I’m hoping it’s safe to say that fall is officially here. The weather has turned, Election Day is almost here, and all of Durham’s end-of-year and seasonal events are being rolled out. On that note, Preservation Durham has some events coming up before the year ends, so be sure to check out the events page on our website. Our partnership with Hayti Promise CDC for the Fayetteville Street Corridor Project is in full swing with several exciting initiatives in the works. Finally, several advocacy efforts will come before the City Council in November, including an update on the Historic Durham Athletic Park and the Home Security Life Building at 505 W. Chapel Hill Street. You can read more about our ongoing Preservation Priorities later in this newsletter.
Last month, we joined the owners of the Chicken Hut to present the official designation of their building as a City of Durham Local Landmark to the City Council. Having the opportunity to present and share stories like those associated with the Chicken Hut and Tapp family is truly the most fulfilling part of this work. If you missed it, you can watch the presentation and comments in support on YouTube here, starting around 2 hours and 9 minutes. It’s remarkable that the owners initiated this process for local designation, and we’re thrilled to honor the Tapp family with an award for their stewardship at our Preservation Party later this month on November 18. Last year, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary with an end-of-year event and award ceremony. So many of you shared how nice it was to have a social opportunity to bring the Durham preservation community together that we decided to make it an annual celebration. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, I hope you’ll take a moment to do so today. It’s free, with a suggested but optional donation, and it helps us make sure the bar is stocked accordingly.
We hope to see you there and celebrate another year of preserving Durham’s history together!
Historic Durham Athletic Park (DAP): City staff will provide an update on community engagement and the initial plans for the future of the Historic Durham Athletic Park (DAP) at the November 6th City Council Work Session. Last month marked the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson playing at the DAP—14 years before the ballpark was integrated. The DAP’s history and significance to Durham’s culture cannot be overstated. Baseball and the DAP have been central to Durham’s story for generations. From the city’s tobacco legacy and the fight for civil rights to its impact on pop culture and Minor League baseball, few places in Durham hold the public esteem that the DAP does. We shared the City’s survey earlier this year to collect public engagement and were told there was an overwhelming response from the public. We’re calling on the same support for the next phase of this project.
Photo courtesy of Durham Sun, Wednesday October 11, 1950.
Please SPEAK UP and voice your support for prioritizing preservation and public access of DAP in the future planning of DAP. We encourage you to attend the November 6 work session; submit public comments on the agenda item; or send emails to Mayor Williams and Council. What to say? The same things you’ve been sharing with us for months - that this place matters to Durham and cannot and should not be erased. Access the agenda for the meeting with all supporting materials on the city’s agenda center here. We’ll post an update on socials and our website next week before the meeting too so check back!
Home Security Life Insurance Building (505 W. Chapel Hill St): Continuing on the progress made at the June 5th work session earlier this year, we have been working tirelessly with our partners to advocate for a new plan for the preservation and rehabilitation of the Home Security Life Insurance Building at 505 W. Chapel Hill Street. In June, Preservation North Carolina (PNC) our statewide partner, presented a Letter of Interest to negotiate an offer to purchase agreement for the Home Security Life Building. A direct sale is allowed pursuant to N.C.G.S. §160A-266(b). Preservation NC (with Preservation Durham and NC Modernist’s support) proposed subdividing the building from the larger four acre parcel to facilitate a smaller scale redevelopment with an experienced preservation developer. We believe this is the best path forward for the development at this time.
10 broken windows and counting. This is not preservation.
Multiple rounds of RFPs for a master planned development over the last 10 years have not yielded results while deferred maintenance on the building continues to pile up. We also believe that separating the historic building from the rest of the site will make development of the rest of the parcel more attractive to a development team in the future to pursue affordable housing, unencumbered by the desire to preserve the existing building. After months of waiting and working behind the scenes, Preservation NC submitted an updated proposal last month with more details at the request of the City, to be presented to Council at the November 20th Work Session.
