The Betty Van Etten Johnson Collection

Photographs and slides found at 231 Hydrick Street (pre-rehab) have now been scanned into Preservation Trust's virtual archieves as the Betty Van Etten Johnson Collection. Photographs range in age from the late 1800's to the 1940's, and also include a photograph from the Willis Studio.


231 Hydrick Street, formerly 105 Hydrick Street, was built between circa 1918 by the Scruggs family, who also built 232 and 240 Hydrick St. Fielding T. Cantrell purchased the home for his son, Fieldeng A., the Cantrell family was influential in the carriage, wagon and automobile industry. In 1937, GraceVan Etten's family purchased the home and after marrying, daughter Betty moved in and resided there until 2003.



The photograph below is Betty Johnson (nee Van Etten) and husband Robert Lee Johnson on their wedding day, February 14, 1943. The handwritten note on the back of the photograph notes, "leaving (Old) Bethel Church after getting married."

What treasure is in your attic?

Greetings from Assistant Director Rebecca Parrish!

I recently traveled to my hometown of Lakeland, Florida and stayed with my cousin. She brought down a box of old family photos and shoebox containing old letters she had found when cleaning out our grandparents' home in 1997. As we started to open and read the letters, we realized the true gift we had discovered: love letters from my grandfather to my grandmother, courting her, from 1928 through 1930. These letters are filled with loving sentiments, showing us a side to our grandfather we never knew existed. We learned about his nicknames and found drawings in some of the letters. In effort to fully preserve (and yet share) the letters, I've taken on the task of scanning each one. It will be a slow process, but I am eager to take advantage of technology to share these small pieces of history with the modern world.

So, what is in your attic (or closet, or hope chest, or footlocker)? What did your relatives leave behind for you to discover? Take a look today; you might be surprised by what you find....

The twelve days of giving

In the spirit of the giving holiday, be reminded that there are 12 days remaining of 2008, and 12 days left to make a tax-deductible donation to your favorite non-profit organization! Here are 12 reasons why:

12 -- board members volunteering

11 -- pages on our new & improved website

10 -- years and counting

9 -- new fans on Facebook

8 -- sales made at SAS last Saturday

7 -- current projects

6 -- homes for sale

5 -- streets that now have bike lanes

4 -- walking tours available

3 -- streets with lighting

2 -- dedicated staff members

1 -- chance to make your dollar count

Please give us your support before the year runs out. Don't make us beg! Stop by the office to see us today!

A Kudzu Kind of Christmas

The Preservation Trust of Spartanburg Celebrates Holidays with “Kudzu Kind of Christmas”

The holiday season is here; and the Preservation Trust of Spartanburg is celebrating in a big and creative way, calling it a “Kudzu Kind of Christmas”.

That’s right…kudzu vines collected by neighborhood volunteers Tim Fisher, Marlene Comer, Linda Powers-Bilanchone, Steve & Erin Shanafelt, and Kudzu Coalition volunteers Tim Hemphill, Samantha Parks, Newt Hardie will be on display at the offices of the Preservation Trust of Spartanburg and Partners for Active Living, located at 226 South Spring Street (Cantrell Bungalow) in the Hampton Heights Historic District. The effort was also aided by Shawndel Scott who delivered a bulk of the vines and crowns.

Vines wrapped in lights and adorned with ribbon join ornaments made from the large crowns of the kudzu vine. The holiday décor reflects the year-long partnership of the Preservation Trust and Kudzu Coalition, who together have been working to eradicate kudzu in the four acre green space between Carlisle Street and Brookwood Terrace.

Decorations will be on display from December 3, 2008 until January 2, 2008.

New website launched this week!

Hello blogfans! The staff of the Trust is excited to announce the launch of our NEW website (at the old address.... www.preservespartanburg.org) and we want you to check it out.

The former website was designed in 2000, and we hope the streamlined and clean look of our new site will be easy on the eyes....and easy to navigate!

Please check us out and let us know your thoughts!

Preservation Trust hits the Big 1-0

October marks the tenth anniversary of the Preservation Trust of Spartanburg, Inc.

Former and current board members, professionals from the Spartanburg community, home buyers, neighbors, and friends joined together on Friday, October 24 to celebrate the accomplishments of the non-profit organization.

The event, held at Hub-Bub’s Showroom, featured a presentation by Executive Director Kristi K. Webb to long-term Preservation Trust volunteer Linda Bilanchone, who was present to accept the award. Webb also honored Susan Willis Dunlap, the one of the organization’s founders and first board president. Dunlap’s mother, Mary Willis, was on hand to accept the honor on her daughter’s behalf. Two trees will be planted at the Hampton Heights Historic District neighborhood greenspace in December and markers will designate the service Bilanchone and Dunlap have both dedicated to the Preservation Trust.

William Cribb catered the event, and Liz Blanchard created the three cakes. A photographic slide show of past projects and events ran for guests. Approximately 100 supporters attended the event.

Envisioned by former City Manager Roy Lane and established in 1998, The Preservation Trust of Spartanburg, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) historic preservation organization. It is also designated as a CHDO (Community Housing Development Organization), which enables the Trust to receive federal funding for homeownership initiatives. The mission of the Preservation Trust is “preserving historic Spartanburg.” The Preservation Trust is a city-wide organization that is empowered to improve housing stock in locally designated historic districts.

Preservation Roadtrip to Greensboro, North Carolina

Last week, Trust staff took a roadtrip to participate in the yearly conference of the Southeast Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH), held in Greensboro, North Carolina. We love a good roadtrip (despite gas prices) to a city we have never been, and Greensboro proved to be rich in history and somewhat preservation-minded. It had three historic districts, a walkable downtown with a fabulous Kress building and historic Woolworth store (made famous for its lunch counter sit-in of1960, sparking numerous other sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement).

The SESAH awarded the Trust their "Best of the South" award for the Carlisle Street Initative at the business luncheon on October 4. What an incredible honor!

The most rewarding experience of the trip, however, was our visit with Jon Enos of Architectural Salvage of Greensboro (ASG). This salvage store is a non-profit project of Preservation Greensboro, Inc (also supported by the City of Greensboro). Not only is ASG an outstanding example of the deconstruction/salgvage movement, but volunteer Jon Enos has also been a wealth of knowledge, allowing for our staff to pick his brain about their operations so that we can make the Spartanburg Architectural Salvage even better. He spent the better part of an afternoon walking us through their 25,000 square foot building, fielding questions, letting us admire Bessie (their 1955 Ford pickup truck and mobile advertising), showing us tools and how to use them, discussing prices and policies...an absolutely wonderful opportunity with an incredibly insightful individual. Seeing the success of ASG inspired us to think big and get creative! Hopefully you will see some evidence of our learning at the nest SAS opening on November 1. We are "recylcing" a bunch of ASG's ideas to implement in our operation and offer a huge thank you to them for sharing their successes, materials, and enthusiasm.

If you are ever in Greensboro, stop in and see ASG (during Friday or Saturday business hours or by appoinment) at 300 Bellemeade Street (in the former Clock Museum downtown). You'll be glad for the detour through old doors, windows, sinks, flooring and more.

Overall, we enjoyed our short trip to the unique city of Greensboro. We allowed ourselves to get lost in Greensboro historic residential districts, driving slowly to take pictures and note pleasing paint schemes and unique styles....tourists all the way! If anything, let us encourage you to get out and explore a town or city that is unknown to you. Visit the downtown or historic areas, ask questions and get inspired!