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, THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 37, Ho. 36 USPS 421-000 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, September 10, 1981 20 CENTS
PCRA opens
* visitor's center
The Perquimans County
Restoration Association has made
considerable progress in its efforts to
make the Newbold-White house a
lively public exhibit of county history.
The society has just finished con
| structionofa visitor's center, which is
expected to be open by today. The new
center will house the information desk
and the slide show kiosk, both of
which were formerly in the house
itself.
The society also expects to open a
gift shop in the center very soon. The
gift shop will sell locally-made arts
and crafts.
^ The new visitor's center will also
? make one other important addition to
the site ? a pair of rest rooms.
Two new pieces of period furniture
were bought and placed in the house
along with the pre-1690 chair bought
soon after the house was opened two
months ago. The new pieces, a pair of
\ andirons and another chair, were both
purchased in Pennsylvania and were
both made in the latter part of the 17th
I century.
The chair was made in either
southeast Virginia or eastern North
Carolina because, according to
Herbert Nixon, project coordinator
for the PCRA, "the bottom is made
from North Carolina walnut."
The PCRA in now in the market for
an old bed and another chair, but so
far has not had much luck. Authen
ticity is important, and the price of
| most authentic 17th and early 18th
century furniture is prohibitive. One
chair the society looked at was found
to be Spanish rather than British or
American, and was not considered
proper for the house.
Because of the price and scarcity of
period furniture, the society will
make modern reproductions of the
pieces, selling the reproductions as
the actual furniture is purchased.
9 Two Belvidere men, D.B. Powell
and Ben Hobbs, both members of the
PCRA, have experience in
reproduction and will make the new
pieces.
Nixon reports that an unexpected
number of visitors have come to see
the house. "It's been much better than
I expected," he said. "Sunday's have
been good, and so have Saturday's.
It's like grapes: they come in bun
ches.
"We've had our share. After all, the
house has only been open a short
while."
"We've had people from almost all
the states, and we even had two from
Australia." he added.
The PCRA has also received a visit
and some comments and suggestions
from employees of the Division of
Archives and History in the state
Department of Culteral Resources.
These men ? Richard Sawyer, ad
ministrator of the Historic Sites
section of the department; Rick
Howell, operations specialist;
Michael Smith, furnishings curator;
and Larry Misenheimer, assistant
adminstrator ? each spoke to the
society about how to present the house
to the public in the most appealing,
educational manner. In other words,
how to sell the house to the public.
Among their ideas, the historians
suggested that the society try to bring
the house ? and the history behind it
? to life through drama and special
events. "The house is not a gem to
look at," said Sawyer, "but a living
organism. Try to take the 17th and
18th century to the fourth or fifth
grade child. Show how everyone
talked, walked, ate, but not with
cardboard figures. Try to tell people
why they are proud of their history
through interpretive experiences."
The state group also suggest
perhaps constructing an actual farm
on the site ? an expensive un
dertaking, but one that the public
would enjoy. Landscaping was em
phasized, and a student at North
Carolina State has expressed interest
in doing the landscaping.
Zoning was also mentioned as an
important factor in appeal of the
house. Proper zoning would prevent
the encroachment of development
that might take away from the
historic site.
Filing date announced
The Perquimans County Board
' of Elections announced the
beginning of the filing period for
five seats up for election in the
county area.
According to Elizabeth Winslow,
secretary to the board, there are
two seats on the Hertford Town
Council up for election this year,
two seats on the Winfall Town
Council, and the mayor of Winfall.
> The Filing period for candidates
wishing to run for those seats is
from noon September 11 until noon
October 2. The election will be held
November 3.
Erie Haste and John Beers now
hold the two seats up for election
on the Hertford Town Council.
John Simons and Lloyd Ray
Morgan hold the seats on the
Winfall Town Council. Morgan is
also acting mayor of the Winfall.
Suiting up for the season
Ricky Heldrlch of tit
Perquimans Union
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team fill ready to tafia
practice last week. The Union
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Tlfera will open their aeaaon
against Mantoo seventh and
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eighth graders on September
KinManteo.
Jousting balloons
Billy White of Elizabeth City during the Perquimans Rain didn't stop White, but it riders and the show was called
charges for the target balloon County Horse show Monday, stopped most of the rest of the off soon afterward.
