News Release

Storied home reborn as Center for the Study of the American South headquarters

CHAPEL HILL – More than a century old, a Chapel Hill property that has housed university benefactors, educators and military personnel will reopen its doors Saturday (April 21) as the new home for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for the Study of the American South.

A dedication at the 410 E. Franklin Street property, known as The Love House and Hutchins Forum, will feature remarks by university officials and guests, tours of the renovated home, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and porch-front performances by a bluegrass band and a gospel duo. Saturday’s dedication and other events are by invitation only.

Among those scheduled to speak are: Erskine Bowles, UNC system president; James Moeser, UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor; Roger Perry, UNC-Chapel Hill trustee; Henry Louis Gates Jr., humanities professor and director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University; Harry Watson, director for the Center; and William Ferris, associate director for the Center;
 
The Branchettes, a gospel duo with a style rooted in the congregational hymns of early black singers, and Bluegrass group Tony Williamson Band, headlined by mandolin player Williamson, will perform after the remarks.

The Center was founded in 1992 to encourage teaching, research and service for the South at UNC-Chapel Hill, to deepen scholarly understanding of the South and its people and cultures, and to make the university’s best resources available to states and communities facing challenges within the region.

The Center oversees the Southern Oral History Program, the Southern Cultures journal, the Program on Public Life, the Southern Research Circle, the James A. Hutchins lecture series and other special projects.

The Center’s new headquarters has had longstanding ties to the university and influential southern figures. It was built on a site that once bore the home of Joseph Caldwell, the university’s first president.

James Lee Love, an assistant professor of mathematics at UNC-Chapel Hill, leased the eastern part of that original lot in 1887 after a fire destroyed the earlier structure, and he built the home that now carries the Love name. He and his wife, Julia James Spencer Love, and his mother-in-law, Cornelia Philips Spencer, lived there and called the home “The House of Seven Gables.” Cornelia Philips Spencer is known for ringing the South Building bell upon news in 1875 that the university would reopen after Reconstruction.

Later owners added wider porches and new rooms to the original structure. During the 20th century, the university reacquired the property for faculty housing. With their families, commanders of the campus Naval ROTC unit were frequent tenants. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former North Carolina senator John Edwards, lived there as the daughter of one such military household.

The property’s most recent tenant was historian Dr. Spencie Love, Cornelia Philips Spencer’s great-granddaughter. After Love moved out, she was instrumental in obtaining a Love family foundation gift to the university to start the renovation. The seven-room, one-story house has deep porches, wide lawns and large shade trees.

After renovations and a 900-square-foot addition named for the late James A. Hutchins Jr., a 1937 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, the resulting building is now ready for new tenants.

Glenn Hutchins, co-founder and managing director of Silver Lake Partners of New York City, donated funds for the project to honor his father. James Hutchins studied with the late Carolina sociologist Howard Odum, who is credited with building the university’s commitment to tackling social and economic challenges in the South when he came to Carolina in 1920.

Center for the Study of the American South Web site: http://www.unc.edu/depts/csas/index.html

Note to the media: As mentioned above, unlike most Carolina events, this one is not open to the public. It is by invitation only. The size of the building and the lot’s proximity to Franklin Street do not allow for a large crowd. Media representatives are invited to cover the 11 a.m. dedication ceremony. Parking, too, is very limited. To arrange for parking, please contact LJ Toler from News Services in advance. She will be staffing Saturday morning’s events. She can be reached today and Friday at (919) 962-8589. Her cell phone number is: (919) 219-6374.

Center for the Study of the American South: Harry Watson, (919) 962-5665, south@unc.edu