BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Kristen Baldwin Deathridge, Dr. Lynn Harris and Dr. Anne Mitchell Whisnant are the recipients of $21,394 in funding from East Carolina University (ECU) to conduct research and provide additional documentation for the Village of Portsmouth’s listing on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

Deathridge is an assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of History; Whisnant serves as the Whichard Visiting Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in ECU’s Department of History; and Harris is associate professor in the history department at ECU.

Deathridge said the funding will support research on Portsmouth Island in order to provide additional documentation for the Village of Portsmouth’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The goal of the research, according to Deathridge, is to more fully document the village and stories of African-Americans — both enslaved and later free — who lived and worked in the village.

“Nearly a third of Portsmouth’s small population was enslaved at the town’s zenith in 1860,” said Deathridge. “It is the purpose of the enhanced National Register documentation to address the cultural resources and history associated with enslaved Africans-Americans, free African-Americans and their descendants, so as to provide a crucial tool for interpretation, as well as satisfy the park’s responsibilities under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.”

Additionally, Deathridge commented, this project will document existing conditions at the known slave cemetery, which is currently threatened by inundation due to rising sea levels and climate change. The information will be used to guide future documentation and preservation efforts.

Seven Appalachian graduate students — one in geography and six in history — will contribute to the project through research, writing and mapping work. These students are Kate Bloom, of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania; Alexis Bowman ’16, a native of Hickory; Grayson Butler ’17, of Greensboro; Zach Dressel ’17, of Monroe; Amy Joy Litterer, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Abby Williams ’17, a native of Dobson; and Carly Everhart, a graduate student from Winston-Salem majoring in geography. All of the students are currently taking Deathridge’s spring 2018 Historical Documentation course.

About the National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.

About the Department of History

The Department of History offers a broad curriculum in local, national, regional and world history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, which encourages history majors to develop a comprehensive approach to human problems. The study of history is an essential part of a liberal arts education and offers valuable preparation for many careers, such as law, journalism, public history, public service and business, as well as in teaching and the advanced discipline of history. Learn more at https://history.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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