The Cameron Historic Preservation Committee approved the relocation of the 1880 jail to town property at its Feb. 4 meeting. The new location will be behind the Town Hall.
The historic jail was moved from Goodman Street in the summer of 2004 and presently stands behind the 1930s brick Muse-Hemphill House at 422 Carthage Street. The structure is commonly known as the Muse Brother’s Store and is closed.
One debated original location of the jail is off Goodman Street, almost directly across the street from the Muse building.
The committee voiced concerns that moving the jail would limit grants for maintenance because the new location is not on designated historical property—yet.
The Town Hall is approximately 40 years old, and the town hopes to list it as historic property in the future, according to Historic Preservation Committee member Sylvia Caddell.
In other historical preservation business, the committee approved an added caveat roof facing Carthage Street, with a flat vegetable garden roof hidden on the barn at The 1878 Bed & Breakfast at the Historic Muse House at 538 Carthage Street. The property is currently zoned as a residential business.
Owner Elizabeth Nhambure plans to use the barn as a growing station for hydroponic lettuce, using local pig waste mixed with soil to replace the peat squares typically used because she believes in regenerative agriculture.
During the Town of Cameron Feb. 4 agenda meeting, Mayor Pro Tempore Joey Frutchey introduced and recommended the planning board’s recommendation for the Old North subdivision with 17 2,500 square foot houses on approximately five acres each on Atkins Road and N.C. Highway 27.
Harris Trucking reviewed road development plans in the subdivision, and because it will be annexed into the town, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will set road standards.
The public hearing on the Old North subdivision is Feb. 25 at the Cypress Pointe Fire Department in Cameron.
All other agenda topics were postponed to the Feb. 25 meeting.
Feature photo: Cameron historic jail. Photo by Stephanie M. Sellers/Sandhills Sentinel.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Stephanie is also an English instructor at Central Carolina Community College. She is the author of young adult fiction, including When the Yellow Slugs Sing and Sky’s River Stone, and a suspense, GUTTERSNIPE: Shakespearean English Stage Play with Translation.
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