AN ACT to COMMEMORATE the sestercentennial of the American Revolution by providing for the acquisition and protection of historic properties in order to preserve north carolina's history and cultural heritage for future generations.

Whereas, the Hayes Farm at Edenton in Chowan County was the home of Samuel Johnston, a member of the Continental Congress, governor of North Carolina during the crucial period when the State ratified the U.S. Constitution, and North Carolina's first U.S. