(rshsdepot) Havelock, NC

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From the New Bern (NC) Sun Journal




Havelock train depot on track

Tom Boné
Freedom ENC

HAVELOCK -- The old train station on the corner of Lake Road and Miller
Boulevard shows the ravages of time, and many have wondered when the relic
would be torn down.

The Havelock Historical Preservation Society has an answer, but instead of
demolishing the building, members plan to move it a few hundred yards down
the street.

Preservation society chairman Susie Bare says years of grant seeking,
negotiations with railroad and department of transportation officials and
coordinating will soon result in the expansion of the organization's efforts
to move the train station behind the refurbished Trader Store nearby.

"We've got the area ready, and we're now seeking bids," Bare said during a
tour of the old building last week.

Dust is everywhere, thanks to holes in the walls, but inside she points to
old desks that will be reconditioned and a wooden floor that will once again
bear the weight of visitors.

"This place is a tremendous part of Havelock's history," said Bare as she
and society board member Emma Davis sifted through the debris.

"You talk to anybody that was here back in the old days and they have
hundreds of stories about the station and the old store. We're going to
share some of those stories next week."

She's talking about the ice cream social at the Trader Store Tuesday night,
featuring a visit from Havelock's official historian Eddie Ellis. Ellis has
held that title since Feb. 27, 1984, when the city made a proclamation and
donated a file cabinet.

"I'm happy to report I still have it," Ellis said.

The file cabinet is stuffed with his research, which really began at the old
Havelock Public Library on Miller Boulevard when he was 13 years old.

"When I was a kid, there was a paragraph in the phone book that said the
city was named after Sir Henry Havelock," recalls Ellis. "I went to the
library and asked if they had any books on him and they didn't. All they had
was a brief write-up in an encyclopedia."

His curiosity wouldn't let him give up and he began a search that has led
him as far as the National Archives in Washington.

"That proclamation from the city has opened many doors," he confides. "You'd
be surprised at how many cities much larger than this don't even have a
historian."

Ellis will share the history of what was once called Havelock Station, and
he'll help straighten out some of the confusion over the age of the building
the society

plans to move.

"It's really the third structure," he said. "The first was destroyed during
the Civil War."

His 20-minute presentation will be followed by questions and answers. He'll
also take a moment to praise the Havelock Historical Preservation Society.

"The society has done a tremendous job in restoring the old Trader Store and
this next project with the train station will be another great step in
preserving the history of the area," he said.

Bare says that step will probably cost about $10,000. The structure will be
moved in one day, she said.

"We're hoping for sometime next year," she said. "The roof will have to come
off because it would cost a fortune to move power lines, and it needs a new
roof anyways."

Once moved to the spot behind the Trader Store, the depot will be
reconditioned and serve as a combination meeting hall and tourist
attraction, filled with mementos.

Bare says the society is seeking one more item that will help add to the
flavor of the display.

"We're hoping to get a railroad caboose parked out in front of it," she
said. "But, right now, it's one project at a time."

For more information on the society, call 447-5043.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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