Officials tour Dillsboro’s Monteith Park Farmstead; grand opening next month [photo gallery]
Appalachian Women’s Museum volunteer Dot Conner examines an old stove in the canning house at the Monteith Farmstead Wed. Aug 4 before a tour group arrives. –Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
The Appalachian Women’s Museum at Dillsboro’s Monteith Park saw over a hundred visitors, including federal and state officials,Wednesday, Aug. 4.
Following a tour at the Green Energy Park, Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chairman Earl Gohl and his group took a tour of the property. Accompanying Gohl was North Carolina Secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources Linda Carlisle.
On their tour they walked through a restored canning house, which was built at the turn of the century in 1907. The farmstead was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The property is located at 111 Hometown Place Road in Dillsboro.
The canning house received a $17,500 grant from ARC through the Blue Ridge Parkway Association. The museum’s match of $4,375 was met through applying volunteer hours already spent on the project and other in-kind services.
The museum plans to restore and base its operations in the Monteith farmstead.
The house was built by E.B. and Mary Magdalene Monteith who farmed the property until their death in the 1950s, when it passed to their daughters, Edith and Edna who continued to live there.
Edna ran the Dillsboro Post office for 45 years and died in 1988. Edith died in 2001 at which point the property came up for sale.
The town of Dillsboro purchased the property in 2003 for $112,000.
Initially the house and outbuildings were thought to be beyond repair, but upon further inspection were in better shape than previously thought, museum director Emma Wertenberger said.
It’s likely if you’ve worked on the farmstead you’ve met Wertenberger. She has worked for the better part of the last decade on the project to revitalize the farmstead along with countless volunteers.
More than 250 people petitioned the town to save the old houses.
Pictures, old clothes and school papers have been unearthed including an essay written by one of the sisters in the 1920s about the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.
Renovations must be done before the museum can open, that brings us to present day.
The canning house which will open to the public Sept. 11, sits behind the farmhouse, which is in desperate need of restoration.
The cost of work for the farmhouse is estimated to run between $500,000 and $750,000, Wertenberger said.
Her group has been actively seeking grants and donations, however most of the larger grants require a long-term lease on a property before funds are made available she said.
Dillsboro AWM has been working hand-in-hand with the town trying to iron out the details of a lease agreement.
Initially the town offered a five year lease to the museum, which Wertenberger said the group felt uncomfortable with because it would effectively prevent them from applying for larger grants.
A town board decision on the lease is expected to come Monday, Aug. 9.
Currently, as Wertenberger sees it, there are two options for the property–a lease from the town to the museum or an outright sale of the property.
The town would likely lease or sell the 1.4 acres that the farmstead and canning house sits on, not the whole 16 acres, she said.
Ron Arps, who volunteers on the farmstead and also has helped establish a garden on the property, has already taken on mowing that 1.4 acres the farmstead sits on.
Doing the math, Wertenberger said, roughly one acre out of 16 would boil down to about a $7,000 price tag. She said the town doesn’t place a value on the buildings and empty lot that have no water or sewer connections and have indicated in the past that financially they would not be able to keep them up.
The purchase would be a much better option than the lease, Wertenberger said.
There’s also a third, undiscussed option–the town could give the property to the museum, much like the county, through a state statute, gave the historic Hooper House to the Hooper House Preservation Group. Werternberger said she would love to see that happen.
“I urge people to come to the meeting Monday and express support for the project. Reassure the board and the mayor that you are in favor of a wonderful project,” she said.
“It would break my heart if the buildings sat over there and fell down. I don’t think that has to happen. Partnerships can be formed.” Wertenberger said.
She noted they’ve had very successful partnerships with Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College, in working on the farmstead.
The museum will be the first of its kind dedicated to Appalachian Women’s History, Wertenberger said. While their first project includes restoration of the farmhouse and setting up a place for the museum to operate, she said she definitely sees room to expand and do many more projects down the road.
“It won’t be a stagnant, walk-through house, looking at furnishings,” she said, adding “it will live and grow–it will have a life.”
“There are many museums dedicated to crafts and arts, but this will be the first one we know of dedicated to the history,” she said.
The canning house will open to the public Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and plans to open on Saturdays.
Along with financial contributions, the farmstead is seeking old and new items to put on display, Wertenberger said, noting that a local resident recently donated an old pressure cooker.
To volunteer, donate or help out in any capacity, contact Emma Wertenberger with the Appalachian Women’s Museum at ew.awmuseum@gmail.com, 586-5244 or write PO Box 245, Dillsboro, NC 28725.
Officials Tour the renovated canning house
–Herald photos by Nick Breedlove
The Monteith Farm throughout the years
