Holland Family Homestead and Slay Farm- a Cultural Resource Report
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HOLLAND FAMILY HOMESTEAD AND SLAY FARM- A CULTURAL RESOURCE REPORT JUNE 2010 White Plains, Chambers County, Alabama ECA Project No. K-558-5 AHC-09-0939 Submitted to Prepared By Alabama Historical Commission Jaime Destefano Montgomery, Alabama Environmental Corporation of America 1375 Union Hill Industrial Court Alpharetta, GA 30004 ENVIRONMENTAL | GEOTECHNICAL | WETLANDS | ECOLOGY | CULTURAL RESOURCES The Holland Family Homestead and Slay Farm – A Cultural Resources Report Prepared for TowerCom Enterprises, LLC By Environmental Corporation of America Jaime L. Destefano, MS – Project Manager, Principal Architectural Historian ECA Project No. K-558-5 June 2010 i ENVIRONMENTAL | GEOTECHNICAL | WETLANDS | ECOLOGY | CULTURAL RESOURCES TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS....................................................................... iii I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGY...................................... 1 II. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION ......................................................................... 2 III. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE WHITE PLAINS COMMUNITY........... 6 IV. HOLLAND HOMESTEAD ......................................................................... 14 V. SLAY FARM .............................................................................................. 21 VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................ 30 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................... 31 ATTACHMENTS ............................................................................................ 33 ii ENVIRONMENTAL | GEOTECHNICAL | WETLANDS | ECOLOGY | CULTURAL RESOURCES LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS Figure 1. USGS Topographic Map, 1971 Project Area Boundaries (Scale 1:24,000) ................3 Figure 2. 2006 Google Earth Aerial Photograph .........................................................................4 Figure 3. Historic Properties Layout............................................................................................5 Figure 4. 1834 Original Land Survey T23N, Range 26E ............................................................7 Figure 5. 1891 “General Map of Alabama”.................................................................................8 Figure 6. 1899 “Geographically Correct Map of Alabama and Georgia” ...................................8 Figure 7. 1909 “Chambers County Soil Survey Map” ................................................................9 Figure 8. 1948 Alabama Transportation Map............................................................................11 Figure 9. c.1920 Photograph of Thomas J. Lett House, Buffalo, Alabama...............................12 Figure 10. 2010 Photograph of the Holland Homestead Main House, White Plains, Alabama..12 Figure 11. c.1970 Birds Eye View of Holland Family Homestead .............................................14 Figure 12. Holland Family Homestead Site Map and Resource Locations.................................15 Figure 13. 2010 Photograph of Southwest Oblique, Holland Homestead Main House (Res.1) .16 Figure 14. General Floor Plan of Holland Homestead Main House (Resource 1) ......................17 Figure 15. 2010 Photograph of Central Hall Passage of Holland Homestead Resource 1..........18 Figure 16. 2010 Photograph of Holland Homestead Secondary Dwelling (Resource 2)............19 Figure 17. 2010 Photograph of Frame Shed on Holland Homestead (Resource 3).....................19 Figure 18. 2010 Photograph of Frame Shed on Holland Homestead (Resource 4).....................19 Figure 19. 2010 Photograph of Frame Shed on Holland Homestead (Resource 5).....................19 Figure 20. 2010 Photograph of Surviving Brick Chimney on Holland Homestead (Res.6) .......20 Figure 21. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Main House (Resource 1) ........................................21 Figure 22. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Historic Barn (resource 14)......................................21 Figure 23. Slay Farm Site Plan and Resource Locations.............................................................21 Figure 24. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Main House (Resource 1) ........................................23 Figure 25. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Frame Shed/Chicken Coop ......................................24 Figure 26. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Frame Garage (Resource 5) .....................................25 Figure 27. 2010 Photograph of Reconstructed Early 20th C. Tenant House (Resource 6) ..........26 Figure 28. 2010 Photograph of Parlor of Slay Farm Resource 6.................................................26 Figure 29. 