City purchases another historic site in Steele Creek. Its fate is unknown
A possibly 200-year-old farmhouse and a rumored slave dwelling near the Charlotte airport were purchased by the city and may be demolished as the facility continues to expand its operations.
The Spratt-Grier Farmhouse and the adjoining structures along Robbie Circle off of Shopton Road in the Steeleberry Acres community of Steele Creek were bought by the City of Charlotte for $590,000 on Thursday, according to Mecklenburg County property records.
The property, though built in the 1800s, isn’t a historic landmark. But its history can be traced back to the early settlers of the Steele Creek neighborhood.
The city has had its eyes on purchasing the property for decades, said owner Andy Williams. But his parents never budged. However with the airport’s encroaching growth and planned logistics hub in that area south of West Boulevard, Williams said he was ready to sell.
The airport “has wiped out this whole side of town,” Williams said. “(Airport director) Jerry Orr back in the ‘90s or ‘80s said if we don’t get your house now, we’ll get it 10, 15, 30 years from now, but he said that place will eventually be bought. … I hate to see it torn down but that’s probably what’ll happen.”
Charlotte airport growth and demolitions
Charlotte Douglas is the sixth-busiest airport in the world for takeoffs and landings and is the second-largest hub for the Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines.
It’s a growing facility with plans to spread operations to the north, west and south.
In 2017, the airport published its area growth and development plan that included the creation of a logistics hub south of the facility.
There’s no timeline for the hub’s development, but renderings show it right on top of Steeleberry Acres, where residents have lived for decades.
The city plans to purchase properties in the area and demolish those that aren’t compatible with the airport or manufacturing sites, like single-family homes.
The city owns more than 330 parcels south of the airport.
Airport officials previously said the purchases are all voluntary. However, residents have expressed growing concerns that one day they’ll be completely pushed out of their neighborhood.
The Spratt-Grier Farmhouse history and purchase
The farmhouse has been on a list of properties to be purchased by the city since 2000.
As part of the airport’s growth plans, it entered into an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration and the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office, to “minimize harm” to historic sites.
However, that agreement has listed the farmhouse as a site that should be demolished.
The farmhouse was built between 1826 and 1865 and was initially owned by the Spratt family and by the Grier family, both of whom were early settlers of the Steele Creek neighborhood, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.
Williams said his grandparents purchased the property in the 1940s and lived in the farmhouse. Around 1965, his parents built another home on the property, where Williams has lived since.
Though approached by the landmark commission several times, Williams said the family was never interested in designating the property a historic landmark because of the alteration rules that would be applied to the site.
Besides the historic nature of the farmhouse, the commission had also expressed interest in designating the property because of a possible slave dwelling on the site, according to Brian Clarke, vice chair of the county landmarks commission.
The structure is a single-room log cabin where the logs were cut by hand and dovetailed notched together, which creates interlocked corners that look like a dove’s tail.
The cabin was never confirmed to be a slave dwelling but those types of structures were typically used for enslaved quarters, Clarke said.
There’s also the stories that have been passed down stating a slave did live in that cabin.
Hearing the story from his mother who heard it from two strangers who came to visit the property one day, Williams said an enslaved teenager lived in the house. After the Civil War ended, the story goes, she married her boyfriend in front of a gardenia bush near the farmhouse.
If the cabin was a slave dwelling, it would be the second remaining one in Mecklenburg County. The last and only known structure is on the 12200 block of Plaza Road Extension, which is being preserved by the landmark commission.
Demolition or preservation
It’s unclear what comes next for the farmhouse and log cabin. The farmhouse has deteriorated, Williams said, but the log cabin is in “decent shape.”
Airport officials did not immediately return a request for comment.
However, demolition has been the plan for many other purchases made by the airport, including other longstanding properties and designated historic landmarks.
Last August, the airport demolished the Steele Creek Presbyterian Manse. It was where the pastors of the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church lived. Both were purchased by the city in 2017.
While the church was a historic landmark, the manse wasn’t. And when the commission learned the airport intended to demolish the manse, it attempted to designate the property but the process wasn’t followed through by city staff and the manse was destroyed.
In June, the city received a demolition permit to knock down the William Grier House, which is located by the farm. The permit filing was first reported by the Charlotte Ledger newsletter.
The Grier House was designated a landmark in 1978 and purchased by the city in 2014.
The airport said it has worked with public and private sector preservation groups to preserve the Grier House for the past decade but those conversations died down.
However, Clarke said airport officials have mentioned to the landmark commission that they are willing to continue talking about preservation efforts until August. Airport staff did not immediately confirm that.
But airport officials have told Clarke and Williams the airport isn’t in the business of preservation.
