The document summarizes the history of efforts to preserve the Bath High School building from 2004 to 2018. Key events include forming a nonprofit in 2005 to save the school from demolition, structural assessments in 2006, receiving grants and being added to the historic register in 2008, the library moving into the building in 2014, and the ongoing restoration process with the goals of completing the auditorium and other remaining phases. The retreat reviewed progress and discussed updating strategic plans to guide future preservation work.

1. BHSPreservation.org LEADERSHIP RETREAT OCT 6 2018
SLIDESHOW COVERS BHSP HISTORY 2004-2018 Goose Creek State Park
1

2. 2

3. Efforts to save the BHS began Fall 2004, followed by a “NOT TOO FAR GONE” event April 17,
2005. In 2005, the Beaufort County Board of Education decided to demolish the school. It was
then the nonprofit BHSP was formed and members persuaded the school board to give
ownership of the building to the town so it could decide how to handle the property. BHSP
decided to demolish 1966 kitchen to restore 1934 appearance LL Photo.
3

4. Petitions were signed to save the building,
and help was given by the State Historic
Preservation Commission folks John
Wood, Scott Power, as well as Reed
Thomas of the North Carolina Office of
Archives and History and Claudia Deviney
of Preservation of North Carolina.
4

5. A preliminary engineering structural evaluation and condition
assessment study was ordered and a 10 page study by DCF
Engineering was prepared dated Feb 2006.
5

6. 6
NC Rural Center’s Building Re-Use Pre-
Development Grant Program.
2007 Re-Use Study
Summary

7. 2007
7

8. 2008
8

9. 2008 Added to Historic Register
Bath School (added 2008 - -
#07001495)
King & Carteret Sts. , Bath
Historic Significance:Architecture/Engineering,
Event
Architectural Style:Colonial Revival
Area of Significance:Education, Architecture
Period of Significance:1950-1974, 1925-1949, 1900-
1924
Owner:Local
Historic Function:Education
Historic Sub-function:School
Current Function:Vacant/Not In Use
9

10. 2008-2009BHSP accomplished one of its major restoration projects with the help of Double Hung
Windows, which specializes in the restoration of pre-1935 windows and doors, which
has handled a number of window restoration projects across the state.
“Because most [windows and doors] are constructed of extremely stable original-
growth, southern yellow pine, we find that historic fenestration remains as sound as the
day they were made under all of that old paint.
In 2007 and 2008, Hoggard and his team gently restored 28 windows on site and 32
windows in his shop, replacing broken panes, reglazing, scraping and painting, and
essentially returned 60 heart pine windows total to their original condition.
10

11. 2008
July 19- Roof Repaired
Sept 3- Door Project
Oct 15- West wing windows
July 2009
The 1966 Kitchen is demolished
11

12. 12

13. 2009-2010
The deed transfer date from Town of Bath to
BHSP occurred July 16, 2010
Two Foundations Approved $70,000 in Grants
•The Bath Historic Foundation wrote a check for
$50,000, the largest grant Bath High School
Preservation had received at that time.
•The Marion Steadman Covington Foundation of
Greensboro announced that it would match gifts
on a dollar for dollar basis, up to a total of
$20,000, for restoring the school‘s exterior. This is
the first large grant from outside the Bath area.
13

14. 14
MORMON WORK DAY & ECU
“Ripple in Time” Re-Use
Recommendations 2009

15. Historic Bath Foundation Supports Adaptive Use of
BHS structure
5 /13 /2008
15

16. 2010 – BoCo Committee of 100
proposal and Grant Writing Workshop
16

17. Nov 2010
17

18. June 2011
18

19. 2011
• Updated architectural and engineer
evaluation led by Ken Freidlein of
Weinstein Freidlein Architects.
•The bid process began to take form in
early 2011.
•Final bid award was made on Friday, May 27,
2011 to STOCKS & TAYLOR CONSTRUCTION of
Washington, N.C. The award covered repairs
and replacement of roof in the Auditorium
(Northeast Wing); the building connector;
and the Office (Northwest Wing).
•Remarks from President Jimmy Edwards:
• We plan to have the Bath Library move into
the cafeteria if the local library board and the
BHM Board agree.
•We plan an exhibition space for local
artifacts from the Pamlico area.
•We plan a Senior Citizen’s center,
where seniors can meet for exercise,
hold meetings of their organizations,
or to relax with otherseniors with
games and conversation.
•Our long range plan is to have the
auditorium turned into a performing
arts center although that will be
many years down the road. 19

