Archive for the ‘Historic Preservation’ Category

The Wren’s Nest — National Historic Landmark, Fierce Competitor

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The calendar next to my desk is the National Historic Landmarks Photo Contest calendar.  Surprise to no one, I love it.

It doesn’t really mess around with things like “non-American” holidays or fancy words like “solstice” (June 21st: “Summer Begins”).  What it does make room for, however, is the following, marked on August 21st: “National Historic Landmarks Program Established on this Day in 1935.”  I like your priorities, my calendar.

(The Wren’s Nest, positively glowing about its NHL status.)

The Wren’s Nest is, of course, a National Historic Landmark.  In case you’re wondering what that means, exactly, it’s this: that we’re awesome, and way more awesome than most other old things.

The numbers do the talking for us:

• There are over 1,000,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places.  Not too choosy, but nice, still.
• 80,000 of those bad boys are listed individually.  (The rest are accounted for by things like historic districts and the contributing properties therein.  Nice try, guys.)
• Out of the 80,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, only 2,430 are National Historic Landmarks like the Wren’s Nest.  Yikes.
• This is definitive proof that we’re super special.

Obviously, inclusion in this calendar of similarly special old places would be terrific.  Wanna help?  Take a moment to look at the Wren’s Nest’s interior and exterior photos and vote on which one you think we should submit to the contest.  If we win, we’ll totally share the proceeds ($0) with you!

Happy scrutinizing!

Related: This list of National Historic Landmarks by state is neat.  (There are 48 NHLs in Georgia, in case you were interested.)  So is National Historic Landmark Flickr account.  And!  This weekend (August 14th and 15th) is one of the monthly fee-free entrance weekends at more than 100 national parks.  America, good work.

West Fest 2010 — Pictures from the Tour of Homes and Concert

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Over the past five days, I have painstakingly curated and uploaded photos from this year’s West Fest.  Feast your eyes on the West End Tour of Homes and Concert!

Included in the album — concert, tour of homes, dog in pouch, general merriment.

Not included in the album — the Fest part of West Fest, the much-anticipated dog parade, crying.

Parks and Recreation: Someone Is Trying to Alter a Gazebo!

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Did y’all see last week’s Parks and Recreation?  First of all, it was pretty darn hilarious, if my cultivated sense of humor and I do say so.

Second of all, did you see how it showcased my worst nightmares?

I don’t understand why they’re framing Amy Poehler/Leslie Knope’s reaction here as over-the-top.  It seems underplayed, if you ask me.  In fact, I think a phone booth quick change and cape would be appropriate in circumstances like these.

This clip below actually made me gasp and hide my face behind a cushion, as I’m wont to do when something is HORRIFYING. (Or when someone is singing and it’s making me embarrassed for them, but that’s neither here nor there.)

This show, and in particular these scenes, do such a great job contrasting how people view history.  For some, it’s our foundation; for others, well, don’t you think it could use some freshening up?  I mean, it’s so old and outdated. Yuck.

You know which camp I’m roasting marshmallows in.

Also, if you’re wondering why Lain and I insist on chaperoning any event that’s using inside space at the Wren’s Nest, you have your answer.

Phoenix Flies — Be at One of Its Many Destinations or be Square!

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Starting tomorrow and continuing through the 22nd of March, Phoenix Flies 2010 will be upon us.  This truly amazing opportunity to see a huge number of Atlanta’s historical attractions — on the cheap — should not be missed.

Like so many of the other participants, the Wren’s Nest will be offering special events and extended hours, in addition to free admission for the weekends of Phoenix Flies:

• On (Saturdays) March 6th and 13th, we’ll have our regular hours (10am – 2:30pm) with two storytelling sessions: 11:30am and 1pm.

• On Sunday — you heard me — March 7th (as well as the 14th), we’ll be open from 1 – 4pm, with storytelling sessions at 1:30 and 3pm.

In other words, don’t believe a word of what you read on Pecanne Log.  Except the part about Oakland Cemetery.  That’s all true.

