As we go about our busy day-to-day lives, thinking about what’s going on at the federal and even state and local levels can feel overwhelming. This is particularly true when it feels like there isn’t much we can do about it all anyway. One of the current issues that Preservation Durham has been keeping a very close eye on is the disregard for historic preservation and preservation law by the federal government. This past July the federal government put forward a draft proposal to rewrite Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This rewrite would be disastrous for the nation’s historical, cultural, and tribal treasures both across the country and at the local level.
Things are now moving quickly, but the attacks on historic preservation are becoming more focused and pronounced. One thing that has always been true about the Durham community is how much we value our rich and complex history and the way that history can be conveyed through physical structures and spaces. Now is our time to stand up against the threats to parts of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Before we jump into what can be done, let’s get a bit of background and context. The National Historic Preservation Act was signed into law in 1966 and, for 60 years, Section 106 of this act has provided a framework for any development projects with federal funding to work with preservationists, cultural heritage experts, and tribal nation leaders to preserve and protect culturally significant structures and spaces. The goal of Section 106 has always been to reach consensus between the developers and the affected communities.
On America’s 250th anniversary, the federal government is now proposing that that consensus -- which has been the foundation of the preservation of countless historical landmarks, the protection of wilderness lands, and more -- is not necessary. According to the draft proposal, agencies would no longer be required by federal law to protect areas of historical, cultural, or tribal significance. It would be at their discretion to consider what is and is not historic, and thus worthy of saving. Developers using federal funds will no longer be required to speak with the communities that their projects will be affecting. If developers choose to set up venues for discussion, the developer will oversee the facilitation. What this means in practice is that the bulldozers can show up and begin tearing down a community cemetery, landmark, or wilderness space without any previous discussion or warning. Once an unspoiled landscape, burial site, or local landmark is destroyed, there is no replacement.
This proposed rewriting of Section 106 deprives communities of their recourse to argue for the importance of their historical and geographical assets. As a result, the only recourse will be protest and litigation. Six decades after the National Historic Preservation Act was signed into law, providing an ethical and balanced pathway to both preservation and development, the federal government is proposing to do away with this precedent. They are instead proposing to replace this key framework of partnership and consensus between communities and the federal government with a new standard that would eliminate the voice of the communities and provide developers with sole discretion over the outcomes of their projects.
Preservation Durham stands in strong opposition to the proposed rewriting of Section 106. At this time, the proposal is only in draft form, but once it has moved through the process and is approved, it will only take another 30 days to go into effect. The time is now for the Durham community to use their voices. If preservation of Durham’s historic landmarks, community cemeteries, cultural heritage parks, and historic neighborhoods are important to you, then we encourage you to use your voice!
While the prospect of the rewriting of Section 106 is gut-wrenching, it is important to know that we are not alone in the fight. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Cultural Heritage Partners LLC, the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers are all in collaboration to prevent the proposed changes to Section 106. Here are ways that you can also get involved:
To learn more about what Section 106 is and how this draft rewriting affects the future of preservation in the United States, here are some resources:
Preservation Durham has strived over the course of our 50 years as an organization to protect Durham’s culturally diverse history, heritage, and historic assets through education, advocacy, and action. We will continue to do that work tirelessly through this present threat and beyond. We hope you’ll join us.
Caitlin Avinger
Executive Director
2026 Preservation Party & Annual Awards
Tuesday November 17th, 5:30pm-7:30pm
Preservation Durham 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. Congratulations to our nine award winners!
Join us on Tuesday, 11/17/26 from 5:30pm-7:30pm at the Rickhouse to celebrate the award winners. The Rickhouse at 609 Foster Street was built in 1938 as a tobacco prizery and warehouse for the RJ Reynolds Company. Free event open to the public, with appetizers and drinks. Suggested $50 donation/group of attendees. The Silent auction will feature items from local favorites, including Monuts Donuts, Ninth Street Bakery, The Velvet Hippo, The Regulator Bookshop, and Loaf Durham.
Preservation Durham and Hayti Promise CDC are partnering with Whistle Stop Tours to put on a theatrical tour of six homes along the historic Fayetteville Street Corridor, funded through the ARPA grant as part of the Fayetteville Street Corridor Project. The Fayetteville Street Corridor was a crucial part of the Hayti Community, home to many movers and shakers in Durham. Featured along this tour are the Dr. Leroy Swift Office and Residence, the Harriet Tubman YWCA, the Dr. Joseph N. Mills House, the F.K. "Movie King" and Parepa Watkins House, the Page and Sons Grocery Store, and the Scarborough House. Prepare for an immersive storytelling experience centering community testimonies brought to life through performance art.
