You have heard me talk before about seeking out historical and architectural surveys to supplement and round out your research. These documents include surveys for homes, businesses, churches, cemeteries and other significant structures that may warrent historic preservation, protection and/or listing on the National Historic Register. Whether the focus structure qualifies for historic recognition or not, the document always includes: a biography of the people involved  many quality resources that are useful for historical context Read more about the surveys here in the Wake Genealogy Watch Winter 2024 issue Wake Genealogy Watch Winter 2024 issue , starting on page 10. The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office GIS Web Service was created as an aid to planning and research. Site locations and boundaries are drawn from georeferenced scans of National Register and historic property survey maps supplemented with aerial photography, county tax parcel layers and other source...

The Historic Method Community has been featured twice in the Wake Genealogy Watch, Vol 5.4 - Summer 2022 and in this blog . That article was written by WCGS member, Linda Hames, about her favorite preservation project. I recently found this additional document online that outlines the Method Community, its history, landmarks and arguments for further preservation work. The document features many relevent maps in an attempt to plot the footprint of the community when no original map document exists.  Personal narratives of Bertha  Maye Edwards, a granddaughter of Jesse Mason who grew up in Method are also included and capture the essence of the place in a way maps and documents just can not.  Those interested in early Freedmen's villlages in Wake County and the history of the Method Community will want to reveiw this document.  Residential Development in the Village of Method:  A Brief Historic Context for Landmark Designation   of Individual Properties , R...

The Evolution of Raleigh's African-American:  Neighborhoods in the 19th and 20th Centuries by Richard Mattson,  November, 1988  It seems like I visit this document yearly as I seek to gain insight into important topics to highlight for Wake researchers during Black History Month. I know I have pulled information from it for the last two years running - once, for an expansion of the list of Freedmen's Villages in Wake County and again, when gathering sources for the growth of suburbs in Raleigh. When revisiting this document today, not only was I struck by the value of the comprehensive content but also by the generous list of resources that are included with in this historic survey document. If you are interested in the formation of Freedmen's communities, suburbs, polulation changes during Reconstruction, or growth and development in black communities, you should spend some time with Mr. Mattson's document .  Do not miss the pages of sources in the endnotes! What a...