Newspapers / Morrisville and Preston Progress … / Oct. 31, 1996, edition 1 / Page 1
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B^IVIorrisville & Preston The Proaress Center replacing old farm By Ron Page At least 16 stores and businesses will soon cover the seven-and-a- balf-acre field at the northeast comer of High House and Maynard Roads, replacing what for years bad been a f^nily farm with bountiful 300-foot rows of com, beans, tomatoes and other garden vegeta bles. Owners Jesse and Donna Sorrell of Cary ronember well how it used to be. ScMTell, who is developing Waterford shopping center, says the variety of businesses will be de veloped on what was fertile farai- land planted by his family after his gran^ather took ownership of the land in the early 1960s. It is oppo site Maynard Crossings, the new shopping center anchored by a Kroger Superstore. Sorrell is in the prt^rty manage ment business today, and while his plans for the land include a dmg store, restaurant, medical facilities, dry cleaners, battery and auto lube businesses among oth^s, he will always ranember working in the fields when his grandfathCT, Harold Hopkins, owned the property and buUt a 2,000-square-foot ranch as the new family home. "My grandparents lived on Urban Drive in Raleigh, and he worked with the railroad and was a car penter," Sorrell explains. "He built the ranch on the comer of Maynard and High House with his own bands, including a full basement, but when it was finished, his wife said: ‘I’m not moving way out in the country. I want to be with my friends here in Raleigh.”' So Sorrell said his grandfather rented the place. "If you recall, that is the ranch which has been moved across the road to another location on High House,” he explained. Today the site is marked by a simple green and white sign noting the work is being done by Oaks Construction of Preston. Max Oaks, company president, says four freestanding buildings will be erected, floor pads for which have been finished. Two alre^y have vertical walls in place. • Sorrell says the project is one in which he holds a special interest. He recalls working in the fields, planting and weeding the rows of vegetables, and fishing in the acre- and-a-half pond that used to be on the site. "It was stocked with some of the best fish around," Sorrell says, "especially bass. The total area was originally 8 1/2 acres, but the road right-of-way cut it down to 7 1/2. "It was not fanned to sell the veg etables," he says. "They were not for sale, but were grown for family members to use, to put in the free zer for winter. One thing I did sell, though, was okra. Used to put them in p^r bags and sell them for 50 cents." When his grandfather died about ten years ago, Sorrell bought the See CENTER, page 3 OLE TIMEY FUN Carpenter rolls out the hay, hosts Harvest Day. Antique tractors, farm animals amuse visitors - all to raise money for a scholarly cause. A BIT OF HISTORY-DavkI Brower of Wake Forest, and son, Mark, age 8, were among the exhibitors at Harvest Day. Brower used the mini ature steam-driven hay baler he constructed last year to demonstrate hay baling as it was done at the turn of the century. A pot belly pig in a pet ting zoo attracted the attention of 20-rTK>nth-old Paige Pfannenstiel of Holly Springs. And James Powers, one of the event’s organizers, cooked up a pot of spicy jambalaya. By Ron Page W ith food like steaming homemade jam balaya, barbecue, beans, hot dogs and homemade biscuits, and a setting nestled by a pond among rolling farm fields along Carpenta- Morrisville Road, the first Car penter Ole Time Harvest Day attracted more than 500 visitors and made one thing Inight and clear as the day itself. "This will be an annual event," said Bruce Pease, a member of the board of direc tors of the Carpenter Ruritan Club which sponsored the day long event on OcL 12. "It was great," said one man, whose son rode c»ie of the ponies as well as a miniature steam tractor. "The kids loved it and die machine is really fas cinating," said Gyde Granger of Gamer. "Tliis is a beautiful place to hold it. I hope they do it again next year." Proceeds fr^ the $3 admis sion fees will go toward the club’s scholarship program. which offers two scholarships to local students. The club sponsors various community service activities, including two fish fries during the year, but this was the first time the Ole Time Harvest Day was held. The setting was on land owned by Betty Lou Ferrell and her son, David, who