20. 2010-11 Finance
Finance — The major efforts of BHSP has been to
support the grant fund raising programs.
Funds raised: Auction: $8044, Ornament: $4,000, Oyster
Roast: $10,988,Raffle: $10,232,Santas: $990.
Donations:$4,342,
Rebuild Portico: $35,000,
Grants: $20,000,
Matched grants: $20,490.
Available for operations, debt & improvements,
$187,410
In-kind donations of material & services $3984.
Grants — Grants from the
Covington Foundation
of$20,000 (and was
matched),
NC Community Foundation,
Historic Bath Foundation and
the National Trust for Historic
Preservation have been
received.
The committee continues to
look for others with 8 grants
pending.
20

21. Nov 2011 Message from the President
The Bath High School Preservation (BHSP) has been busy this summer. We have a
new roof on the East and West wings. We will begin the reconstruction of the
portico, which was extended from the East wing (auditorium), when the school
was first built. You may have seen the bricks piled there for that work. Irene did us
some small damage, but the shingles stayed on the roof, a tribute to Sandra
Harrison’s foresight in insisting on a higher than required wind resistant shingle.
We plan to put the Bath Public Library in the South wing, which is the old cafeteria
wing. That is in the works.
Our membership is in excess of 300 now, thanks to the hard work of Nelda
Ormond’s membership committee. I would remind everyone that anyone who
wishes to join the BHSP is encouraged to do so. You need not be an alumnus of
Bath High School (BHS) in order to join. In fact, four of the BHSP Board members
did not attend BHS.
You may access the BHSP website at www.bhspreservation.org Jimmy Edwards
21

22. July 2012
We have stabilized the
interior, which had sustained a
lot of rain damage from the
leaking roof of the school,
and we have put a new roof
on the building. All of the
exterior windows are repaired
on both Carteret and King
streets.
We will soon have all of the
windows on the cafeteria
wing repaired.
We have an agreement for the
Bath Library to move into the
cafeteria wing.
$250,000 grant received from Golden Leaf this June.
Grants This Period
Page 44 PIRATE’S REVENGE
• Andrews McMeel Universal Foundation
• Josephus Daniels Charitable fund of Triangle
• Community Foundation
• Historic Bath Foundation
22

23. 2012 BHSP Newletter’s Quotes from
BHSP/HBF Fundraiser Gene Roberts
The total amount of funding Roberts has
helped BHSP earn is now creeping towards
$400,000, and he says, “I think in every
instance it’s been because of the pictures
showing before and after—what the school
looked like only two years ago and what it
looks like now.”
He says, “Whether anything significant
happened in a building is not as important as
how it fits into the fabric of the town. If the
stores were torn down and replaced with
houses, the main street would look more like a
residential street and not like Bath. Bath would
look like a collection of houses more than a
small town.” About the school, he says, “You
can’t have the biggest building in town go.
Every time we fix up a little bit more, it looks like
it belongs here. It looks like the kind of school
Bath should have had, and did, in fact, have.”
Stories left behind and then drawn
back out and perpetuated are part of
what attracts Roberts to historic
preservation. In the school, he sees
a place to capture old stories and
cultivate new ones since “just about
every need for a community this size
could be met in that school.” Roberts
can “see a lot happening at the
school in a relatively short time.
Five years from now, we can really
be pretty far down the road”—like
having a larger community library, a
performing arts center in the old
auditorium, a medical center, a
museum, a gallery, and a club
meeting room in the former school
library, which could bring ongoing
income from space rental.
23

24. 2012-13
24

25. Spring/summer 2013
Bath High School
restoration effort
received
Preservation
North Carolina’s
highest annual
cash award for
the progress it has
made in restoring
the building’s
exterior to the
way it looked in
the 1920s.
Preservation
North Carolina
made the
announcement of
its $10,000
Stedman Award.
25

