towns such as Edenton, where proud 

 merchants built solid waterfront homes 

 not far from docks and harbors. 

 Imported pattern books by both 

 English and American designers 

 influenced the merchants' taste. 



Bishir and Southern point to the 

 early 19th-century construction of 

 railroads, connecting North Carolina to 

 northern and southern trade, as another 

 pivotal influence on architecture. 

 Small inland communities benefited 

 from the growing market economy the 

 railroads brought. Farmers grew cash 

 crops and bought more goods, fueling 

 the construction of stores and ware- 



Town and urban population surges 

 changed the face of early 20th-century 

 communities with the need for 

 workers' housing. The authors 

 describe the evolution of middle-class 

 neighborhoods with their tree-lined 

 streets of houses with low silhouettes 

 and deep porches. The distinctive 

 tapered porch posts and angular roof 

 brackets defined the Southern bunga- 

 low. Shotgun houses dominated the 

 working-class neighborhoods of 

 primarily African-American families. 

 This structure - one room wide with 

 front and rear entrances - is believed 

 to have origins in African designs. 



past are disappearing. 



A Guide to the Historic Architecture 

 of Eastern North Carolina is an impor- 

 tant tool for increasing awareness and 

 promoting preservation of historic 

 designs such as the shotgun house, 

 tenant farm and classical courthouse. 

 Some of these buildings are meticu- 

 lously maintained; others desperately 

 need restoration. 



"Every year, dozens of important 

 structures and landscapes in North 

 Carolina are at risk of destruction and 

 terminal decay," says Myrick Howard, 

 executive director of Preservation North 

 Carolina. "We are constantly on the 



Mill Village, Roanoke Rapids, Halifax County 



St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, Chowan County 



houses. Although most substantial 

 homes were still designed with the 

 traditional forms (symmetry and 

 restrained classicism of the Greek 

 Revival period), much of the architec- 

 ture began to reflect local standards. 



Poverty after the Civil War 

 redefined agricultural practices and the 

 landscape, and the authors poignantly 

 describe the post-war transition of the 

 1 860s. Tenant farmers in small homes 

 tilled smaller fields. Town populations 

 dwindled as people moved westward 

 to the emerging industrial towns of the 

 Piedmont. The authors describe this as 

 the last era of labor-intensive family 

 farming, which left a legacy of 

 farmhouses with outbuildings, tobacco 

 barns and country churches. Although 

 these buildings comprised the human 

 landscape 100 years ago, they still 

 appear on nearly every roadside today. 



Also, a new focus on public education 

 resulted in hundreds of brick school- 

 houses in rural areas. 



Bishir and Southern guide readers 

 through the driving forces of architec- 

 tural design from the Great Depression 

 of the 1930s to the present. The 

 Coastal Plain's agricultural economic 

 base faded, and the rural population 

 suffered or left. The New Deal's 

 federal programs and the start of 

 World War II brought back full 

 employment and prosperity. More 

 recently, the recreation and tourism 

 industries have brought new wealth to 

 the beaches, but not inland. Bishir and 

 Southern note that the fear of cultural 

 homogenization is now realized 

 through strip malls, fast-food restau- 

 rants, cul-de-sac subdivisions and 

 planned communities. The small-farm 

 landscape and small-town flavor of the 



lookout for endangered properties and 

 for potential buyers who will restore and 

 preserve them. Several properties noted 

 in this book were highly endangered 

 only a decade ago." 



Bishir and Southern offer an 

 excellent guidebook. You, the reader 

 and explorer, need only curiosity, a good 

 map and perseverance to locate the sites. 

 No trip to the beach should be a straight 

 drive when the Coastal Plain's back 

 roads offer fascinating stories of North 

 Carolina's history through the details 

 of its architecture. □ 



- Lunelle Spence 



(If this guidebook piques your 

 interest in historical preservation, 

 contact Preservation North Carolina, 

 P.O. Box 27644, Raleigh, NC 27611. 

 Phone: 919/832-3652. E-mail: 

 presnc @ mindspring. com. ) 



COASTWATCH 23 



