WHITE OAK — A historic plantation house dating to the 1760s is in dire need of grant funds with hopes that the home can be brought back to its original glory, at least externally.
Other buildings at Harmony Hall are having concerns as well. Members of the community plan to come together for a Community Cleanup Day on Nov. 7.
Terri Dennison, director of the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, said Harmony Hall has a “direct relation to the history of the whole area” when considering 55 of the state’s 100 counties at one point belonged to Bladen County. The county is also linked to the Revolutionary War.
“That war is key to one of the stories that we need to tell better here,” Dennison said.
The hope is to get the trail behind the house cleaned up, as well as get a bridge replaced and moved to get the trail back on the property of Harmony Hall.
“Plus from a recreational standpoint it is linked to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and it’s one of the places they are encouraging people to do one of those short 40 day hikes,” Dennison said. “It’s a very important asset to this county that we need to take care of, so we put out a call for people to come help.”
Nothing can be done about the main building right now though because of a pending grant application.
“Harmony Hall board members and supporters have spent a great deal of time recently on planning and seeking funds to repair damage sustained during Hurricane Florence in 2018,” said Sunday Allen, the group’s treasurer. “There’s a lot that needs to be done, and we are hoping this will get us moving.”
In August, a grant request of $380,000 was submitted to the state historic preservation office to help with the extensive needs of the house. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic places. That was approved in 1972, and listed the house as an “architecturally significant late 18th Century plantation house of the Lower Cape Fear River. One of the particularly distinctive features is the double porches with enclosed stairwell, as well as the fact that the front of the house actually faces the river and not the road.”
During Hurricane Florence the grounds flooded extensively, and the interior was soaked through the sheetrock to the underlying insulation.
“We had a group of volunteers come out to tear out,” Allen said.
Because of the extent of the damage, the house has not been opened to the public.
The grounds have been open to foot traffic, but the buildings are in need of much work. Cleaning and painting are two of the projects that are needed, as well as focusing on getting the trail back to functionality. The trail is just over a mile to the Cape Fear River.
Those interested in helping can contact Sondra Guyton at 910-872-9161 or Dennison at 910-874-1274.
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