Options for parents
Local woman reaches out to mothers
The decision to have children is
usually taken after a lot of thought,
but often the method of having them is
assumed, rather than than decided
upon.
In Perquimans County, there is
really very few choices for women to
decide upon, and Kate Shales is trying
to do something about that.
Shales is the local coordinator for
the International Childbirth
Education Association. Her job has
been to organized groups to en
courage new methods of childbirth in
the area, and then educated women in
the options they now have.
Her work has formed the Albemarle
Parenting and Childbirth Education
Association, the local arm of the
ICEA.
Shales doesn't look upon childbirth
as just the necessary step to becoming
a parent. She and her group believe
that a couple becomes a parent before
the child is born. Just how the child is
born can reflect upon the child's
development.
"The more information parents
have about their choices," she said,
"the more satisfied parents they will
be.
"Women should know what can be
made available for them. I would like
to see the area provide a variety of
choices, so women won't feel angry. A
lot do."
Shales has been in the area for two
years, and she and her husband ? a
developmental pediatrician working
for the state Developmental
Evaluation Center ? have two
children of the own, Meg, 9 years old,
and Hannah, 1^.
She lived in rural Wisconsin for
several years and had her first at
home there.
"People expected people to prepare
for childbirth," she said about her old
home. After her child was born, she
began teaching childbirth classes in
the community.
She has worked as a lay midwife,
and has a bachelors degree in art
history. Having come here, she works
w)th a group of about 40 members. It's
a% interested core of people who
discuss and work toward better
choices for women.
The groups includes non-parents
and professional people, expectant
parents and people who have children
now.
They speak to school groups,
churches, local organizations. "We
are always open Jo public," Shales
said.
At present, local women have only
two choices in childbirth ? Chowan
and Albemarle Hospitals. Shales
would like to more variety: small
birth centers, home births, midwives,
along with various hospital births.
But that is something to work
towards. "We begin with the women,
not the facilities," said Shales.
"Family-centered maternity care
doesn't stop there. It incorporates
both parents, getting them involved in
the birth."
So far, response to the program has
been slow, Shales admits. But through
her work she hopes to make women
more aware. "I think women would
feel more comfortable making their
own decisions for the family."
Teacher workshop
The Perquimans County Board
of Education announces an "Ad
vanced Workshop for Substitutes"
to be held Monday, Sept. 14, from 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Perquimans
County Office Building
Auditorium.
Non-certified persons who have
attended a beginners' workshop
since September of 1979, are
required to attend if they wish to
remain on the active substitute
list.
Certified persons are not
required to attend this workshop
even if they have attended a
beginners' workshop in the past.
All certified persons will remain on
the substitute list unless the Board
of Education is advised differently.
All certified persons who have
recently requrested to be placed on
the substitute list for 1981-92 have
been added, (subject to Board
approval). An orientation
workshop will be held on Tuesday,
Sept. 15, at the County Office
Building from 2 to 5 p.m. for cer
tified persons who have not taught
in Perquimans County.
In Hertford
Police arrest burglar
following scuffle
Hertford police arrested a local
man in the process of a first degree
burglary Saturday night, following a
scuffle in which the arrested man was
hurt!
The alleged burglar, Edward Hines,
38, of Hertford, was taken to Chowan
Hospital for treatment of a cut on the
head. He was then transfered to
Albemarle District Jail on $2,000 bond
pending a hearing.
According to police, Cpl. Robert
Morris arrested Hines Saturday at
about 11:15 p.m. while Hines was in
the act stealing from the home of
Hattie Waller of 207 E. Railroad Ave.
Waller was at home at the time, and
called police while Hines was
breaking in.
Hines, unarmed, attempted to
break away from Morris during the
arrest. Police said that Morris didn't
use his gun or billy club, but during
the ensuing fight Hines hit his head on
a nearby door, knocking him un
conscious. Morris was uninjured.
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Along with first degree burglary ?
a felony ? police also charged Hines
with resisting arrest and assaulting a
police officer, both misdemeanors. He
will make his first appearance in
district court September 23.
This week
Patti White began caring tor senior
citixens while she was still a child.
And she cares even more today.
See page three.
The Perquimans Pirates have
another tough game ahead o i them
as they travel to Weldoo Friday.
See page eight
Weather
Mild weather throngh the
weekend, highs in the 70s and lows
in the tower to mid-Ms.
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