Gaston County’s
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
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• Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Cramerton’s Baltimore School project gathering momentum By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info
Work to have the circa 1925 Baltimore School in Cramerton preserved for future generations is picking up steam. The school was where African-American students attended classes in days gone by. In 2020 the Town of Cramerton Commissioners passed a resolution giving the school a local historic designation. The historical significance of school has also received approval from the North Carolina Dept. of Archives and History. The Baltimore School has also officially been designated as a Historic Site in Gaston County. It’s the first Gaston
County Historical Preservation Site in Cramerton. Now, grant money has started flowing in that will be used to restore the structure, do landscaping, construct a parking lot, and in general prepare the place for visitors and programs. Grants received so far include $10k in the form of a Stedman Incentive Grant and $5k from Preservation North Carolina. Other private monies have also been coming in. Belmont Savings Bank has chipped in $2k and Dilling Heating will install an HVAC system gratis. In other updates, the overseeing group- Historic Baltimore Village Schoolhas been incorporated. Non-
profit 501 C3 status has also been achieved. Board members include Fred Glenn, President; John Howard, Vice President; Wendy Cauthen, Secretary; Anita Helms, Treasurer; Dr. Pierre Crawford, Ernestine Glenn, Melvina Booker, Members. The school also has a Facebook presence at https:// www.facebook.com/baltimorevillageschool/ as well as a website at www.historicbaltimoreschool.org and an Instagram account. Physical work to preserve the building has so far included a new roof by owner Fred Glenn. Last year, a group of volunteers cleared kudzu and other underbrush from the lot. But there’s more
Historic Baltimore Village School owner Fred Glenn and board member Wendy Cauthen on the school porch. Photo by Alan Hodge to be done. “We hope to start doing some paint scraping in the fall when it cools down,” said Historic Baltimore Village School board member Wendy Cauthen. “We are taking baby steps. We need
more money and volunteers.” Cauthen says the plan is to begin reaching out to contractors in a year or so to get quotes on the major upgrades and restoration. The completed project will be ADA compliant.
About the Baltimore School Where and what is the Baltimore section of Cramerton and what purpose did the school serve? Baltimore is a tiny corner See SCHOOL, Page 5
A new park is in the works for downtown Lowell Beautiful downtown Lowell is about to get even more beautimous with the creation of a “pocket park” on a currently vacant lot at the corner of W. First St (Hwy. 7) and N. Main St. The park will be called McCord Family Park which is fitting considering the town will be leasing the property on a year-to-year basis from the McCord family. The park will feature a walking path, benches, picnic tables, and a small shade structure that will double as a performance venue as well as a picnic shelter. Nice sod and landscaping plantings will add greenspace. Public art murals are also planned. According to Lowell city manager Scott Attaway, cost to build the facility will be minimal. “Most of the work will be done by our public works employees,” he said. Attaway estimates it will
Rotarian Susan Mosk, sales director at Home2 Suites by Hilton in Belmont, arranged a Belmont Rotary Club program on Gaston County Tourism presented by Business Development Manager Brandon Black (left) and Partnership Manager Eric Johnson.
Bringing visitors is the goal at Gaston Tourism, Rotarians learn at recent club meeting
Lowell parks and recreation director Cristy Cummings with the new park area in the background. take about a month to make the park a reality. Work will begin any week now. The vision for the park is
a spot for downtown visitors and local business employees to enjoy their lunch breaks. The park will also serve as a
programming space for small concerts, art festivals, outdoor fitness classes, and the See LOWELL, Page 2
Driving visitor demand and enhancing the visitor experience are the most important objectives of the Gaston County Department of Travel &Tourism, also known as Go Gaston, Belmont Rotarians learned at a recent meeting. Go Gaston Business Development Manager Brandon
FALL FOOTBALL OUTLOOK 2022
Black and Partnership Manager Eric Johnson presented the program. The five-member Go Gaston staff works at the Tourism Information Center at 620 N. Main Street in Belmont. They allocate for tourism marketing and related purposes See ROTARY, Page 4
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