Deadline to save Cornelius tenant farmhouse is Feb. 1
Photo Dan Morrill Facebook
Dec. 22. By Dave Vieser. Preserve Mecklenburg, which hopes to save the tenant house at the old Alexander Farm at West Catawba and Westmoreland, would move the historic structure to a site near the Cedar Grove mansion on Gilead Road in Huntersville.
The deadline is apparently Feb. 1.
“There were many sharecroppers at Cedar Grove,” said Mecklenburg County historian Dan Morrill. “Moving the tenant house there would allow their history to be recognized.”
Major development
The Alexander Farm property will be cleared for a large mixed-use project already approved by the Town Board.
Saving the structure came up at Monday’s Town Board Meeting in Cornelius.
“Efforts are under way to secure a place to move it and a search for ways to pay for the project. It seems to be the last house of this nature left in the county,” said Mayor Woody Washam.
Morrill, on Facebook, stated that the town declined to partner up with Preserve Mecklenburg to save the structure.
Deadline looms
“Someone must agree before Feb. 1st to pay to move the house to another location, restore the house, and maintain the house,” Morrill stated.
Local history
There were hundreds of these tenant houses in Mecklenburg County a century ago but apparently the one on the Alexander Farm is the only one that remains.
The property was farmed by the late Eugene Alexander, who was the last remaining farmer on the western side of Cornelius, until 2013. He died New Years Day 2014 at the age of 96.
Fast forward
The Alexander family sought to sell the 55-acre property and after a lengthy series of public hearings, Florida based WIN development secured the rezoning needed to begin a $110 million mixed-use project.
The development will include single-family homes, a Lidl grocery store, additional retail and an age-restricted, resort-style apartment complex.
Town officials last year said the main house on the property, a two-story farmhouse with a metal roof, could not be saved.
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I’ve seen an ongoing effort to save the ‘historical’ Confederate monument on Zion Avenue in Cornelius but I imagine the Town does not see any value in saving this far more historical dwelling which also stands on private property.
Agree with Mr. Simpson:
Preserving a more important part of the county’s history should be a priority. Those tenant farmers were the backbone of Southern farms up until after WWII- no farmer could have survived without their help, just as plantation owners and large acreage farmers could not have survived or prospered without slavery before the Civil War. Our priority is wrong if we canonize the Civil War and do nothing to honor the hard working tenant farmers.
Just curious – why did the town not join Mecklenburg’s Preserve group to save this building ??
Really? Our town spend precious tax dollars to save a piece of history? That is outlandish! Who in their right Republican mind would do that for heavens sake.
Where do I find the Town response?
Perhaps they can let some of the $32,000,000 collected tax revenues earning .20% do some good and rescue this dwelling.