Making the National Register of Historic Places
Written on September 28, 2010 by Leslie
I am proud to share the news that Blake House has just been accepted to the National Register of Historic Places! Yes, after a long 3-year process, the consulting firm, Terracon Consultants, Inc., prepared the nomination and it was accepted in August. Many thanks go to Lorraine Norwood, M.A., CRM Manager, Courtney Vuturo, M.A., Historian, and Nancy McReynolds, MHP, Architectural Historian for their tireless work and for putting up with my inquiries. It was all worth it!
I found these great ladies of Terracon when Courtney stayed at the Inn in 2007 and we got to talking about my desire to get the house on the National Register and Courtney mentioned their desire to break into the area. Based in Atlanta, doing this job in Asheville would be a great opportunity for their company and I had no idea where to start, so I took it as a sign that this relationship was meant to be. And it was!
I still have no idea of all the work that went into this nomination and the research they had to do to dig up some of the history they did, but I am excited to share some of the information from the application. I am making a copy for the Inn’s history binder so guests are encouraged to check it out during their stay.
Here’s some of the more interesting facts:
- There are 4 areas of qualification where an applicant to the NRHP can base their significance on – Blake House is significant based on #3 below.
- Event(s) – a property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.
- Person – a property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
- Architecture – a property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.
- Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
- The application includes a Summary and Setting, Exterior description, Interior description, and Integrity Statement which sums up the architectural significance of the house.
- Under the Statement of Significance, there is a section on Historical Background (this is the good stuff on the Blakes and all other owners). Here’s what I learned about the Blake family:
- The opening of the Buncombe Turnpike in 1828 promoted travel between Greenville, TN & Greenville, SC and encouraged more people to come to the mountains in WNC. This Turnpike brought many wealthy landowners from SC to visit Flat Rock and Hendersonville.
- Between 1827 and 1840, Daniel Blake acquired over 5,000 acres of land in Henderson and Buncombe Counties.
- Daniel was descended from a prominent SC family, whose founder, Benjamin Blake, arrived in the province in 1683 and was given large land grants in Colleton County, SC where he established large plantations.
- Benjamin’s son, Joseph, became the proprietary Governor of SC from 1694 to 1695 and 1696 through 1700. He acquired even more property, 6,000 acres, and his wife, Elizabeth, was given a plantation called Newington in 1711 from her mother (this is significant later). After her husband died, Elizabeth lived in the home with her son, Col. Joseph Blake. The Newington mansion burned down in 1845 and remained in ruins until it was sold in 1875 and leased to the US Government for an experimental tea farm. The land now makes up the Newington Plantation Estates in Summerville, SC.
- Joseph’s son, Daniel, was born in 1803 in England and was educated at St. Johns College in Cambridge. Daniel married Emma Rutledge and they had 6 children, Frederick Rutledge Blake, Francis Daniel Blake, Arthur Middleton Blake, Henry Middleton Blake, Frances Helen Blake, and Henrietta Louisa Blake, but Emma died in 1853. Daniel married Helen Craig of New York in 1856 and they had three more children.
- Daniel Blake is listed in the 1860 Census as owning 527 slaves in SC. WHAT?!! This comes from The Sixteen Largest American Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Schedules. I must admit to being ashamed to know this information about this family that has been so romanticized in my thoughts.
- In 1870 Blake House eventually ended up with Daniel’s son, Frederick Blake, a commissioned officer in the Confederate Army who was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor, and he named the mansion Newington, in remembrance of the Newington home that had been in his family until it burned down in 1845. Frederick married Olivia Middleton in 1865 and they had four children: Edmund Molyneux Blake, Daniel Blake, Emma Rutledge Blake, and Eliza Fisher Blake.
- In 1891, Dr. Blake and his wife sold the property to their daughter, Eliza Fisher Blake for $3,000. Eliza was called “the spinster in Newington” and she was the last Blake to occupy the house. She lived in the house until 1925 when the estate was sold for $60,000 and the 516-acre parcel was subdivided into a planned division called Royal Pines. The Royal Pines community was advertised as a high class residential section from one of the Oldest and Finest Estates in NC. These plans may have come to fruition had not the Great Depression hit the country in the late 1920s and 1930s. By 1940, the developer that had bought the land, defaulted on its loan and the subdivision was sold to the highest bidders.
- In July 1940, John DuBose purchased several parcels, including Blake House, for $2,500. Mr. DuBose sold Blake House to his niece, Ms. Rainsford Fairbanks DuBose MacDowell in July 1943. Ms. MacDowell, from Gaffney, SC, used Blake House as their summer home. While the house had been empty during the Great Depression, it had become quite dilapidated and the MacDowell family had to do a lot of restoration on the inside, although most of the exterior had stayed intact.
- Ms. MacDowell lived in the house until she sold it to Mr. Jonathan Jones in 1973 for $29,000. The Jones family resided in the house until they sold it in May 1980. Between 1980 and 1990, the house was bought and sold 3 times, until it was turned into a bed and breakfast inn in the mid-1990s. Since then, it has remained a B&B.
I have the entire application, including the full description of the property and it’s available for anyone interested in reading about this fascinating property.
I’m not exactly sure what all the benefits are to having a National Register property, other than the satisfaction and prestige in knowing that I had something to do with getting it there. I’ve been told there are certain tax benefits as they relate to renovations to the property, but I have some questions to ask to find out how this works.