Join us on November 18th at our 2025 Preservation Party and Annual Awards Ceremony, where we will be celebrating the Chicken Hut as one of our 2025 award winners. We are delighted to recognize the Chicken Hut for their dedication to preserving the beloved restaurant through the local landmark nomination process.
Preservation Durham 2025 Award Winners:
- Robyn Wiegman for the Preservation of her Craftsman-Bungalow Home at 117 W. Seeman Street
- The Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties and the Hill Trust for their renovation of the Hill House
- Andre’ Vann, local public historian whose work has supported many preservation and education efforts, including the preservation of the James E. Shepard House
- Philip Hansell for the restoration of Little Five Points
- The St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation for 50 years of great work in preserving the Hayti Heritage Center and using it as a vital local culture center
- Tre and Khya Tapp, owners of the Chicken Hut, for their dedication to preserving their family’s legacy by going through the local landmark nomination process
- Central Park School for Children Foundation for the preservation and reuse of the North Durham Graded School
- DTW Architects and Planners LLC for over 40 years of amazing preservation work in Durham
- The Museum of Durham History and Friends of Geer Exhibit: Unearthing Stories from Geer Cemetery, which demonstrates the importance of archaeology, preservation, and education in the protection in one of the oldest Black cemeteries in Durham
Preservation Durham Awards are awarded to those who have engaged in remarkable acts of preservation and public history across Durham County. The awards recognize those who have taken significant care in preserving Durham’s built environment and those who have creatively and innovatively engaged with, transformed, and disseminated Durham’s rich history. The awards seek to broaden our preservation community by celebrating what preservation looks like across Durham County.
Over the past few weeks, we have been meeting with award winners to film introductory videos to be shown during the party! It has been a delight to talk with each award winner and learn more about their dedication to historic preservation and education in the Durham area. We are so grateful to the incredible Ben Oliver of Storyboard Media, who will be editing each video to be displayed during the program. We are delighted to show off the amazing work our award winners have done and continue to do with a glimpse through these videos.
Join us at the annual Preservation Party where we’ll celebrate the award winners on November 18th at ReCity Network (112 Broadway St)! This is a FREE event, with a suggested donation of $30/ticket. Registration is open now on our website!
A HUGE thank you to Preservation Durham’s 2025 Sustaining Sponsors!
Their support makes it possible for us to provide advocacy, technical guidance, and programs that preserve Durham’s history and make it accessible to all. We couldn’t do this important work without them, and we are deeply grateful for their commitment. If you’re interested in joining our community of sponsors and supporting Preservation Durham’s work in 2026, reach out to Julianne Patterson or click here to learn more.
Preservation Durham and the Pauli Murray Center are pleased to announce a joint fundraiser to highlight Durham’s Queer History with a bus tour and social reception. Learn more about the numerous individuals, organizations, and activism that has shaped Durham into the LGBTQ+ safe space that it is today.
The tour will include a 1.5-hour bus tour, where attendees will learn more about the importance of built space for the protection, celebration, and community building within the LGBTQ+ community in Durham. The bus tour will include two outside excursions: to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens to visit the Stormie Daie mural and to the Pauli Murray mural on 1101 W. Chapel Street.
The tour ends at the Pauli Murray Center for an opportunity to visit the Fitzgerald House, where Pauli lived while in Durham, for a social reception. Thanks to a partnership with the Duke Human Rights Center, attendees will also receive a zine about the importance of preserving Queer spaces.
This exclusive tour will take place on Saturday, November 8th, 2025 from 2:30-5:00 pm. (Only 8 tickets remaining!)
In light of increasing federal censorship, it's more important than ever to raise awareness about the significance of historic LGBTQ+ sites and the preservation programs that preserve and celebrate their stories.
This year, the Pauli Murray Center was among many historic sites that lost critical funding. In response, we’re proud to share that all proceeds from this special tour will be split to support both the Pauli Murray Center and our own ongoing programming.
Tickets are $75 per person, with an option to contribute additional donations.
