Rebecca Horton Hinton in 1940s in front of historic family home
Join Us for Annual Meeting on Oct 1
Preservation Zebulon’s third annual meeting features:
- A peek inside of a private, restored antebellum house, first time opened to the public
- Film of Eva Frady Liles, Wendell- born community leader in Zebulon
- Film of Rebecca Horton Hinton, niece of Zebulon’s founding Horton family
- BBQ Chicken dinner at outdoor pavilion
- PZ Year recap and plans for 2021
Annual Meeting is Thursday, October 1
From 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Site – a private, pristine and beautiful large Zebulon farm with plenty of wide open space for social distancing!
Get Your Tickets Now
Pre-Sale only
$25 for active PZ members,
$30 for non members
We thank our event sponsors David and Jill Hicks and Tommy Massey!
This is a ticketed event, pre-sale only. Space is limited to 90 attendees. We will follow public safety measures, have hand washing stations, and there is plenty of space for social distancing.
Like last year’s special event, this is expected to sell out. Don’t miss out – Order your tickets today!
Community Leader Eva Liles in the early 1940s
Season Atkinson
Meet our Board
Season Atkinson
Season Atkinson has served as Vice President of PZ and at-large board member for three years. She is a partner with the law firm of Tatum & Atkinson in Raleigh where she represents people injured in motor vehicle wrecks. You may know her as one-half of the “Tatum & Atkinson Heavy Hitters” team from TV commercials!
Season and her partners own the large green and white building at the corner of Arendell Avenue and Horton Street and have recently completed renovations to the brick interior which included uncovering the original honeycomb floor tile. The structure was built around 1909 and originally known as the Whitley Building, then as the site of Citizen’s Drug Company. The parcel also contains the red brick building at 104 East Horton Street, built circa 1915, and Tatum & Atkinson moved half of the paralegal staff into the 1st floor office space there earlier this year.
Season and her husband Derek DelCastilho also recently purchased the home with the two story columned front porch at 115 E. Horton Street, built by Zebulon grocer M. C. Medlin in 1917, and minor renovations to both the exterior and interior are under way. Seeing a need in Zebulon for short-term lodging for guests and visitors to the area, their plan is to have the furnished and comfortable home available as an Airbnb short term rental. With its great downtown location, it is just a short walk to the amazing other businesses opening in downtown Zebulon. Season and Derek reside at the old rock quarry in Wendell, another property important to the history of our area, and have turned this watery wonder into Mystery Lake Scuba Park, a venture drawing divers from across the state.
A native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Season moved to the Triangle area in 2000 after graduating from law school at Pennsylvania State University.
“I joined the Board with the goal of Zebulon having a historic district designation, and we are nearly there!” she says.
“If you have never been in a 100 year old building or home, visit one. Each brick, every floorboard, even the plaster on the walls is purposeful and personal. You can examine the wall and see the trowel marks or different layers of paint colors and imagine the hopeful people who have lived and worked in that space before you.” She states. “Zebulon is a beautiful place with welcoming people. Preservation of the early homes and the historic downtown of Zebulon is important to attract new business and citizens to Zebulon.”
TWO GRANTS AWARDED
We thank the Town of Zebulon for its recent grant of $1,000, as part of its non profit application funding cycle for this new fiscal year. PZ plans to use the funds for a planned historic home tour event in Spring 2021.
Preservation Zebulon also received a $4,500 NC CARES: Humanities Relief Grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council. This emergency grant funding was provided to North Carolina cultural organizations experiencing hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are grateful to be one of 59 organizations the North Carolina Humanities Council selected for this funding,” said MaryBeth Carpenter, Executive Director of Preservation Zebulon.
This funding will support Preservation Zebulon’s documentation, preservation, and promotion programs and its efforts to build a digital archive within its Zebulon Memory Project activities.
NC CARES: Humanities Relief Grant funding was provided to the North Carolina Humanities Council by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in late March. The $2.2 trillion CARES package included funding which was sent to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils, including the North Carolina Humanities Council, to distribute to local cultural nonprofits and programming. The North Carolina Humanities Council is a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
National Register Nomination Moving Ahead
Our first set of changes on our National Register Historic District nomination draft has been sent back by the NC State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).
The consultant that Preservation Zebulon retained for the study, Firefly Consulting, is working on the changes for the draft, which will encompass a technical review initially, and then a substantive review.
Thanks to the generosity of many supporters in 2018 and 2019 who enabled Preservation Zebulon to hire our consultants to prepare the National Register Historic District nomination. See our website for more details.
SURVEY RESULTS
Thank you to so many members of our Preservation Zebulon family for taking the survey offered last month in our electronic newsletter. Over 70% of you responded that you would attend an outdoor event, with safety and social distancing measures on Oct 1. Our Board has decided to proceed with our Annual Meeting event, featuring the next two installments of our Zebulon Memory Project due to your enthusiasm.
See our Annual Meeting announcement and purchase your tickets today!
MEMBERSHIPS
Preservation Zebulon is a member-based organization. Please renew your membership today. Cost is $40 for individuals, $50 for a family, and $250 for a corporate partner membership, which includes a sponsorship to our Annual Meeting. Please donate or renew your membership today at www.preservationzebulon.org or by mailing a check to the address below. All of Preservation Zebulon’s activities are run by volunteers. Thank you for your support and participation!