For now I will bask in a little of the glory and will make some plans to celebrate this nomination with a party at the Blake House. I’m not sure when that will be, but I will post something as soon as I know!
It’s the End of Summer and I Can’t Think!
Written on August 31, 2010 by Leslie
I’m not a writer, so I can’t have writer’s block. I’m not a blogger, so I can’t have blogger’s block. But I’ve definitely been having trouble coming up with the topics and the energy to write anything. I think it all started in June when my dog, Hummer, passed away. Since then, I began working at Eagle’s Nest Foundation and July and August have been pretty busy months at the Inn. Between being depressed about losing my baby and dealing with the summer crush as well as a new job, I feel like I haven’t had the energy or inspiration. You’d think that with all the summer action around here, I’d have no problem coming up with interesting topics.
But I can’t think of ANYTHING that I want to/feel like write about!
I’m sure I could blog about the new piece of flooring in the kitchen I had done last week ($1600 later and it’s only 1/4 of the entire kitchen floor space). Or, I could talk about the Family Reunion Cruise I just returned from (I probably will share that soon). There’s also all the fun summer activities that took place in Asheville or the cool fall lineup, including the Flower Carpet at Biltmore and Octoberfest (another beer festival). There’s a wedding at the Inn this weekend that could inspire me to write and another one the first weekend in October that I’m preparing for. Lastly, I could always talk about my super sister, Jessica, and her admirable battle with breast cancer these past six months (another probably will blog).
There are definitely lots of topics to write about. I just need to find my mojo and get back into the groove. I’d really love to hear from anyone (professional writer, blogger, or novice) what tips they might like to share with me and the general public about how they deal with the infamous “block” that invariably happens. What can/do you do to get past it?
Three Reasons to Send Your Kid(s) to Summer Camp
Written on July 17, 2010 by Leslie
As a youngster growing up in Virginia, I was extremely fortunate to have gone to summer camp for five years at Camp Rim Rock for Girls in West Virginia. My experiences have stayed with me to this day and because of the joy I had, I was able to send my son Brian to Camp Woodmont in Georgia for a few years while we lived in Florida.
Recently, I began working part-time at the Eagle’s Nest Foundation in Pisgah Forest, and it has brought back so many positive memories of my camp experiences from the 1980′s. The Eagle’s Nest Foundation operates Hante Adventures, The Outdoor Academy, and Eagle’s Nest Camp.
Hante Adventures run during the summer for 13-18 year olds. These adventure trips last anywhere from two weeks to a month and provide many of the skills experienced at camp, but in different ways. This year, there are four Hante trips: Outer Banks, Appalachian Trail (AT) Trek, Australia, and Southwestern US Canyons. Small groups trek through the wilderness while rock climbing, biking, and whitewater paddling while learning invaluable skills and making lifelong friends. In the past, trips have gone all over the US and the world.
The Outdoor Academy of the Southern Appalachians is an academic semester-long program for 10th graders, set on the campus of the Eagle’s Nest Camp. There is a fall semester and a spring semester and students live on campus while enjoying and experiential education. The curriculum of the Outdoor Academy is considered a college prep program with small classes in English, Natural Science, World History, Math, Languages, and Arts.
Eagle’s Nest is set on 180 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains. That alone is enough incentive to send your kid(s) to get them off the couch or in front of the TV/video game console. The Eagle’s Nest Camp offers one-week, two-week, and three-week sessions to kids, ages 6-17. Camp is so much more than a babysitting service for parents. In fact, that’s not it at all. I have learned that at this camp, kids come back year after year, many become Junior Counselors and Counselors. Parents also become counselors while their children attend camp and get to enjoy the “camp” experience as well.
Here are three more reasons to consider sending your kid(s) to Eagle’s Nest:
- Adventure – Being in the mountains, Eagle’s Nest offers campers a nature setting to explore their environment and try new things. They will climb mountains, paddle down the French Broad River on a homemade raft, go rock climbing, and backpack on overnight camping trips.
- Leadership – The purpose of this camp is to help young people discover their true selves through activities that promote community awareness and establish a connection with nature. Leadership skills are enhanced and developed when kids work towards common goals like building their own raft, building sets for their session play, and putting together an overnight camp during a hiking trip.
- Education – The mission of Eagle’s Nest is “Experiential education for young people, promoting the natural world and the betterment of human character.” Activities are not mindless time fillers; they all serve an educational purpose while encouraging campers to live naturally, responsibly, and respectfully.
I ended this post with the Summer Camp, but in reality, it is just the beginning of Eagle’s Nest. The amount of loyalty towards Eagle’s Nest is impressive and kids go from summer camp to Hante Adventures to The Outdoor Academy, to possibly camp counselors/Academy Instructors, and on. Being a non-profit, Eagle’s Nest Foundation is overseen by a Board of Trustees, many of whom have sent their children to camp or had some association with the Foundation prior to becoming a Board member. There is a strong sense of family within this Foundation and if you are looking for something different in your kid’s summer camp, I encourage you to check out Eagle’s Nest. This is not just another summer camp; it rises above and offers so much more than the average camp experience. Your kid(s) will never forget their experiences here and the value of what they take away is worth so much more than money.
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