Phoenix Flies is put on by the Atlanta Preservation Center every year and, simply put, provides an outstanding range of events, almost all for free.  If I may be a crybaby for a moment, this is one of the few times it really busts my hump to work at such a small place, because in order for the Wren’s Nest to be open for Phoenix Flies, we can’t, you know, attend many other events.  Boo hoo.

So please, see all the neat things you can — for me.  I beseech thee.

Decatur Old House Fair — Right Up Our Hallway!

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This may come as a shock to you, but the Wren’s Nest is more than a National Historic Landmark celebrating literature, folklore, and African American history.  It is also an old house.

A surprising (to me, I guess) number of visitors come here just as eager to discuss 100-year-old window panes as they do the work of Joel Chandler Harris.  Living in an old house is a unifying factor, I tell you what, and Lain and I are in the know.  (Let me just say that space heaters become really, really important.)

Which is why we’re so excited about the second annual Decatur Old House Fair on March 6th.  The fair brings together experts in repair and maintenance, design, energy efficiency and historic research with owners of old houses and the likes of you and me.

Last year’s fair — with the awesome tagline “The Greenest House is the One Already Built” — yielded our relationship with Tom Bretherton, who ended up installing our windows during our restoration.

In fact, Lain had such a great time he’s now on the 2010 volunteer committee.  If joining a committee isn’t a sign of love, I don’t know what is.

Added bonus: one of our Board members, Ken Thomas, is co-leading the “Researching Your Old House and What Style is My House?” seminar.  Yay Ken!

Hope to see you there!

The Georgia Trust’s 2010 Places in Peril List

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This may be the one Top Ten list we’re happy not to be included on.

The Georgia Trust has released their 2010 “Places in Peril” list and, unlike 2007′s list, the Wren’s Nest was not included.  Phew!  In fact, we were even mentioned as a success story.  (See paragraph fifteen of the AJC’s great article to be inspired.)

The list details historic sites in Georgia, from a still operating hospital (Central State Hospital in Milledgeville) to an archeological site (the Leake Archeological Site in Bartow County) that need attention, funding, and general help to stay afloat or, in many cases, existent.

The list can be a tremendous boon to the sites listed on it, though inclusion doesn’t guarantee results.  It does, however, ensure attention and awareness, also known as “half the battle” (though I might push it to about 75% of the battle).

The list features two Atlanta locations, Morris Brown College and Herndon Plaza (pictured above), both of which are manifestations of African-American success in post-civil war Atlanta.  We wrote about the Herndon Home’s troubles recently, and Morris Brown has had no shortage of local coverage of late.  Still, I hope the Places in Peril list is the boost they both need.

Not to poo-poo our Atlanta brethren, but I am completely intrigued by two other places on this list.  First, you have Capricorn Recording Studios in Macon, who we have to thank for introducing the Allman Brothers to folks outside of Macon.  Southern rock aficionados, I leave this one to you.

My real favorite is The Old Dodge County Jail, mostly because looks like it was lifted directly out of Mayberry. The only difference I can gather, other than one being fictional and all,  is the fact that the Old Dodge County Jail features a quaint “hanging room.”  If the Mayberry jail had one, let me be the first to say that it was totally underutilized on the show.

Being featured on the 2007 Places in Peril list made a huge difference to the Wren’s Nest in 2006, and I hope it has a similar effect on these worthy sites.

Uncle Remus by Henry F. Gilbert — the Opera that Wasn’t

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Henry F. Gilbert, an important early 20th Century American composer,  collected scores of African-American folk songs and aspired to write an opera called Uncle Remus.

I swear I’m not messing with y’all.

Gilbert never secured the rights to the Uncle Remus tales and couldn’t complete his opera, but he did write its prelude.   Gilbert derived these two songs, performed here by Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev in 2004, from the prelude –

Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev — “Uncle Remus”

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Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev — “Brer Rabbit”

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Thanks to Fleur de Son Classics for permission to use the music.  If you like it, consider ordering the album here.

