NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

CHAPTER 1364

HOUSE BILL 1547

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR HISTORIC HALIFAX.

Whereas, North Carolina was the first of the thirteen colonies to take official action for independence by adopting the famous Halifax Resolves, April 12, 1776, more than a month before the colony of Virginia instructed its delegates in the Continental Congress to propose independence; and

Whereas, our first State Constitution was written in the town of Halifax in December, 1776, and our first State Governor, Richard Caswell, was elected there, and other significant historic events occurred in that town; and

Whereas, the Department of Cultural Resources has developed the historic part of the town of Halifax as a State Historic Site; and

Whereas, more than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) worth of land and other property has been donated to the State at Halifax; and

Whereas, since the 1979 General Assembly recessed, work has been completed on Lot 52, the site of the Joseph Montfort House, ca. 1763, where more than one hundred thousand artifacts have been found; and

Whereas, a temporary structure was built over the remains as an emergency measure, but this structure will preserve the remains for only a short time; and

Whereas, the State of North Carolina would be a leader in establishing archaeological and historical interpretive programs should a permanent structure be built over the remains; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Archives and History, Department of Cultural Resources, for the 1982-83 fiscal year the sum of thirty-eight thousand dollars ($38,000) to complete the structure over the remains of Lot 52, the site of the Joseph Montfort House, in the town of Halifax, and to establish an archaeological and historical interpretive program at the building for the public benefit. These funds shall not become part of the continuation budget. Any unexpended funds at the end of the 1982-83 fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

Sec. 2. Funds appropriated in this act shall be expended only in accordance with G.S. 121-11 and G.S. 143-31.2.

Sec. 3. This act shall become effective July 1, 1982.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1982.