CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 29 "Many buildings were sold and put into the hands of new owners that had a vision for the buildings," Daws says. "at's kind of one of the major pieces that helped in the infant stage to bring Fayetteville back around." e turnaround continues to this day. "When I started in 1990, Hay Street had a high vacancy rate and there was not a whole lot of activity down there," Adolphsen says. "Now, if you have a 5% vacancy rate on Hay Street, I'd be somewhat surprised." No matter how old or damaged a building is, Daws believes it is important to try to preserve it. "Our downtown historic district is a tangible link to the past," Daws says. "I like to say that if you would bring a stranger into Fayetteville and put them out in the Cross Creek Mall, Skibo Road area and pull the blindfold off, that person could look around and they could be in Anywhere, USA. "You bring them downtown to Fayetteville, and those buildings that we have downtown are character-defining. ey help to tell our history. at is very important. We don't want to lose that. You lose a lot once an old building is destroyed or refurbished to a point where it no longer reflects its character. It's gone forever." The history museum ree of Daws' pet projects were building the Fayetteville Transportation and History Museum and protecting the Market House and Cross Creek Cemetery No. 1. "Of the many projects Bruce was a part of, his role in the development of the Fayetteville History Museum is paramount," McMillan says. "Bruce took very seriously the task of preserving the history of the city accurately and skillfully." e museum is in the restored 1890 Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad Depot. "I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time when a grant became available to restore the old Cape Fear Yadkin Bruce Daws arrived in Fayetteville in 1972 as a soldier assigned to Fort Bragg. America's involvement in the war in Vietnam was winding down. Instead of training for a war overseas, Daws took to the streets of Fayetteville as a member of the military police. Valley Railroad Depot," Daws says. "I'm just very pleased that that money was made available to us to restore that wonderful old building and upfit it as a museum. "at's very, very important because that gives a place for visitors to come and get a better understanding right here in the historic district of the importance of Fayetteville and what has occurred here. A person can walk into the museum on Franklin Street, leave the museum, walk the downtown area, get something to eat, shop at the stores, but have a better understanding of what it's all about." Daws notes that the restoration of the railroad depot was a long process that was completed in 2003. "at building — people who have been in Fayetteville for a long time will remember — had a wall that spanned from the 1970s building to the 1890 railroad depot and from the other side from a 1920s building that's now Cape Fear Studios," Daws says. "Our first job was to gently pull down those brick walls to let it stand alone again." Bleazey remembers the early days of renovation. "He saw it from its raw potential, from the stripped-down studs and then into an award-winning restoration of this depot into a museum," she says of Daws. at ability to see the potential of a project is Daws' strength, Bleazey says. "If readers could see behind his eyelids and see some of the little gems that he saw and faces that may never be the way they were when he saw them, I just think that's incredible," she explains. "Nothing held him back from the opportunity to see and showcase all walks of this community." The Market House e Market House, which opened in 1832, is one of fewer than 40 national landmarks in North Carolina, Daws says. It is on the site where North Carolina state officials ratified the United States Constitution in 1789. "at's the highest plateau of historic distinction," Daws says. "So, we opened up the Market House many years ago for Fourth Friday, allowing people to come up and just look around upstairs. Many people would make the comment that, 'I've lived here all my life and never been upstairs.' A lor of people were pleased to see that." e original building that served as the statehouse burned down in 1831, Daws says. "Resurrected out of the ashes came the Market House, which opened in 1832," Daws says. "It's a unique building in that it is virtually unchanged through time. It really has its 1832 appearance." Its history, of course, is marred by the fact that slaves were sold on the property in the 1800s. Cross Creek Cemetery No. 1 When vandals damaged headstones at historic Cross Creek Cemetery No. 1, Daws and city officials sprang into action, asking the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "Normally, they are not placed on the national registry because there are too many historic cemeteries scattered across the country," Daws says. "But our cemetery is very important in that it is one of just a handful of municipally owned cemeteries that date to the 1700s. "In that cemetery, there are in the neighborhood of 112 or more headstones that were carved by George Lowder from Scotland, who was the most prominent stone mason of 19th-century North Carolina history." It was a costly venture to repair the headstones. "We had vandalism issues out in the cemetery, and they were quite costly because you can't merely put an old historic headstone made of marble back together with a form of cement or some other material that would be counterproductive to the long- range preservation of the stone," Daws says. "It is very time-consuming, very costly. "We were able to apply for a historic preservation grant; the city helped us with that. We were able to raise enough money to make a large impact on the level of vandalism." "A lot of the city's history is written in that cemetery," he says. "So many people

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