For his dedication to preservation efforts in New Bern, particularly his successful drive to save the brick-lined 1917 Caswell Branch Bridge after transportation officials announced plans to replace it.

Buzz Mead has flown jets, hiked the Appalachian Trail (really) and enjoyed a long career as a successful attorney. But today, we are here to recognize his love of historic architecture and his dedication to service as a long-time leader in the New Bern Preservation Foundation.

The first thing many people notice about Buzz is his enthusiasm for life. He throws himself into whatever he is engaged in, which makes him an especially effective leader and an efficient fundraiser. Buzz’s intelligence and expertise often are called on when issues involve state and local government, yet he is no less an eager participant when the task at hand requires engaging with talkative sixth-graders or whacking weeds in one of New Bern’s historic cemeteries.

He has many achievements to cite: His fierce dedication to saving the railroad depot in New Bern, his help in creating an architectural walking tour at Tryon Palace, his sponsorship of the Pepsi Cola club for junior historians, his organizational leadership skills — even his hard work on community clean-up days and during the Foundation’s Spring Home and Garden Tour.

But one project rises to the top. In 1994, Buzz learned of highway improvement plans that threatened to destroy the 1917 brick road which ran through Craven County and over the Caswell Branch Bridge. The road would be widened from nine feet to twenty and covered with asphalt. Working diligently to find an alternative solution, Buzz and the New Bern Preservation Foundation obtained grants from the National Trust and others for an engineering study. After nearly a decade of advocacy and negotiations, a portion of the road was finally preserved and the bridge rehabilitated with a NCDOT Enhancement Grant.

In 2007, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the grand reopening of the 90-year-old bridge. Not only did this restoration project successfully preserve an important example of early-20th-century road and highway construction, it represents the essence of what a dedicated and hard working preservationist can achieve when he truly sets his mind to it.

This Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit goes to Earl “Buzz” Mead, a past president of the New Bern Preservation Foundation.