"The grand lady of a mansion overlooking the French Broad River looked more like a disheveled hag when Marge Michel first met her.

With boarded up windows, a sagging roof and cobwebs galore, Michel didn’t share her husband Jake’s instant attraction to the property. But the Michels went forward with the 1987 purchase of the historic mansion that was once home to former congressman and ambassador Richmond Pearson.

Two years later, the couple opened the Richmond Hill mansion as a luxury bed and breakfast. It had been painstakingly restored by the Preservation Society, which moved in a few years earlier to save the Queen Anne-style structure that was one of the most elegant structures in Asheville when it was built on a hillside overlooking the French Broad River in 1889.

The decrepit building had been transformed into a warm retreat that hosted untold weddings, anniversary parties and travelers seeking a quiet get-away. It glowed with life as tourists, and celebrities such as Robert Redford, slept in rooms named after historic figures, warmed themselves by its fireplace and dined in the elegant Gabrielle’s restaurant. A few friendly ghosts were known to pace its halls.

A March 2009 arson and financial troubles ended that, but it was all recalled Saturday in an afternoon ceremony marking the property’s glorious past and its new future as a wellness retreat."

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The Asheville Citizen-Times (1/28/2012)

"The Statesville Planning Board held a brief meeting Tuesday night in which they mostly approved recommendations made to them by the Historic Preservation Commission for changes to the HPC guidelines.

The board approved sending seven changes to the guidelines to the city council, which has the final decision on the matter.

Among the matters the HPC considered were those dealing with replacement windows; the placement of satellite dishes; and those concerning impervious surfaces and surface water.

The HPC has decision-making power regarding the approval or denial of requests concerning work being done to the exterior of properties located in any of Statesville’s several historic districts. The commission uses the guidelines in helping its members make those decisions."

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Statesville Record & Landmark (1/25/2012)

"Officials in Newton are hoping that a historic district designation for parts of the city will lead to a revitalized downtown.

The city has applied to be put on the National Register of Historic Places. On Monday, Anne Swallow, National Register Coordinator for the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office, spoke to property owners and city officials, outlining some of the requirements for a property to be in a district.

The properties that have been included in the district are 51 commercial buildings, five homes and the 1924 Courthouse, Confederate monument and cannon at the courthouse, said Clay Griffith of Acme Preservation Services in Asheville, who is preparing a nomination for the designation to the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office registry and the National Register of Historic Places.

“The collection of architecture is quite good,” Griffith said.

Structures included in the district have to be at least 50 years old. Buildings also should retain features of the original structure."

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Hickory Daily Record (1/23/2012)

"Maybe our project is a little misnamed. We have collected many architects who “changed the landscape,” but our project’s collections represent those who sought to preserve the landscape as well. Such collections make sense in North Carolina, a state with a long tradition of preserving its historic landscapes, structures, cemeteries, neighborhoods, and archaeological treasures.

It is difficult to say exactly when preservation efforts began in North Carolina. Certainly, the state’s historical memory is long, stretching as far back to pre-Columbian archaeological sites such as the Town Creek Indian Mounds. Early architecture is also well represented in the state, from the Newbold-White House (which may be the state’s oldest surviving structure) to the beautiful Georgian- and Federal-style buildings of New Bern, Bath, and Edenton. The survival of these places suggests that all generations of North Carolinians have shared at least a passing interest in what came before them.

What maybe described as an active movement towards historic preservation began around the turn of the 20thGuilford Battle Ground Company, which incorporated in 1887 with the goal of preserving one of North Carolina’s most important battlefields. Another organized preservation effort began in the 1930s and culminated in the General Assembly’s sponsorship of the Tryon Palace Commission (1945) and led to the reconstruction of the colonial governor’s mansion and state capitol building at New Bern. Also around this same time, the Garden Club of North Carolina reorganized itself as the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities. This group’s goal originally was to preserve the finest historic homes and gardens. Over time the group’s mission evolved and its modern incarnation, Preservation North Carolina, seeks to save both high style and vernacular buildings across the state." century when various historic sites across the state began to attract committees interested in their survival. A fine example of such a committee is the

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N.C. State (1/20/2012)

"Supporting Aberdeen’s involvement in the North Carolina Main Street Program seems easy, but funding the program may be a little more difficult.

The Aberdeen Board of Commissioners discussed the Main Street Program during a special meeting Tuesday night.

The town is considering whether to reapply to become an active member of the Main Street Program. Aberdeen joined the program in 1990, but soon became inactive.

Town officials praised the program but are reluctant to commit to it unless they are sure they can make the monetary commitments of the minimum three-year requirement.

“I don’t see any negatives,” Mayor Pro Tem Robbie Farrell said. “It just boils down to how we are going to pay for it.”

The N.C. Main Street Program assists selected communities across the state in restoring economic vitality to their historic downtowns. Using a comprehensive downtown revitalization process developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street encourages economic development within the context of historic preservation.

The program emphasizes a four-point approach for downtown revitalization and historic preservation: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring."

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The Pilot (1/20/2012)