All tours will be at 2:00pm on the following dates:
9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/17, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21
Saturday, October 10th, 9am-3pm
NC Modernist and Preservation Durham are delighted to present the Harkrader Home Tour. From 1972-2000, Richard and Lonna Harkrader founded, owned and operated New Morning Construction and New Morning Realty, two businesses that built numerous passive solar, energy efficient homes and apartments with a unique architectural style in and around the Morehead Hill neighborhood of Durham.
Explore the solar passive style of homes by visiting six Harkrader properties during the Harkrader Home Tour on Saturday, October 10th from 9am-3pm.
If you’d like to volunteer as a docent for the tour, please sign up HERE. Volunteers help for half the tour, and get a ticket to enjoy the other half of the tour.
During Durham's Pride Week, the Durham LGBTQ Center, Preservation Durham, the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, and the Museum of Durham
History are excited to host the Queer History of Durham Tour: Downtown Edition.
Join our organizations as we share some of the many sites associated with the history of the LGBTQ+ community here in Durham. This is a walking tour, with about a mile
worth of walking in Durham's downtown social district.
The meeting spot for the tour is at the Museum of Durham History (500 W. Main St.), where attendees will be able to view their current exhibit, "To Love and Live Free: The 1986 Mayoral Recall Fight & the Origins of Durham Pride."
Registration is free, with an optional donation to support our organizations.
Join us in celebrating Durham's LGBTQ+ history and learn more about how each of
our organizations work to protect, share, and preserve Durham's LGBTQ+ history.
Celebrate the macabre and strange with Preservation Durham in Historic Maplewood Cemetery this Halloween! Join one of our special Halloween tours on Saturday, October 31. Tours at 11:30 a.m. and1 p.m. Come hear startling, mysterious, and often touching stories about Durhamites who entered the dreary regions of the dead through murder, mayhem, and misfortune - like the young man who was killed by a lion or the society leader who fell from a great height. Then there are the stories of the gunfight over the piano, the girl killed by the elevator, and the young fellow who didn't look both ways at the train station. All these and more will be revealed during a lovely walk through Durham's peaceful Maplewood Cemetery.
RTP emerged under the unique circumstances of a poor Southern state that needed to find a way to offset the declining industries of tobacco, furniture, and textiles in the 1950s. Through the sustained commitment of nearby universities, business leaders, and local and state officials, state leaders established the largest science and research park in the U.S. in an area that was nothing but “possums and pines.” Miracle Road tells this story through the eyes of those at the center of it, like the local black leaders who convinced white officials to desegregate public schools with the justification that it would make the area more appealing to tech companies,
or how a chance meeting between the governor and a Danish executive led to North Carolina becoming an epicenter for weight loss drugmakers decades later. Allen Paul and Mack Paul organize the story around major periods in RTP’s growth, showing how RTP came to define the region and the state by the 1990s as well as the major setbacks it encountered in the early 2000s. Breaking down the strategies that led to RTP’s success, like creating new institutions in targeted tech areas to spur activity and factoring quality of life into the regional planning of the area, Miracle Road demonstrates how the story of Research Triangle Park is a fascinating and important case study of urban development in the twenty-first century.
Presenting Partner
Preservation Partner
George Watts Hill Circle
Preservation Friends
2006 Fayetteville Street has been home to several different families of educators. Dr. Gow Bush and Lucylle Bush were the first two residents who purchased the property in 1939 and built the home a couple years later. Dr. Bush was a Biology professor at NC College, which would become NCCU. Dr. Bush then worked as a physician in Durham before moving to Florida in 1952, being one of the first Black physicians in the Lakeland, Florida area. Dr. Bush opened a private practice and was a physician and surgeon at Lakeland Hospital.
Photo courtesy Heather Slane, National Historic District Submission, Dec. 2017
Lucylle Bush worked as a teacher and school counselor, and was active in the Lakeland community with numerous clubs and organizations, including the YMCA board of directors and the Lakeland Chapter of the American Red Cross. Lucylle was also part of the two-person team that worked the relocation assistance center for those displaced by the building of the Lakeland Auditorium complex.
Dr. John H. and Blondola Lucas, as well as their children, Cheryl and John H. Lucas Jr. lived at 2006 Fayetteville after the Bushes moved to Florida. Dr. Lucas served as principal at numerous schools in Orange and Durham counties, including Hillside High from 1962-1985. Dr. Lucas also served on the Board of Education in Durham and was the president of Shaw University for a year.
