Friends of the Fayetteville Library Fund Raiser

I am assisting the Friends of the Library organization in a fund raising event that will provide money for the library's genealogy room. The schedule is being firmed up right now, so I will have an official schedule up soon. As of now, we have talks confirmed for topics ranging from archaeology, local Civil War history, Native American cremation practices, and I will be speaking on my initial findings on my thesis research pertaining to the Mulberry Baptist Church and early slave relations.

The first speaker will hopefully be scheduled for June 26, and the series will run through the end of October with two speakers per month. We are aiming to end the series with a panel discussion on the relationship between Lincoln, Moore, and Madison Counties and Jack Daniel's whiskey. This is going to be an exciting series and I hope you will come out and learn a little local history!

St. John's Episcopal Church

Located between Columbia and Mt. Pleasant, TN, this church was built for religious services for both whites and blacks. Churches such as this are part of my upcoming thesis research.

Preservation Grants

In April, the state of Tennessee will open up the application process for funding of preservation projects. Until early September, community groups, local governments, and other non-profits will have the ability to apply for grant money for preservation and planning studies, and in some cases money to fund preservation/restoration of buildings.

So, if you are a group looking to create an historic district, expand a district, or attempt to place a building on the National Register of Historic Places, your time to apply is coming soon.

If you are interested in consulting help, you may email me for information. I work as a preservation consultant, and have other contacts that may be of service to you. email: jhistoryfinder@gmail.com

An interesting article from NPR about the public state of Preservation through a look at famous houses such as Graceland.

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/04/146210038/while-graceland-booms-other-historic-homes-rot

Historic Preservation Activity in Tennessee

For those interested in local historic preservation, this link shows the state of Tennessee's announcement of the projects that received funding for restoration and preservation projects for 2011-2012. New applications for next fiscal year will be due in September 2012!!

Follow this link!! http://news.tn.gov/node/7534

We Made It!!!

The Whitaker-Motlow House was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2011. Recently, State Re. Pat Marsh visited the house to meet the owner and take a short tour.

In other notes, I have a preliminary topic for my Master's thesis research. Continuing with my work on the Whitaker family, I have decided to attempt to delve deeper into John Whitaker's religious activities. I believe John was actively present at the camp revivals held in Kentucky during the Second Great Awakenings. I hope to be able to prove that, but not sure if I will succeed. I plan to study the Awakenings and use John as a case study to bring the implications of these revivals to a local level. I also plan to more closely study early American migrations, again using those endured by the Whitakers as a primary case study. So, those of you following this blog that are Whitaker family descendents, I may be able to help shed yet more light onto your historic and intriguing family!

Update on the Newton Whitaker House

In late September, I attended the state review board meeting held in Nashville. I was there to hear the outcome of my NRHP nomination for the Whitaker-Motlow House recently submitted. GOOD NEWS!!! The nomination passed the review board with flying colors and is now on its way to the NRHP national office. I will know in approximately three months the final outcome! Long story short, the house will be listed, it is now simply a matter of time, as I may have to address some updates or clarifications. Congrats to the home owner, Maria Maroney!!

Whitaker-Motlow House, Mulberry

A few new things:

• Dots on the Map will begin exploring the history of Lynchburg, TN in anticipation of the completion of my new book.
• Watch for updates and links to my new photography website. I have decided to officially open Red Door Studios asap.
• I will also be discussing graduate school and my thesis decision (and the process of choosing it!)
• In the near future I will be starting an internship in Huntsville, AL. Look forward to some history on the historic Twickenham Village!!
• I want to give a special thanks to the Lincoln County Historical Society for inviting me to speak at last month's meeting and for thier enthusiastic support of my ongoing work. I hope to see them all again in November for an update!

I am looking forward to getting back to regularly blogging. Life has been crazy lately and I haven't been able to do as much as I had wanted. But, hopefully that will begin to change and I can update the site more often.