We recognize that $75 is a significant cost, and we’re committed to making this tour accessible to everyone. A free, self-guided version will be available on Open Durham, allowing anyone to explore the history on their own after the tour. We're also actively seeking local partners interested in offering the tour at a reduced rate or for free. (If your organization would like to help bring the tour to more people, please reach out!)
A condensed version of the tour will also remain available as a private walking tour through Preservation Durham.
Even if you can’t join the tour, we invite you to make a donation in support of this vital work by both organizations. Your contribution—no matter the size—will directly support efforts to protect and uplift LGBTQ+ history in the face of increasing threats. Together, we can ensure these stories are preserved, shared, and celebrated.
LEARN, VOLUNTEER & REFLECT AT A DURHAM HISTORIC SITE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
In honor of Veterans' Day and the rich legacy of the people & places along Durham’s Fayetteville Street Corridor, the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's HOPE Crew, will host a volunteer training and service day at Beechwood Cemetery on Saturday, November 8th, from 9am-1pm. Join to learn monument preservation techniques from experts while helping to clean and reset grave markers honoring loved ones and notable local African American historic figures.
Established in 1926, Beechwood is a window into local history and heritage, serving as the final resting place of influential Durham leaders—including North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company founders John Merrick, Dr. Aaron Moore, and C.C. Spaulding; and James Shepard, founder of North Carolina Central University—leaders with enduring legacies, reflecting the strength and resilience of Durham’s Fayetteville Street Corridor.
Local Durham General Elections are coming up on Tuesday, November 4th, which include races for mayor and city council members representing Ward 1, Ward 2, and Ward 3. To gauge how these candidates plan to advocate for preservation if they were to win, we sent out a questionnaire. This questionnaire was sent out to each candidate, with the same amount of time to answer and the same due date to ensure fairness.
We heard from a total of 10 candidates and have uploaded their answers to our website. We asked seven questions, which varied regarding how funding would be used to further Durham preservation, how each candidate would like the city to work with us and other preservation organizations, the role preservation plays in Durham’s future growth, and more. Check out our post on our website to see how your local candidates view the future of Durham’s preservation, and go vote!
Commemorating Black Freedom-Seeking, Placemaking, & Migration in
America and Canada supporting descendant community members who seek ways to preserve Black placemaking, freedom-seeking, migration, and place keeping heritage through creative storytelling.
Photo courtesy of Friends of Geer Cemetery
Friends of Geer Cemetery, a grassroots organization of volunteers, uses grave markers to identify grave sites at Geer Cemetery, a historically African American cemetery in Durham, North Carolina. Since its inception in 2003, the organization has led cleanup efforts to maintain the once-neglected cemetery and has been working with firms to perform archaeological services, such as identifying and resetting headstones. And despite there being no surviving records from the cemetery itself, volunteers have researched the genealogy and history of those buried, reconstructing stories of their lives. - Full story by Mary Mungai in Indy Week & Media Hub.
The City of Durham’s Planning & Development Department created the Heritage Communities program to honor and celebrate historical communities in Durham that have never been formally recognized by the City or County. The inaugural Durham Heritage Community is Merrick-Moore, a community built by family and friends, and centered around a historic church and a celebrated high school. We invite you to take a spatial journey through the history of this vibrant community located along Cheek Road (Formerly Fish Dam Road).
The Norwood-Stamps house is named after two of the long-term tenants of the house at 712 S. Buchanan. Lizzie Norwood and Nancy Stamps, who lived in the home, situated as a duplex, for 15 and 10 years respectively. Norwood and Stamps were both tobacco workers and were recently widowed when they moved into this home.
Buchanan Street was originally Milton Street. Many African-American laborers lived on this street. Discriminatory identification of this street on “redlining” maps left many of these homes to be neglected and fall into disrepair, as they were seen as not worthy of restoration. The deterioration of many of the homes was a major factor in the exclusion of this street from the Morehead Hill National Historic District. The plaque applicants also rightfully point out that Preservation Durham had not done enough to bring attention and advocate for these homes, which could have helped prevent some of the deterioration.