2010 Photograph of Kitchen of Slay Farm Resource 6..............................................27 Figure 30. 2010 Photograph of Outhouse Reconstruction on Slay Farm (Resource 7)...............27 Figure 31. 2010 Photograph of Historic Hand-Drawn Well on Slay Farm (Resource 9)............27 Figure 32. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Livestock Barn (resource 11)...................................28 Figure 33. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Historic Barn (Resource 13) ....................................28 Figure 34. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Historic Barn (Resource 14) ....................................29 Figure 35. 2010 Photograph of Slay Farm Sharecropper Cottage (Resource 16) .......................29 iii ENVIRONMENTAL | GEOTECHNICAL | WETLANDS | ECOLOGY | CULTURAL RESOURCES I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION information of the individual properties, was obtained through research at the Alabama AND METHODOLOGY Historical Commission, Chambers County Public Library, the Chambers County Courthouse, The Cultural Resource Report for both the Holland property owner interviews, and a general internet Homestead (Chambers County Resource No. 93) data search. and Slay Farm (Chambers County Resource No. 92) was conducted as part of a mitigation effort. During the background research, it was discovered The survey report was funded by TowerCom that Slay Farm was listed as an Alabama Heritage Enterprise, LLC through a contractual agreement Farm in 2008. The Alabama Department of with the Alabama Historical Commission as a Agriculture and Industry began the Alabama mitigation measure in compliance with Section Century and Heritage Farm program as a way to 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of acknowledge and preserve family farms 1966. Under the agreement, the documentation of throughout the state. A Heritage Farm is one that the two historic resources located in historic White has been operated continuously as a family farm Plains would include photographic documentation for at least 100 years. The farm must possess of each resource and a written narrative describing interesting and important historical and the developmental history, and surviving agricultural aspects, including one or more resources. structures at least forty years old. The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry provided The overall landscape and setting of the Holland copies of the 2008 Heritage Farm registration Homestead and Slay Farm are indicative of the package for Slay Farm The application package is late 19th to early-20th century family farmstead provided in Attachment B. found throughout the region during a transitional period in southern agricultural history. This period Following the background research, a field survey was influenced by a crop-lien farming system was conducted of each property. Each resource on (tenancy), the Great Depression, World War II, each property was assigned a resource number and and the mechanization of the farm. The surviving photographed. Interior and exterior photographs of main house on each property reflects the turn-of- each main house were taken as well as contextual the-century New South Cottage, a residential photographs of both properties. Following the architectural type common during the New South field survey, photographic documentation was movement. The New South philosophy included prepared. This documentation includes digital an emphasis on agricultural diversification and JPEG and RAW Format images saved to an railroad and transportation expansion. All of these archival quality CD-R for each property. Select events, including New South influences, photographs were color printed using archival contributed to both the gradual rise and decline of quality ink and photo paper and inserted in clear, the community of White Plains as well as shifts in archival sleeves. The photographic documentation farming practices on the Holland Homestead and supplements this report. Proof sheets and Slay Farm. photograph logs are included in Attachment D. The background research, field survey, and authoring of this report were conducted by Jaime L. Destefano, an SOI qualified Architectural Historian. Historical information pertaining to the general developmental history of the community of White Plains, as well as the background 1 ENVIRONMENTAL | GEOTECHNICAL | WETLANDS | ECOLOGY | CULTURAL RESOURCES II. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION resources on Slay Farm are located within tax parcel number 12-06-06-13-0-000-001.000. Therefore, for purposes of this study, the historic The Holland Homestead and Slay Farm are property of Slay Farm refers only to the above located in Chambers County at the historic mentioned tax parcel. This particular parcel is community of White Plain. Chambers County is located within Township 23N, Range 26E, Section situated in the east-central portion of Alabama and 13.2 Coordinates of the main house are N32º 59’ is bounded by Randolph