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“Facts,” John Adams observed, “are stubborn things. And whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

 

Given the current controversy surrounding recent developments at The Cotton Patch, it’s time to examine some salient facts that have been overlooked by print and social media commentators; in particular, the basis for the property’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The property was placed on the National Register in July 2021. The National Register Nomination Form for The Cotton Patch, which is available online at:   ncdcr.gov/media/2245/download, clearly states that The Cotton Patch is eligible for inclusion on the Register not on the basis of the architectural features of the main house, which was constructed in 1938, but due to the property’s association “with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.”  

 

The Form includes an Integrity Statement which notes that, because the “rehabilitation and remodeling work in recent years has compromised the architectural integrity of Russell Walcott’s original designs for the main house,” the house “does not possess enough integrity to be eligible for its architecture.”  

 

In fact, the house is classified, along with the Goat Barn (ca 2005), the Covered Arena (ca 1998,) and other recently built structures as a “non-contributing structure.”  

 

This means, in layman’s terms, that the residence does NOT contribute to the historic distinction that attaches to the property in its entirety.  

 

Jo Quatannens

Campobello, SC