26. 2012-2013
26

27. Corridor and Library Phase Completed
Before & After
27

28. 2013-2014
The Bath Community Library has moved into the renovated South
Wing as of February 1, 2014. The first phase of an Art and History
Gallery is completed in the corridor just off the Library.
This marks the first occupancy within the BHSP building since the
closing of the school in 1989.
Message from the President – Sandra E. Harrison
28

29. Spring/Summer
2014
29

30. A BHS project development plan was ordered from Robert Murphrey of
Burgaw NC. A long term strategic plan called “Vision 2020” was completed
by BHSP leadership March 6, 2014.
2014
30

31. 2014 BHSP Strategic Plan was Created
31

32. BHS Alumni Reunion June 2014
Approximately 250 Pirate Alumni and friends returned to home port for a reunion on
June 21, 2014. The new Bath Community Library, in the former cafeteria space, was
open for guests as well as the adjacent BHSP Gallery space where a Blackbeard Art
exhibit was on display.
32

33. Final $20k Payment made by BHSP
A DAY TO REMEMBER!
After five long years, on
Dec. 13, 2014,
the final installment to the
Town of Bath was made for
the purchase of the Bath
High School building and
grounds.
33

34. The Eddie and Jo Allison Smith
Family Foundation- Grants Donor Supporter
CHECKING OUR PROGRESS: The Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Family Foundation, Inc.
visited the Bath Community Library and Phase I of the Gallery on Jan. 30, 2015. The
Smith Family Foundation generously contributed to the Library project and is the
major contributor toward completion of the Gallery. Geri Lassiter, Contributions
Coordinator.
34
2015

35. 35

36. May 2016
We are very pleased that the 2nd phase of the Gallery expansion is completed. Pictures of this
project are included in this publication. Currently we are in negotiations with Historic Bath
Foundation regarding the transfer of ownership of the North Wing (or Office Wing) of the High
School to HBF for the purpose of a Museum. Both BHSP and HBF have a common goal, to see
the completion of the original vision of restoration of the Bath High School Building.
Ruth Dorkin, Newsletter Message from the President

37. Fundraising 2016
Grants :
Historic Bath Foundation
The Winston Salem Foundation,
J. Frank & Laura McNair, IV 37

38. 2017
Jan. 14 2017 More than 100 people
were on hand for a dedication reception for the
completion of Pirate Hall-Presented by Grady White
Boats and the Memorial Walkway.
38

39. March 2018 Dedication & Grand Opening of
Historic Bath Exhibit Hall, BHS NW Wing
39

40. May 2018
Message: New catering kitchen (in what
was the girls’ bathroom) in “Pirate Hall”
now available for rent for groups of 75 or
less.
We have shifted our immediate focus to
the renovation of the upstairs above the
library.
Once an elevator is installed we can then
explore opportunities for renting office
space in that area.
- Ruth Dorkin, Message from the
President
40

41. Last 2-3 Remaining Phases –
Courtyard/Stage, Offices above Library
& 450 seat Assembly/Auditorium
41

42. BHS AUDITORIUM “BEFORE” Summer 2018
42

43. Last Avail. updated Drawing of
Campus Proposed 4-5 Phases
43

44. STRATEGIC PLANNING
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO ESTABLISH NEW VISION 2025 Goals
44
BHSP STRATEGIC
PLAN NING
Vision 2020
Drafted 3.6. 2014
Vision 2025
Drafted ???
A Library Goal 2014 Completed
B Gallery Goal 2015 Completed
C Dentist 2016 ?
D Health Clinic 2017 ?
E Auditorium TBD ?
F Upstairs Space TBD ?
G Downstairs NW
Wing
FULL OCCUPANCY
TBD
2020
Completed &
Occupied 2018
?

45. 45
Let’s Update the Strategic Plan Activity List
From 2014

46. THE END
THANK YOU! for attending today’s 2018 BHSP Leadership Planning
Retreat at Goose Creek State Park.
Special thanks to Guest VIP guests and campus stakeholders for participating, also big thanks go to Janet
Courson Chair of BHS Special Events Committee, Goose Creek staff, the presenters Michelle Oros & Sam
Gore, John Woods for ENC comparisons handout, Mike Godley photos, donors of food and refreshments.
46