The plaque applicants did a thorough renovation of the home to restore it to much of its original look and materials. Some of the work they did included removing vinyl and MDF siding, repairing and preserving the original wood siding, and restoring the original porch beams and ceiling.
Originally, the Blair House Restaurant and Country Inn, this location became Blueberry Hill in the 1970s. Blueberry Hill is considered the first gay bar in Durham, in that it was the first bar to open exclusively as a gay bar.
Blueberry Hill is one of the places we talk about on our upcoming Queer History of Durham tour on November 8th. In the curation of this tour, we have also done a major update of many sites associated with queer history on Open Durham! Look out for the new updates and the Queer History Tour that will be published the first week of November.
It has been a long time coming to update Open Durham with more sites associated with queer history. For a long time, Blueberry Hill was one of the only postings on Open Durham related to queer history.
That being said, this posting was a huge help when creating this tour. I highly encourage everyone to check out the comment section on this page, where many people commented about this site and other queer related sites. The commenters’ additions were crucial in the research process for this tour and Open Durham update. It is also a beautiful example of how built space can mean so much to people, and I hope you enjoy the commentary as much as I have.
With continuous restrictions and the removal of queer history in archives throughout the United States, we believe it is as important as ever to preserve this history through educational tools like Open Durham. We also hope it speaks to the importance of protecting queer spaces, as they are often demolished or stripped of any of their queer associations in the face of urban renewal and gentrification. Our Queer History of Durham tour and update to Open Durham seek to bring awareness to queer spaces throughout Durham and the absolute necessity to protect them.
More information for the Hayti Promise: Community Conservation Program Coordinator here.
Local events and news from us and our partners in preservation you may be interested in.
- Preservation Durham and Pauli Murray Center Fundraiser: Queer History Tour of Durham. Saturday, November 8th, 2:30-5pm. $75/ticket. Join us as we raise money for Preservation Durham and the Pauli Murray Center through our Queer History Bus Tour! This event includes a bus tour, social hour at the Pauli Murray Center, and a physical copy of the Queer Durham History zine made specifically for this event. $75/ticket with an additional donation option. Buy tickets here.
- Beechwood Cemetery Preservation Service Day. Saturday, November 8th, 9am-1pm. The Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's HOPE Crew, will host a volunteer training and service day at Beechwood Cemetery on Saturday, November 8th, from 9am-1pm. Learn monument preservation techniques from experts while helping to clean and reset grave markers honoring loved ones and notable local African American historic figures. Please RSVP here.
- Preservation Durham Annual Awards Ceremony and Preservation Party. Tuesday, November 18th, 6-8pm, ReCity Network (112 Broadway St). Free with suggested $30 donation. We are excited to host this year’s preservation party and awards ceremony at ReCity Network. We will be celebrating our ten award winners for their great work in preserving Durham’s history. Learn more about what’s going on in Durham’s preservation scene while enjoying snacks and beverages with other historically-minded Durhamites! Register here.
- Bennett Place State Historic Site’s Old Hillsborough Road Market. Saturday, November 22nd, 11am-3pm. James and Nancy Bennett lived along Hillsborough Road, a major throughway between the county seat of Hillsborough and the state capitol of Raleigh. They earned money selling goods & services to passers-by on the roadway. On November 22, Bennett Place State Historic Site brings back that entrepreneurial, small-business spirit with the Old Hillsborough Road Market. Shop from local craft, retail, and food vendors for a perfect holiday gift! Click here for more information.
- Brodie Duke: The Man, The Myth, The Truth Book Talk with Cora Darrah. December 9th, 6-7pm, The Chesterfield (701 W. Main St). Join us as local historian and author, Cora Darrah, discusses her new book Brodie Duke: The Man, The Myth, The Truth. Learn more about Brodie Duke, the son of the American Tobacco Company, and a tobacco entrepreneur. This book gives insight into the life of Brodie Duke, and the rise of the city of Durham in conjunction with the rise of local tobacco manufacturing. Register here.
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