Renovation of Historic Spring Lake Civic Center

Sandhills Family Heritage Association (SFHA) is renovating its Historic Spring Lake Civic Center, constructed in 1945 by residents of Spring Lake, Town of Manchester and surrounding communities in the NC Sandhills. With help from local churches and donated materials, the completed building served the community for many years.

The Civic Center was closed in 2002, due to changes in building codes. In 2005, the last surviving trustee of the Spring Lake Civic Group gifted the building and land to SFHA with the charge to reopen the building and return it to the community that built it and cherished it for so many years.

The Civic Center opened as a safe and welcoming place for youth, but soon became a popular venue for family and social events, civic group meetings and community organizing. During the Civil Rights era, the Spring Lake Civic Center functioned as a hub for school desegregation efforts, voter registration drives, NAACP meetings and community efforts to research and preserve the history of African-Americans in the Sandhills.

Although the building closed in 2002, SFHA and the continued to use the land for activities, such as heritage and cultural events, the Spring Lake Farmers Market and African-American Heritage tour. The community continued to care for the building and the land, with many volunteers helping with clean-up, grounds work and building the many cultural additions to the property. SFHA installed on the land a beautiful brush arbor with seating, a native plant garden completed by our Sankofa Youth group and youth from the local 4-H club, and a replica of the Old Plank Road, which was constructed by enslaved persons during the Civil War. The land serves as a place to carry out our missions, offer our programs of H.O.P.E. and partner with the community to tell the unique story of African-Americans in the NC Sandhills.

The Renovation project is nearly complete. The interior of the building is complete and the building has a fresh coat of pain on the exterior walls. New doors and windows have been installed. However, the exterior work remains to be completed - parking lot and driveway, excavation to replace and connect pipes and plumbing, landscaping and grading. All of this work must be completed and inspected before SFHA can receive a Certificate of Occupancy. Finally, SFHA will furnish the building, including the community kitchen, and hold a long-awaited re-dedication ceremony for this important community resources.

SFHA has completed the work, thus far, with individual donations, grants from Cannon Foundation, Marion Stedman Covington Foundation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Hillsdale Foundation, Fayetteville Historic Council and the Stedman Preservation award, among others.

SFHA is in the final stretch of the renovation project. The project is on hold until the remaining funds are secured. We must raise an additional $140,000 resume the project and complete the exterior work.

Please visit our website, www.sandhillsfamilyheritage.org , to learn more SFHA, the Spring Lake Civic Center Building and the renovation project. Janet Brower and Beverly Parks are available via phone or email.

The photo below is a rendering of the future, fully renovated Historic Spring Lake Civic Center. The building is located on Chapel Hill Road, Spring Lake NC 28390.