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Home My Public Portal About07-28-2016 Minutes HDC Regular Meeting Minutes Hillsborough Cemetery Committee Thursday, July 28, 2016 9:00 a.m., Town Barn Present: Chair Ken Ostrand, Vice Chair Ashley DeSena, Lisa Williams, Jane Gaede, David McCullough, Archivist Bartow Culp, Evelyn Poole-Kober Absent: None Staff: Ken Hines, Jamie Johnson Item 1: Call meeting to order, and confirm presence of a quorum Chair Ostrand called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. He called the roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum. Item 2: Consideration of changes or adjustments to the agenda Item #11 will be moved up on the agenda because Ms. Gaede needs to leave the meeting at 10:30 a.m. Motion: Archivist Culp made a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Second: Ms. Williams seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous Item 3: Approval of minutes from May 20, 2016 meeting There were no changes to the minutes. Motion: Archivist Culp made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 20, 2016 meeting. Second: Vice Chair DeSena seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous Item 4: Conferences: Asheville [Ostrand, Williams] Hillsborough Cemetery Conference [DeSena] Chair Ostrand and Ms. Williams attended a cemetery preservation conference in Asheville. The conference focused on cemetery documentation. Ms. Williams stated that the Cemetery Committee is already employing most of the methods that were covered during the conference. The committee uses survey forms tailored to its needs in order to record data such as gravestone material, symbols and emblems. The committee already uses community volunteers for preservation efforts. Some tips that were mentioned were to reach out to the community via social media, to provide the local library with 2 cemetery records and gravestone photos for archival purposes, and to focus on removing hazards from the cemetery. Vice Chair DeSena indicated that the State Historic Preservation Office grant for a conference in the Old Town Cemetery was approved. Staff is awaiting a contract from SHPO for the grant funds. The committee members agreed to set a date for the conference in April or May 2017. Vice Chair DeSena will be the liaison for the committee and work with staff throughout this event. Item 5: Discussion of OTC Preservation Award The award was presented during the Last Fridays event on May 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Orange County Historic Courthouse. Archivist Culp, Ms. Gaede, Mr. McCullough, Ms. Poole-Kober, and Ms. Williams were present for the awards presentation. Ms. Trueblood took photos of the event. Ms. Johnson will forward them to committee members once downloaded. Item 6: Cleanups of New Town Cemetery [NTC] and OTC [May 14] (Williams) Ms. Williams indicated that the cleanup on May 14, was very successful. Twelve Boy Scouts, their dads and other adult volunteers removed ivy. At the June training session for D-2, a few volunteers indicated the work was too laborious and left. About 2/3 of the work is done and in the fall, another clean-up day will be scheduled. The OTC is looking good. There is one portion that the mowers miss each time that needs to be pointed out to them. Item 7: Burke and Brochures: status reports [DeSena (OTC) and Hines (NTC, Rules)]; Williams (NTC, Walking) The Sons of the American Revolution started the process to potentially move Thomas Burke’s grave site into the Old Town Cemetery. The State of North Carolina believes they control the grave site of Thomas Burke and has made it clear they prefer to not move the grave site. State officials prefer to increase access to the current site with an easement. At this time, visitors have to cross an electric fence and climb up hill to the grave. Burke’s descendants in Ireland will have to be contacted about the move and give their permission for the process to move forward. Mr. Hines stated the town will let everyone involved know the results of the GPR work. If there is space available, the state, the town board, and Burke’s relatives must be in favor of the project before action can be taken. The New Town Cemetery brochures were printed and are in place in the information boxes at the entrances to the cemetery. Ms. Williams is working to create a New Town Cemetery walking tour brochure. The Old Town Cemetery walking brochure and associated map need to be revised so the project can be finalized. Committee members sent comments on the map that need to be addressed before finalization. Mr. Hines indicated that the actual map for the brochure will have to be reduced in size to fit into the allotted space. Ms. Trueblood will increase the font size but it will be better if there are not too many details on the map for readability. Mr. Hines suggested waiting to print the map until after the GPR work has been performed so the currently unknown plot locations can be updated. The committee decided on the following alterations to the brochure and map: 3  Placed the numbers on the walking tour map and decided to rearrange the brochure text.  The map should be in black and white.  The north arrow needs to be bolder for visibility.  The Turrentine plots have already been moved to their proper location.  No dots or arrows need to be included because it will clutter the small map.  Heartt is currently number 13 and needs to be changed to number 12 in the brochure.  Bruce is number 12 currently and will need to be moved to number 13.  Numbers 14 and 15 are to be left alone.  Numbers 16, 17, 18, 19 are OK.  Number 20 was moved on the map and placed in the correct place.  The tree will be moved.  The committee would like the plot family names and letters removed from the map.  Leave Strudwick Hall text on the building and expand the Strudwick Hall building footprint to reflect the new addition.  Add “Hillsborough” to Presbyterian Church.  Add a date for the version of the brochure.  No date on the museum. It was suggested to print 300-500 brochures depending on where there is a price break. Ms. Johnson will look for compatible options for brochure storage at the Old Town Cemetery. Item 8: Budget and GPR [OTC] Updates and Reports [Hines; Ostrand] Mr. Hines indicated there is about $10,000 for Dean Ruedrich to repair cemetery grave stones in the New Town and Old Town cemeteries. It would be best if the gravestone repair list went to Mr. Ruedrich as soon as possible so he can give a firm quote and begin working and finish all repairs within the year. The list needs to include priority stones and can be organized by date or condition, etc. Only stones 100 years or older in the New Town Cemetery may be repaired. Sarah Lowry will begin the Old Town Cemetery GPR project on August 15 and finish up on August 16. Ms. Gaede exited the meeting at 10:30. Item 9: Steward Reports: MLC, OTC, NTC Ms. Poole-Kober indicated that the MLC report remains the same. The line of broken down trees needs to be cut, removed, and new shrubs/trees planted. There is money in the budget that could go towards the purchase of trees. Mr. Hines suggested red bud and dogwood trees and mentioned that this project would need to go through the Tree Board and the Historic District Commission. The trees might be able to be planted east to west along the whole property line. Improper lawn care over time covers the gravestones. In the past, Mr. Hines placed metal spikes at each stone so they can be detected easily with a metal detector and uncovered. Chair Ostrand mentioned the Presbyterian Church has begun the expansion project and they installed protection fencing around the construction area. The NTC looks good and the wall collapse has been repaired. Item 10: Subcommittee Reports, and especially from Signage [Mr. McCullough] and others. 4 All changes to the interpretive sign for MLC have been finalized and a mockup of the sign was provided to the committee members. The committee members discussed where to put the interpretive sign at the MLC and agreed for it to be located near the Occoneechee Street entrance and the brick pillars. The sign should face Occoneechee Street and be placed on the backside of the ditch area and outside the maintenance area to accommodate mowing and plowing. Ms. Poole-Kober and Archivist Culp will visit the cemetery and place flags where they feel is the best placement for the sign. Other committee members can visit and send comments via email about the potential placement. Item 11: Set next meeting date; [September 1-16, 2016]; Adjourn Committee members proposed September 7 at 9 a.m. for the next meeting date. Ms. Johnson will check the town meeting room reservation calendar and respond to members via email with the official date. Motion: Ms. Williams made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11 a.m. Second: Archivist Culp seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous Submitted by: Jamie Johnson, August 2, 2016 Revised September 8, 2016 by Jamie Johnson