Blondola taught language arts and social studies in Kinston, NC, where she and John met. She was also the Assistant Principal of Instruction and the Dean of Girls at Whitted Junior High/Shepard Middle School. Blondola was recognized as Durham Mother of the Year in 1975, Assistant Principal of the Year, and was a Women of Achievement Silver Medallion Award Nominee.
Photo courtesy Bill Phillips, 2026
823 6th Street is now 841 Clarendon Street after the renaming of the street in the 1950s, and renumbering the block about 20 years ago. Catherine and Joseph Whitfield were likely the original owners of the lot over 100 years ago, but lived on the adjoining property beside it.
The Whitfields sold the property to Lillie C. and John W. Burton in 1924. John W. Burton owned several other properties in the neighborhood. The Burton family lived a few blocks over at 1206 Broad Street. Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, the home was a multi-family rental unit first managed by the Burtons, then Guy and Mindy Solie.
The 1937 map above shows the home on the corner of 6th St. (now Clarendon St.) and B St. (now Green St). Bettie Malone, William R. Malone, and their four children were shown as residents of the home in 1926 in the City Directory. William R. Malone had an illustrious 35-year career at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that included a decade-long stint serving as assistant superintendent for the Durham territory. The Malone family moved a few blocks away to 1005 Broad Street in 1935.
Local events and news from us and our partners in preservation you may be interested in.
- Durham-Orange Genealogical Society Join us on Wednesday, September 2nd at 7pm at the OWASA Community Center in Carrboro, or online via Zoom, to hear Ricky L. Hart (Chairman of the Stagville Descendants Council) and Beverly Evans (Executive Liaison of the Stagville Descendants Council) present The Other Side of the Stagville Plantation Story.
- A Benefit Concert for the Eno - Celebrating 60 years of the Eno River Association at the Carolina Theatre on Saturday, September 12th at 7:30pm. There will be a free community gathering that afternoon from 1-5pm, at DPlex Plaza with live music and performances. Come out for interactive activities with community partners, and take home new Eno River Association merchandise.
- America 250 Traveling Exhibit at Chatham Community Library explores how NC helped forge a new nation during one of the most transformative periods in history. This exhibit reveals the state’s role in the struggle for independence, from early protests against British rule and the battles fought on Carolina soil to the drafting of the Constitution. Exhibit runs through October 7th.
- UCAN’s 10th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, September 12th from 11am-4pm. Enjoy an afternoon of fun at the farm featuring activities, food, live music and community. If you’ve been wanting to learn more about UCAN and Catawba Trail Farm, this is a great opportunity to visit the farm and enjoy a guided tour.
- Historic Athletic Park Baseball Walking Tour on Tuesday, September 15th, 5:30-7pm at 500 W. Corporation St. SOLD OUT
- Luminary & Freedom Stories at Bennett Place State Historic Site on Friday, September 18th, 7pm-9:30pm. Walk among 3,310 luminaries - one for every 1,000 enslaved people in NC - and reflect on experiences of enslavement and freedom. Historians dot the path and share stories of people's pathways to freedom and life after slavery and the Civil War.
- CenterFest on September 19-20 in downtown Durham celebrating art, music, food, and community. Free admission, with $5 suggested donation to help support local arts.
- Vintage Baseball Day on Saturday, October 3rd, starting at 11am. Enjoy a day of vintage baseball played at the Historic Durham Athletic Park! Duke Homestead welcomes all people to participate and honor the struggles and achievements of the many players over the past century who brought us the Durham baseball culture we know today. Players will wear historic uniforms, follow historic gameplay, and use historic equipment.
- Harkrader Home Tour on October 10th, 9am-3pm. This is a special year, as we’re hosting a second home tour! The Harkrader Home Tour is in partnership with NC Modernist and will feature six passive solar, energy efficient homes.
- Maplewood Cemetery Halloween Tour on October 31st, 11 am & 1:30 pm. Join us for our Murder, Mayhem, and Misfortune tour of Maplewood Cemetery to begin your Halloween fun!
- Preservation Durham Annual Awards Ceremony and Preservation Party. Tuesday, November 17th, 5:30pm-7:30pm, The Rickhouse at 609 Foster St. Free with suggested $50 donation. We are excited to host this year’s preservation party and awards ceremony at The Rickhouse to celebrate our 2026 award winners for their great work in preserving Durham’s history.
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