Welcome to Historic Flat Rock,Inc.
Historic Flat Rock, Inc. was founded in 1968. In 1973, as one of its first significant preservation actions, Historic Flat Rock, Inc. was instrumental in having 6.25 square miles of Flat Rock placed on the US Department of Interior, National Register of Historic Places. The ability to do this was created through the United States National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Since then Historic Flat Rock, Inc. has been instrumental in the preservation and restoration of properties of note. It has obtained numerous preservation easements on historic properties through the cooperation and generosity of the owners. In 2015 Historic Flat Rock, Inc. provided a further update to the Historic District as defined on the National Register of Historic Places. The Flat Rock Historic District is the largest historic district in the state of North Carolina. Many thanks to all those whose efforts will help preserve Flat Rock North Carolina now and for future generations.
Our Mission
To protect and preserve, in the community of Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina, such landmarks ( including but not limited to public buildings, churches, houses, woodlands and open spaces ) as are or may be of historical, architectural, cultural or recreational value to the community, state and nation.
To solicit funds with which to purchase property described above for the purposes of protection or preservation; to dispose of such property through sale to individuals, corporations, or institutions.
To discover and collect materials of historical, artistic, or literary value; to provide for the preservation of such material and for its accessibility, as far as may be feasible, to all who wish to examine or study it; to operate a cultural center; to disseminate historical information and arouse interest in the past by publishing historical material in the newspaper or otherwise; by holding meetings with addresses, lectures, papers, and discussions; and by marking historic buildings, sites and trails.
Please contact us for additional information.
Victoria Flanagan
President
Historic Flat Rock, Inc.
On August 09. 2019, HFR, Inc. had the first ‘President’s Breakfast’ hosted by Victoria Flanagan. Thank you to all who were in town and able to attend. Here is a recap of remarks she made at the beginning and at the end of the ‘Open Membership and Board Meeting’.
First of all thank you to all HFR Inc. ‘Past Presidents’ who are with us today.
Chris Battista
Pete Bonesteel
Cam Boyd *
Bill Humleker
Rick Merrill
Galen Reuther
Teddy Roosevelt said “ Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” We have 1,440 minutes in every day. Spending time with people who naturally inspire us is a blessing. For 2020 let us all investigate with curiosity new questions about those who came before us. I doing so, let’s slow down. Let’s think about new lines of inquiry about what it means to live in a Historic District. Let’s be respectful- remember- honor- teach…
Those words—remember-honor-teach- ring true in our household. Our son Colin died February 12, 2019. As a chef in the low-country his wish was for a cookbook to be printed to benefit HFR Inc. He wanted to honor his first teacher- his dad- remember his mom as his most ardent supporter, and to teach the next generation that southern cooking can be homemade, simple and healthy. The printing of this book has been fully funded by those who knew and loved him. Look for this late 2020.
Please thank an HFR Inc. member Tim Robison- a photographer who just returned from Nashville from a photo shoot for Bon Appétit. He will be our creative lead for the cookbook photography. Kathy Guerard will assist in this creative food effort as will Adele Grimball.
Thank you for allowing me to start the process of challenging the status quo in the HFR, Inc. non profit world. I take this responsibility seriously, and am working to not only increase our visibility in our community but to educate. Jennifer Cathey, Historic Preservation and Restoration Specialist with the North Carolina State Historic Office, at our open
April meeting stressed the importance of our organization reaching out to partner with community organizations to increase awareness of the historic district. She was delighted to learn of our involvement with The North Carolina State Cooperative Extension office, other preservation organizations, the Chamber of Commerce, the Playhouse—the list goes on. All of these efforts were started by volunteers.
HFR Inc, is gearing up to be a more viable, enthusiastic, and community minded organization as we approach 2020. We are blessed to have a mission statement that spells out what we are to do, but that mission statement does not tell us how to accomplish our mission. If you have attended meetings you know that the mission statement is my mantra
and of utmost importance to understand so we can set goals for the future. I attend Village Council and Village Planning Board meetings. We have spoken at community meetings and have gained contacts from presenting rough cuts of the documentary. Just last Saturday I showed the documentary rough cuts to Dr. John Barker from Furman University. From that meeting, we have been given a green light to have a Furman History Department Intern next summer to assist with our archives. Speaking of Archives we have Lauren Hilan- a new Life member who is thoughtfully volunteering in many capacities including researching the archives.
We are all volunteers. We need to look around our community in the non profit world we live in. Many of you are aware that we occupy a unique place in the community. Not everyone is interested in what we have done, or what we do. Every non profit is experiencing challenges in fund raising efforts. We are one of the few that does not employ a professional fund raiser or even a part-time executive director. In the past many volunteers have worked together to raise money. This year, we have had new faces step up to volunteer and make significant contributions to our efforts.
Income streams for non profits are changing. We need to be proactive and creative in our future endeavors. We cannot count on what was successful in the past to be available to us. I look at 2020 as the year to create a long range plan, with opportunities for people to have not only life estates in their properties with HFR, Inc as the benefactor, but to increase the number of our preservation easements. There is the potential for significant historical property preservation. We now have a Long Range Planning Committee—starting today.
We have challenges in the future to secure income streams. Please recognize that everything we do to raise awareness creates
opportunities. I know that change can be difficult, but we MUST march into the future. We have already taken steps to fully automate all aspects of HFR, Inc’s communication, membership and activity management.
To recap a few remarks from the meeting:
Two book projects for 2020- Mickey Derr and Gardening Tips, and a cookbook.
David Sullivan, author of the upcoming book “ Audacious” A work of historical fiction based on Memminger’s life with a
% of the proceeds benefiting HFR Inc.
*Cam Boyd was inadvertently omitted. Cam has been the longest serving Flat Rock resident on the HFR Inc. Board
HISTORIC GARDEN TOUR
Let me share with you that reservations were initiated through an online product. From our website people paid with a credit card and received an immediate thank you and reservation. We mailed invitations. Julia Buchanan designed the invitation, we bought them through Vista Print and Susan Gregory and myself labeled, stuffed, and sealed envelopes at my kitchen table on a Friday evening. The invitation prompted some additional people to buy tickets on line. This year we did NOT print or mail tickets. The reservation was the ticket. The silent auction had a Georgia Bonesteel quilt and two paintings done for us by Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell. An onsite silent auction, under a tent, had additional donated items. The auction brought in $3,500.00 The event had vendors selling garden related products and plants. We had garden related educational materials available to all attendees. This became a community event, and once again we became more visible to a variety of people.