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...

  **Be sure to see the latest update at the end of post. Reprint from the Winter 2024 Wake Genealogy Watch Newsletter -  Contributing – Saundra Cropps          Shiloh Community in Cedar Forks township started in 1830 as a rural community of free people of color.  This community is home to over 57 farmers on property extending from the Durham County line to south of McCrimmon Parkway.  It was annexed into the town of Morrisville, NC in 1987 (although it predates Morrisville by almost 200 years). It is important to note that the remaining farmers in Shiloh community today are the living descendants of those original freemen who settled this part of Wake county from the 1830 and on through the years after Emancipation.   WCGS member and Diversity officer Saundra Cropps has deep roots in the Shiloh Community as you will come to read. The community and many of its members, including Saundra's great grandfather, Jesse Harris and other anc...