By Gretchen Witt
Rowan Public Library

One of the highlights of my role as supervisor of the Edith M. Clark History Room is working on special exhibits and related collections — they always offer an opportunity to revisit treasures in Rowan Public Library’s archives or uncover new ones at other institutions.

For the past two months, Rowan Public Library’s Headquarters branch has been preparing to host Preservation North Carolina’s “We Built This: Profiles of Black Architects and Builders in North Carolina” exhibit. On Nov. 1, another staffer and myself traveled to the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House and African American Museum, located in Wilson, to pick up the traveling exhibit. The round house was built by African American craftsman Oliver Nestus Freeman who after returning home after World War II noted more housing was needed and began to build. The round house is one of the surviving structures.

The nearly six-hour roundtrip took place on a beautiful fall day. The exhibit handoff offered an opportunity to see the museum’s interesting exhibits, which include historical artifacts from Wilson’s first Black doctor and its first Black veterinarian. There was information about local band, The Monitors whose lead vocalist at one time was Roberta Flack as well as the designer of the “parachute pants” once popularized by M.C. Hammer. www.ourstate.com/african-american-music-trail/ . To learn more about this museum, go to www.theroundhousemuseum.com.

For RPL’s History Room, preparation for hosting the exhibit included researching local Black craftsmen and builders. We’ve spoken with many in our community, learning new stories and details, as well as exploring pictures, books, newspapers and other items already in the History Room’s collections. And we found some really interesting things!

Did you know that there was a brickyard at Zion Wesley College, later Livingstone College? As early as 1886, this brickyard supplied high quality hand-made bricks for structures in the community and on campus. President W.H. Goler, a trained brickmason and plasterer, was industrial superintendent at the college during that time and was involved in many aspects of buying and selling real estate, building churches, homes and other buildings throughout the area including Soldier’s Memorial AME Zion Church. While the brickyard itself was abandoned around the turn of the century, industrial art training continued at the college.

Did you know that brick masons and carpenters were trained at J.C. Price High School? These students included veterans returning after World War II. Among the instructors were Floyd Wilkins, M.H. Perkins and Alexander Monroe. Due to the granite quarries in the southeastern part of the county, stone masons abounded in Granite Quarry. Elijah Hackett and other skilled stone masons in the neighborhood constructed the old Shuford Memorial School as well as New Zion AME church.   

Our work preparing events and programs related to the “We Built This” exhibit continues. Currently on display at RPL Headquarters (201 W. Fisher St. in Salisbury) during operating hours, the exhibit is presented by Preservation North Carolina, sponsored by Joe L. & Hester M. Sims Family Foundation and Edward & Susan Norvell, and in collaboration with the Historic Salisbury Foundation, Rowan Public Library, Livingstone College, and Friends of Rowan Public Library. For the latest programming information, go to www.rowanpubliclibrary.org.

Gretchen Witt is supervisor of the Edith M. Clark History Room at Rowan Public Library.