The Uncle Remus prelude premiered at a Central Park concert in New York in August of 1910.  4,000 people attended.

The Boston Symphony performed the prelude the following year.  Some people objected to the jaunty ragtime rhythms, but most responded positively “to the youthful vigor, the racy humor and the romantic nature of this new music.”   Philip Hale, in the Boston Herald of April 14, 1911, wrote:

“The overture stirred the blood of the audience.  All rejoiced in hearing a new voice with something to say and an original way of saying it.  The fugue did not dampen the interest of the hearers, for the old form was used with dramatic spirit.  No wonder that the audience, surprised and delighted, was for once in no hurry to leave the hall. [...]  The overture is distinctively, but not bumptiously, not apologetically, American.”

Gilbert was one of the first American composers to break free of the Germanic style of classical music.  For Gilbert, African-American folk music was a great source of inspiration and “seemed closely related to the spirit of all America.”

Gosh, sounds a lot like Joel Chandler Harris who, regarding A.B. Frost’s illustrations of Brer Rabbit and his critter friends, remarked: “We shall then have real American stuff, illustrated in real American style.”  Shame he wasn’t around to hear the soundtrack… embedded in a blog post… on the internet. Really woulda blown his mind.

Related: Henry F. Gilbert: a bio-bibliography by Sherrill V. Martin

Trouble with the Herndon Home on WABE

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This morning Atlanta’s NPR affiliate WABE covered the recent plight of the Herndon Home.

The Herndon Home is the historic home of Alonzo Herndon, the one-time slave who became the first African-American millionaire in Atlanta.  The house doesn’t have much funding, doesn’t offer many tours, and doesn’t employ an executive director at the moment.

Hey, that sounds like the Wren’s Nest in 2006!

I’m happy our neighbor two miles north is getting some press.  A few months back, and the AJC blog Inside Access asked for ideas on how to revitalize the place.  It got one response.  From me.

Surely there are more ideas out there!  Do you have any bright ones for the Herndon Home?  Ever visited the place?

Photo: Johnny Crawford for the AJC

Capitalizing on History — Mark Twain and Walt Disney Boyhood Homes

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Keith Eggener of Design Observer gives us this thoughtful post on capitalizing on the historic homes of the famous, focusing on the Missouri homes of Mark Twain and Walt Disney –

“People go to Hannibal to walk the streets where the real children who inspired Huck and Becky walked; they go there ready to believe that an otherwise unexceptional white wood fence is the one Tom painted, or, at least, the one that inspired Twain to invent his story. Disney’s stories, on the other hand, are pure fantasy….”

Items discussed: history’s exploitation vs. its preservation, marketing dead public figures vs. live ones, how the Mark Twain Boyhood Home is like a snow globe.

Items not discussed: how Walt Disney’s recreated boyhood home — called “The Happy Place” — is not all so different from the story, “Brother Rabbit’s Laughing-Place.” Coincidence?

Last Thanksgiving I had the opportunity visit several great historic homes in Missouri (1, 2, 3, 4) on a house museum road trip.  I’m sorry I missed these two, especially given their unique relationships with Joel Chandler Harris (Twain, Disney).

Photo: Keith Eggener

New York Preservation Through the Eyes of Ghostbusters

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Scouting New York recently began a series of posts where street and city shots from New York City-based movies are compared to those same locations today.  As the author says, “this is a full shot-by-shot dissection to see what New York once was and what it has become, for better or worse.”

The first installment looks at Ghostbusters and how the city has changed in the 25 years since its filming.  The two-part post (part 1, part 2) is thorough, to say the least.

This is a pretty neat way to show just how much impact conservation and preservation make in a city.

For example, that wee “Matera Canvas” advertisement in the bottom left of each photo is for a now-defunct business that began in 1907.  Someone decided to keep that up there (they went out of business sometime around 1990) and, in doing so, preserved a bit of New York history.  The little things count, people!

There are a lot of movies filmed in New York out there, but my fingers are crossed that Scouting New York does Oliver & Company next!