RALEIGH — Four historic locations in Salisbury are one step closer to inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places after the state recently placed them on the State Historic Preservation Office’s study list.

Two buildings, the Lincoln School on South Shaver Street and the John E. and Jean A.F. Ramsay Sr. House on Pine Tree Road, were added to the list along with the Chestnut Hill Historic District and an expansion of the downtown Salisbury Historic District.

The study list acts as the first screen in the process of placing a historic location on the national register. The applications are screened by HPO staff and then presented to the National Register Advisory Committee, which is made up of members from throughout the state.

The proposed Chestnut Hill Historic District would be centered on West Harrison Street and would be bounded by South Fulton Street in the west, South Railroad Street in the east, West McCubbins Street in the north and the end of the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in the south. Some of the properties within the proposed district that National Register Coordinator Jeff Smith pointed out in front of the committee were the cemetery itself, Coburn Memorial United Methodist Church, Haven Lutheran Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

The identified Chestnut Hill district was originally developed by the Dixie Land Company on top of the former Chestnut Hill plantation, owned by Samuel Harrison, outside of the city limits. The company bought the land in 1892 and divided it into 103 lots.

“Additional research conducted by the city has shown that the development of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood was separate from both the Salisbury Historic District and the Fulton Heights Historic District,” said Smith.

A study list application was submitted to the state for the Chestnut Hill district in 2015, but was denied at that time. Smith said before the committee that the 10 years have allowed more buildings to age into district requirements and that local preservation efforts have also boosted the application.

The Salisbury Historic District expansion would add a small area of downtown Salisbury, centered around the intersection of South Lee and East Fisher streets to the district. The  proposed expansion includes the buildings that currently hold Goodfellas, the Norvell Theater and the Noble & Kelsey Funeral Home buildings.

The original Noble & Kelsey Funeral Home building was built in 1910 while the current main building was built in 1953 and served as the “Negro Branch Library” and as an agricultural building until it was bought by the funeral home. Norvell Theater was built in 1925 while the building holding Goodfellas was built in 1953.

Branch Supervisor Sarah Woodard, who presented the application, said that the expansion was proposed as a “clean-up,” because the area should have been part of the proposed district already.

The John E. and Jean A.F. Ramsay Sr. House, located in the first block of Pine Tree Road, was built in the 1950s by architect and Salisbury native John Erwin Ramsay. Smith said to the committee that the HPO staff recommended placing the house on the study list because it was a good example of modernist design. Smith also noted that Ramsay designed multiple award-winning houses and public buildings in the area with his innovative use of the design style.

The Lincoln School, which was recently opened up to the public for a Historic Salisbury Foundation event, was the first school for Black students in Salisbury. The current building, located in the 600 block of South Shaver Street, is the second iteration of the school, being built in 1926 after the student population outgrew the original building. The school was closed in 1970, as the Salisbury City School System moved the students into Allen Elementary School. After the school was closed, the building served as the headquarters of the Rowan Vocational Workshop for approximately 30 years. It was bought in 2002 by Mt. Calvary Holy Church of America, who planned to move their congregation into the building but backed off the plans.

All four of the applications were recommended by the HPO staff for placement onto the study list, and the members of the National Register Advisory Committee voted to follow the staff recommendations in each case.

The study list acts as a way for the HPO to weed out applications that are clearly not eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The HPO staff will then work directly with the property owners to formally coordinate a nomination of the property to the national register, according to the HPO website.

“The Study List acknowledges the potential significance of properties and districts long before they can be formally nominated to the National Register and may help stimulate preservation activity at the local level. This may include follow-up multiple property nominations and/or the establishment of local preservation commissions on the strength of interest generated by the survey,” state the department on its website.