The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 43

PAGE 2 NEIGHBORHOODS CITY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2001 Newspaper In Education mtm It 4 5 i. BY MICHAEL HAYMAN, THE COURIER-JOURNAL Jonathan Noffke, Historic Homes Foundation director, stood in the door of the 19th-century slave quarters. It sits behind the Rudy Vulcan House (now known as Westover) on a Westgate Place 'ot. Preservationists try to save slave quarters in subdivision sf I QUARTERS Take a vacation and make a donation to local schools. BY JOANNE MESHEW, THE C-J HOW TO HELP If you're interested in providing a new home for the former slave-quarters building, call the Historic Homes Foundation at The Class Act program helps bring newspapers to the classroom.

Newspapers are used in school programs to improve reading, math and citizenship skills. By MARTHA ELSON and CARLA HARRIS CARLTON The Courier-Journal History and progress are clashing in an expanding subdivision off Westport Road near Hubbards Lane, where a dilapidated 19th-century slave quarters sits across from a new $280,000 home for sale. The developers plan to turn over maintenance of the Ashbrook subdivision to the homeowners' association by the end of March. That means the two-room brick "backhouse" will have to be moved or demolished because the association is not in a position to assume responsibility for it, according to developers Sammie Lee and his son, David Lee. The Lees say they have been trying for 12 years to find a way to save the building but have now lined up a demolition contractor and will raze the building if it isn't moved soon.

"Anything we can do to maintain this historic structure is our first desire," said Sammie Lee, who was Jefferson County engineer from 1962 to 1970 and whose wife, Frances, was a docent at Locust Grove. "But we've exhausted all efforts to do it, and time has taken its toll. It's going to fall down if something's not done to it." A noted researcher of African-American history is optimistic that something will be done. Carl B. Westmoreland, senior researcher for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, visited the site last week at the invitation of Lynn Renau of Windy Hills, an antiques consultant, author and historian who is interested in the slave quarters.

Westmoreland said that an institution he didn't want to identify yet is willing to accept the building for permanent display but cannot do so for two years. "We need a temporary site now, really." He said the Freedom Center will try to act as a catalyst to find a site and the necessary money and technical assistance. "I don't think we're going to lose it." The building is "extremely important," Westmoreland said. "It's a part of a fast-disappearing cultural legacy. I've seen similar buildings scattered throughout the South.

They're being torn down for subdivisions and Wal-marts and Kmarts." Backhouses, near main plantation houses, were for domestic slaves and were generally of better quality than those for field slaves. They were typically used for such tasks as spinning, weaving, washing and food processing and frequently had sheltered porches. The Ashbrook slave quarters has a porch and two chimneys. The building is especially significant, Westmoreland said, because its history is well-documented. "I don't have to guess about it, make things up about it." "When you put the place together with written documentation, then it's transformed from a thing into something that speaks, something that still has ghosts." Westmoreland said the Lees are to be congratulated for not destroy- Council in Frankfort and the Kentucky Archaeological Survey at the University of Kentucky to research and document the history and features of the slave building.

An ar chaeological ig was conducted there last summer. The county Office of Historic Preservation and Archives and the African American Heritage Foundation, 239 Fifth also have taken an interest in the building. But the African American Heri-age Foundation is in the midst of a capital campaign to move to its new site at 18th Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard and is "unable to take on yet another project," executive director Clest Lanier said last week. She said she has looked at the building and thinks "it would be wonderful if someone were able to accept it." But in addition to the financial constraints, she doesn't know yet whether the building would tie in with the center's exhibit themes. Renau, who lives in another of the Herr houses, wrote to enlist Westmoreland's help after hearing him speak recently in Lexington.

