NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1971 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1119

HOUSE BILL 547

 

 

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE WRIGHT TAVERN IN ROCKINGHAM COUNTY.

 

Whereas, the Wright Tavern in Wentworth, Rockingham County, has been described by Thomas T. Waterman, the State's leading architectural historian, as the finest surviving example of a two-story, frame "Dog-Run" building; and

Whereas, the Wright Tavern has been associated with some of North Carolina's greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century, among them Congressman Thomas Settle, Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, Governor John M. Morehead, Governor and Senator David S. Reid, Legislator and Historian Archibald D, Murphey, Brigadier General and Governor Alfred M. Scales, and Governor Robert B. Glenn; and

Whereas, with funds raised from private sources and supplemented by an appropriation from the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners, the Wright Tavern, an architecturally unique early nineteenth century tavern, has been purchased and is now being restored for public purposes as a county museum and educational facility; and

Whereas, the General Assembly in 1969 appropriated the sum of $15,000 to assist in the restoration upon condition that a like amount be raised from non-State sources, which matching provisions have been met; and

Whereas, additional funds are needed to complete the restoration of this historic structure; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the general fund to the State Department of Archives and History for the 1971-73 biennium, subject to provisions of G.S. 121-8.2 and G.S. 143-31.2, the sum of $25,000 for the purpose of assisting in the restoration of the Wright Tavern; provided that a like sum is raised from non-state funds to be used for the above purposes.

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective upon its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 21st day of July, 1971.