is known for his refurbished tractors which he displays at other such events arcnmd the country. While antique and miniature madiinery, including a wide ar- See ORGANIZERS, pag« 2 Homes greeted eagerly Industrial zoning turning residential By Ron Page A landscape characterized by trucking terminals and industrial and office complexes is on the verge of a dramatic change in Mor ris ville. New residential neighborhoods, ranging from affordable single- and multi-family dwellings to ui^cale bouses are either being built or pro posed for various sections of the community. Necessary zoning changes are being met with positive rulings by the town’s Planning and Zoning Board, among them the recent approval for rezooing of some 248 aCTes north of Koppers Road and west of Davis Drive from industrial management to residen tial. The propmty owners indicate plans for a mix of affordable hous ing, single family property to townhouses and/or apartments. "We have people interested in de- velc^ing the property already," said Tim Clancy, whose firm, Clancy & Theys Constructicm Co. of Raleigh, is part owner of the property. Meanwhile, work is progressing at the sites of two new residential neighborhoods along Crabtree Crossing IVkway in Morrisville. Homes will be priced at $240,000 and up. The new neighborhoods, to be known as Hampton at Prestem and Preston Grande, will offer a total of 117 wooded homesites near Mor risville Parkway, in the proximity of Presionwoc^ Country Club’s fairways. The land for each devel opment was purchased from the Preston Development Company. A spring opening is targeted for the smaller develt^nnent, Hampton at Preston, a horseshoe-styled cluster of 18 homes set on 7,000- and 10,000-square-foot lots. It is being developed by Impact De sign/Building of Cary, a company beaded by Colen E. Davidson Jr. Final approval of the Hampton site plans h^ been given by Morrisville Commissioners. Meanwhile, ground is being cleared for Preston Grande, a few hundred yards flirther along Crab tree Crossing Parkway toward Mor risville Parkway, where 99 upscale homes are planned for completion starting in the summer of 1997. Sales Manager Tina Bernhardt said the Hampten houses will be in the range of 2,200 to 2,500 square feet, and will include a ranch style as well as 1 1/2 story residences with prices starting at $240,000. Tbe area, which is currently being cleared and sighted for lot sizes, will be in the sb^ of a horseshoe, with four homes in the center and 14 others in a semi-circle s^>arated by an interior road to be known as See HOMES, pages Glimpse a goblin, a ghost, a witch, too at Pittard’s farm ALL FOR FALL-Bc^ Pittard has been growing fall vegetables on his Carpenter farm for years. The 1X-year-old homestead has become a sort of fall pilgrimage for area residents. By Ron Page The signs along the road call it the Ghost House, and every year at this time, it’s a place to visit for things that smack of Halloweoi. That includes die white ghost bang ing from a tree over a yard full of pumfkins, a witdi by the bam full of dried com and stalks, a manne quin witch sitting in an old chair in die yard, and aD the colorful things firmn the garden you’d expect to deccnate with fcff tte fall season. The place is the quaint 100-year- old farm and 100 peaceful acres along Good Hope Church Road in Carpenter which was been the lifelong home of Bob Pittard as well as a place kids in the neigh borhood and friends and visitors just stop by to enjoy, e^iecially at this time of the year. "I may not be here at the time you visit, but people know they can walk around the farm, lock at the plants and whatever else is grow ing, the gr^ arbors, the fields, and wander down to the pond out in the back," Pittard says. Pittard is scat of retired, at least from bis profession as a high school science teacher and basket ball and track coach. But he still manages to plant a variety of vege tables and items such as different types of pumpkins, gourds, com and cornstalks for decorations. "People have been coming back for years," he says. "One couple stored by the other day with their ei^t-year-old daughter to show me a series of pictures they had taken See PITTARD, page 2 BULK RATE I “OSTAGE PAID ] MOmsvi.lPNC Delivered expressly to the residents of Vorrisville and Preston
Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
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Oct. 31, 1996, edition 1
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