channel's "American Pickers" where Mike and Frank make out like bandits at the Aw Shucks farm, then you have some idea of the amount of old signage displayed at the farm. Besides the corn maze, it was probably my favorite. I need to try and make a deal with Bonnie for some of them. They could decorate my garage if it ever gets clean enough; I should probably clean my garage first.

Finally took my historic walk

Town commissioner Joyce Blythe was kind enough to take some local Cub Scouts on a historic walk last night, so I was finally able to partake. And it was as enjoyable and informative as I thought it would be, including information on some of the older buildings in town, but chock full of anecdotes from the old days of Waxhaw.

For example, we stopped at the Duncan McDonald House (current surf shop) where the boys heard rumors of ghosts, the old McDonald hotel where we were kindly allowed to enter, and Mark Hernig's Kick 'n' Stitch broom shop among other places.

If you have even just a little interest in Waxhaw and its history, you definitely should consider slipping on your sneakers for the next historical walk Joyce does.

Historic walk scheduled this weekend

John Anderson's column in last Sunday's Observer is the gift that keeps giving (at least as far as this little Waxhaw blogger is concerned). He shares the following tidbit:

On Sept. 18 at 10 a.m., Town Commissioner Joyce Blythe will conduct a walking tour of Waxhaw's historic district.

She will be assisted by long term resident Melvin Farris. Joyce will educate and entertain participants with facts and anecdotes from the time before European settlers arrived right up to today. The tour is free and leaves from the Waxhaw United Methodist Church on the corner of McDonald and North Church Streets. Details: 704-843-2246.

This makes sense because once again I have a more pressing engagement to attend, in this case, a baseball game. Since I first heard about the historic walks that town commissioner Joyce Blythe so graciously gives, I don't believe I've had the opportunity to attend nary a one.

In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear Joyce Blythe gets together with the Waxhaw Athletic Association (and occasionally the Cub Scouts) and schedules the historic walks so it's impossible for me to attend. Trying to thwart me like the owners of Maxwell's Tavern have thwarted me in the past (temporarily of course).

On a more serious note, for anyone interested in the history of Waxhaw, these sound like neat events to attend.

On a side note, I saw no reference to this historic walk on the town's Facebook page or elsewhere. So far, John's column is the only reference to it that I've seen. Not as highly advertised as past walk's if my memory serves me well.

Lori Bee on historic preservation

I happened to check over at Lori's occasionally updated blog (link on my sidebar) this week & stumbled across an recent post on the new historic guidelines that are currently in the works by the town powers that be. (I've referred to town efforts to protect its historic structures for better or worse here, here, and here.)

The main idea in her words:

I DO totally agree that the new proposed ordinances/laws regulating the appearance of structures within Historic Waxhaw, is totally an infringement of private property rights.

During these turbulent economic times, adding additional costs to esthetically improve the appearance of structures, while not necessarily being energy effiicent or most effectively maintain structural integrity (classic example is windows), is ludicrious. To add this financial burden to home and property owners, is not wise, and I do understand their desperation to get everyone to understand their plight. It's asking a whole lot more of them than to just preserve history. It's asking them to potentially give up the financial ability to even own & maintain their homes, some of which have for generations.

But read the whole thing.

The available documents from the town can be found at the following link, but the draft guidelines (PDF) are located here.

Here's the the most significant info ripped from the PDF document for those interested:

Recommended Practices

1. Retain existing porches, windows and doors. The original materials and construction contain design features that are important to the overall look of these elements on a building.

2. Repair deteriorating elements using acceptable methods that will preserve the original materials and detailing. See list of resource information for discussion of some common repair methods.

3. If materials must be replaced, replace with materials that are of like kind with the same detailing. Carefully look at the design, proportions and detailing of the element to be replaced. Match the existing material; if it cannot be matched, look for similar detailing. Remember, the design details and proportions make a difference!

4. If a window or door must be replaced, do not enlarge or fill in openings. The dimensions and profile detailing of an existing window or door contribute to the overall look of the building and the feature itself. Match sizes of these features, as well as replicate trim profiles, sash dimensions and glazing patterns.

5. Add decoration to porches, window and doors only where there is photographic evidence that it existed originally. Simple elements like shutters, sidelights or decorative trim may not be appropriate to the architectural style of your particular building.

6. Substitute materials may be considered, but only if they truly match the characteristics, design profi le, size and confi guration, texture, planar relationships, durability, etc. New building technologies may offer alternatives; however, the detailing and durability is extremely important.

7. Remove inappropriate design treatments where applicable and restore features where they can be documented with pictures or expert advice from an architectural historian. Ensure that these treatments have not acquired significance over time; in some instances, modifications that have been in place for many years are important to the history of the building.

8. Place any window air conditioning units on the sides or rear of a building, rather than the front elevation. This preserves the main facade which is most visible to the public.

9. Repair or replace porch columns and balustrades using elements that match the original. Replicate the dimensions, profiles, spacing and attachment to the flooring, columns, stairs, etc.

10. Small tips that make a difference:

* Always use covered risers when adding or replacing stairs to porches and building entrances. Install porch lattice appropriately.

* Historically, lattice work was painted and displayed horizontal and vertical features, rather than diagonal.

* Appropriately attach balusters to top and bottom railings rather than directly to the floor framing or skirting; this may be appropriate for more modern residential decks, but it detracts from porches and stairs in historic settings.