Last summer, Motor Man and I discovered a restaurant on our route from home to the Outer Banks. It’s known for its barbecue, but we much prefer their fried chicken chunks. (They taste very much like my mom’s fried chicken.)
Less than a mile from this restaurant is an old Rosenwald school house, built around 1920. Rosenwald schools were a joint effort of Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, a co-owner of Sears Roebuck. The schools were built in the south for the purpose of educating Afro-American children.
Last year, this school was scheduled for demolition by the county. But, the owner of our little barbecue chicken chunk restaurant purchased it. And we learned that it was scheduled to be moved closer to his restaurant to be restored.
Each time we stopped at the restaurant, we’d ask if a date for the move had been set. Then I began following their Facebook page and learned that the move was set for April 12. We immediately put the date on our calendar and made the trip yesterday to watch the old school moved to its new home.
The day began with clouds and a forecast for rain, but with all logistics in place, the move went on as scheduled. Obviously, it was a big production, requiring that the building be moved across the highway (four travel lanes plus a turn lane). Utility lines had previously been heightened, and phone cables were temporarily disconnected from poles.
Shortly after 8:30, with sheriff’s deputies stopping traffic, the move began.
Motor Man took still shots, while I videoed the action with my cell phone. We commented that there probably had never been this many photos taken of this old schoolhouse in her nearly 100 year history.
The trickiest part of the move was, most likely, at the very beginning, making it over the curbing on both sides of the highway. It was nice to hear the cheers of everyone once they realized the building had held together through the initial part of the move.
After about a 3/4 mile trip across a field…
…and some careful alignment…
…she arrived at her new location. Other than the final “tweaking”, the actual move took less than two hours. As Motor Man said, this time, that old building has a foundation.
We look forward to watching her renovation as we pass by (and stop next door for chicken chunks). It’s so nice to see history being preserved.
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 