Phase 1 is finished as of September 2020! While covid-19 has slowed our progress, we now have our certificates of occupancy for the 3 houses in History Village. Landscaping and sidewalks are complete. The 6-minute-long video at the end of this post walks you through the project. The renovations are beautiful and very well-done!
History Village rendering (click on image to enlarge)
The 1832 Culbreth House will support higher education. It contains a large library on the Civil War and Reconstruction, a full-service catering kitchen, and offices for educators.
The 1850 Arsenal House will support program delivery for K-12 education. It contains a digital education classroom/studio and a control booth with sophisticated equipment that will offer a variety of portals and other means of content and program delivery. The equipment’s robust distance learning capacity and web-based learning ultimately will integrate with the (future) main facility’s exhibits, providing a virtual means of experiencing the History Center.
The 1855 Davis House will be a mini-museum that will interpret the Arsenal site.
Phase 2 includes building an outdoor education and entertainment pavilion, laying a boardwalk alongside the Arsenal ruins, and adding parking that will accommodate school buses.
We’re sorry we were unable to celebrate with you the ribbon-cutting for Phase 1 and groundbreaking for Phase 2 as we’d hoped to do in April. Our celebration may have to wait until the spring of 2021. We promise you will be amazed at what we have accomplished. We’re very pleased with the superb work performed by Vines Architecture, Bentley House Movers, Varnedoe Construction, Clark Powell Equipment Company, PMC Commercial Interiors, and all the subcontractors who were involved.
With funding from the State of North Carolina for Phase 3’s main facility (and other state capital projects) on hold due to covid-19 needs, we are focusing our efforts on a three-year plan to begin our educational program and have begun seeking funds for that programming from state and national foundations and corporations.
We’re very grateful to the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, the State of North Carolina, and YOU, our steadfast supporters, for getting us this far in our progress!
Click here to watch the before-and-after video of History Village’s renovations.