Blog 81 - Historical Sites Destroyed on NC Rt 160

Blog 81

Route 160 Expanded and Improved

But

Historical Sites Destroyed

By

Vernon M. Herron

As a part of the orientation for the new Herron family griot (family historian), a tour of the original community of the Herron family’s ancestors as located in the Dixie-Steele Creek area was suggested to the neophyte. The suggestion was accepted with glee. A Saturday date was established and the Friday before was used as a “dry-run” time to refresh my memory before the grand finality of revelation.

Twelve years ago, Friday 26 November 1999, I conducted a historical tour of the Steele Creek community for the Mark Woodson family (cousins). The tour program listed 14 sites which gave “the eager-beavers” a good educational view. It was my intention to follow the same route with the new griot. 

I remembered that NC Rt. 160 ran from Charlotte’s West Side community into the heart of Dixie. But what I did not know, was that N.C. Route 160 had been expanded and changed, Urban Renewal was now in affect; the Charlotte-Douglas Municipal Airport had redeveloped communities, land and streets into new run ways and landing strips; while business and highway construction had replaced the heart of the Steele Creek community.

I literally got lost and had to return to familiar territory just to get home safely, to e-mail the following to the new griot.  “I have just returned from making a “dry run” to the Dixie-Steele Creek community paving the way for our proposed visit scheduled for tomorrow. However, because of development and expansion by the airport, business and community, many of the historical sites which I wanted you to see, have been destroyed…Considering the above, let me suggest that our planned trip scheduled for tomorrow be cancelled until I get a better bearing…. Wisdom dictates this action.”

Changes Noted

The Mt. Olive Presbyterian Church is an integral part of the Dixie community. It was co-founded by the Rev. Samuel C. Alexander, the former pastor of the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church (See blog 20). Many people with the Herron name still live in Dixie; lived, died and are buried in the Mt. Olive Presbyterian Church cemetery. I am sure that Church still stands but now, highway construction has cut off direct access to the church community with no posted directional signs on how to get there.

The main plantation house of the late Dr. Isaac Herron, the slave master and many surrounding slave huts had given way to new home development. The burial ground of our forefathers, is now new run ways for the airport. What I did find, still standing and intact, were the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church (home church of the slave master) and its cemetery with the tall monument at the grave site of Dr. Isaac Herron and his family.

McClintock Presbyterian Church (see  blog 20) plays another big part in our family history and undoubtedly still stand in the southern part of the city. But because of heavy business growth and development, I could not find the church, nor did I see any guiding markers to this historic site.

Maybe, I will soon find some knowledgeable person who will refresh my memory on “what’s happening.”

I fully understand that the “march of science” continues; that urban development and highway construction are here to stay but not at the expense of desecrating the graves of our loved ones. Yet, in that process, family history must continue to be researched, rehearsed and preserved.