New Wal-Mart Means Relocation for One of S.C.'s Oldest Houses
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | May 28, 2008
A log cabin built before the Revolutionary War hides inside this house in Irmo, S.C.
Credit: Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation
Update: In mid-June, Wal-Mart awarded a $50,000 grant to the Palmetto Trust to relocate the house, according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Tara Stewart.
One of South Carolina's oldest log cabins must be moved by July 1 so that developers can clear the rural site in Irmo for a new Wal-Mart.
Instead of razing the Lindler House, Bright-Meyers Development, based in Georgia, has donated the structure and its quarter-acre lot to the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, a local group that wants to move the house 50 feet to safety.
"Quite honestly, it seemed like the morally honest thing to do," says Matt Sasser of Bright-Meyers Development, who allowed the Palmetto Trust access to the modest-looking Lindler House.
"It's a godsend, really," says Rick Lindler, who feared the house was doomed when he sold his two acres to Bright-Meyers in January. "I expected it to hit the ground and be hauled away."
The house got a lucky break when Mike Bedenbaugh, executive director of the Palmetto Trust, happened to drive by the construction zone and see the Lindler House and a Wal-Mart sign. When Bright-Meyers allowed him inside, he was shocked. "Here was a two-story, asbestos-sided house, and I walk in and see [the type of] extraordinary interior that just doesn't exist anymore," Bedenbaugh says.
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The National Trust for Historic Preservation wants big-box retail stores to donate money to move historic properties in the way of construction. "The basic principle we seek to establish is that, whenever Wal-Mart or a similar big box company causes the need for the demolition of a historic structure, they instead contribute the cost to move and stabilize the structure to a place where it can be used," says Peter Brink, vice president of programs for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. |
Now Lindler has also decided to donate the family cemetery, located behind the house, to the Palmetto Trust. "I've told Mike that I will deed that property to them so they can go ahead and do what needs to be done," he says.
Bedenbaugh is raising money for the move, which could cost more than $50,000. (The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Southern Office gave his group a $2,000 grant earlier this month.) He hopes to restore the house as his group's offices—if he can move it in the next two months.
Meanwhile, in Raeford, N.C., an 1839 house may be torn down for a Wal-Mart unless it is moved. "These things do take time," says Myrick Howard, executive director of Preservation North Carolina. "We fully expect that it would take several months to know whether this is going to work out or not."
The Palmetto Trust also wants to nominate the Lindler House for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Bedenbaugh says. That might protect as it an island in a sea of development. "Our goal is to keep the house there and get it on the register, so when the inevitable four-lane road comes through, it won't compromise the site," he says. "In 10 years this place will not look the same at all. This area is growing really fast."
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Comments
Submitted by Ken at: June 5, 2008
The big box developer, Bright-Meyers Development, should be commended as a model for development and historic preservation with the historic structure donation; the possible need for a monetary donation expressed by Peter Brink, National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), as a rule accounts for the percentage of developers who need rules and education on the importance of national historic resources. There are a number of ways to circumvent historical and archaeological sites, from resource preservation under a big box slab (for future generations), to actually reconnoitering and surveying the wrong sites. Bright-Meyers Development has accepted responsibility and graciously donated the Lindler House to the right people, for the community, and for the potential National Register of Historic Places (NHRP). The NTHP can address plans, incentives, and education to do the right thing. Bright-Meyers Development has the concern, knowledge, and character to do that right. What concerns me more is that land is getting so limited that a historic structure such as the Lindler House, and others, can be so affected by a 50' margin; old structures apparently don't fit new shopping town locations.
Submitted by LRS at: June 4, 2008
Any for-profit enterprise, especially a retailer, would be stupid to alienate a community into which its planning to expand by knocking down an historic structure rather than relocating it. That said, companies are under no OBLIGATION to pay for such relocation. And clearly Mr. Lindler felt no such obligation to his ancestral home or even to the family burial ground. Expecting the house to be "knocked to the ground" after strolling away with the cash offered for his property speaks of a far worse sense of historic preservation, let alone sense of family stewardship, than anything that might be displayed for an outside force.
Submitted by Harflint at: May 29, 2008
Did Wal-Mart contribute to the costs?