The writer of "Racing Around Kentucky" and "Hearing Harry Out," a dramatic presentation based on a book that thought to have been written by a Jefferson County slave, Renau became concerned about the slave quarters when she read about the archaeological dig in the Historic Homes' newsletter. She read about such buildings in a treatise called "Agricultural and Domestic Outbuildings in Central and Western Kentucky, 1800-1865" by Rachel Kennedy and William Macintire. It was written for the Kentucky Heritage Council. (Macintire and Richard Jett, administrator of Jefferson County Historic Preservation and Archives, also met with Renau and Westmoreland last week to discuss the fate of the backhouse.) Renau said in her letter to Westmoreland that the building has added significance because of its connection with what she calls "Louisville's booming 1850s slave trade." In 1840, John Herr's youngest daughter married Norborne Arter-burn, one of the Arterburn brothers engaged in the slave trade, Renau said. "The Arterburn slave pens, located on Market Street, are well-documented in the city's history and now have a state historic marker on the site," she wrote.

In 1856, Herr's granddaughter, who lived at Westover, married Ar-terburn's brother, William Crawford Arterburn, who also was involved in the slave trade, Renau said. Westmoreland said that physical objects like the backhouse are important in building an understanding of history. "Seeing an object means much more to most people than the written word," he said. Standing at the present-day site, "you don't understand that the Ar-terburns were major slave traders. The physical evidence is in places like" the backhouse.

If the slave quarters is demolished, Westmoreland said, "we've lost a Rosetta Stone, a living tablet. "And we don't have that many more remaining." So when you go on vacation, just call our Customer Service Department and tell them you want to donate your newspapers to the Newspaper In Education Class Act program. ing the slave quarters and for continuing to look for solutions. They began developing the subdivision in the late 1980s around Sammie Lee's home, the 1820 Rudy Vulcan House at 4319 Westport Road, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The slave quarters sits behind the Rudy Vulcan House (now known as Westover) on a Westgate Place lot valued at $50,000.

The Lees want to sell the lot as a home site. There has been interest in the lot, but only if the slave building is removed, David Lee said. The Rudy Vulcan House was one of 10 within a three-mile radius in eastern Jefferson County that were built for members of the Herr and Rudy families. John Herr is believed to have given the land for the house to his daughter, Elizabeth, upon her marriage to Vulcan Rudy, according to the book "Historic Jefferson County." The Historic Homes Foundation and other preservationists are seeking a new site for the building. "We're trying to find some willing taker," said Jonathan Noffke, the foundation's executive director, who has been involved in the matter since last spring.

"There are so few of these structures remaining that relate to slave life. It's a shame to lose it." Historic Homes operates Locust Grove, the Thomas Edison House, Farmington and Whitehall (where its offices are located, at 3110 Lexington Road), but the slave quarters would not be a historically accurate addition to those sites, Noffke said. No suitable publicly-owned site has been found either. Historic Homes has enlisted the help of the Kentucky Heritage Be a Oass icit Just call 582-2211 or 1-800-866-2211 SIS Fliers question Clarksdale council action ii mil It'c: CURKSDALETWV PUBLICijLX HQUSINGrfr TrHA Continued from Page One there appears to be conflicting bylaws," Barry said. "Why not throw the decision back to the residents? Let them vote on who they'd like their president to be." Both sides balked at that suggestion.

Stoudemire accused Barry of passing the buck. "It's his job to get it settled, and he passed it by," Stoudemire said. "They are the overseers." Craig said the residents made their choice when they chose the council members and empowered them to make decisions. Stoudemire said he is upset not only about losing his position as president, but also his place on the council. Craig said that, according to the ing the council in its present state didn't even officially exist until 1996.

"When previous members had resident managers, I was a building captain. I couldn't make decisions or anything," he said. "I haven't been on the board too long." After reading through the bylaws, Barry said he believes Stoudemire is entitled to remain a member until the end of the year. Craig said the council bylaws allow members two weeks to decide if Stoudemire will be offered a council seat. Regardless of the group's decision, she said, Stoudemire will not be reinstated as president.

"The group is basically tired" of dealing with the issue, Craig said. "We're not going to give any credence to rumors. We're just going to ignore him." BY WES KENDALL, THE C-J bylaws, Stoudemire has already served as many consecutive terms as possible. Stoudemire disagrees, say.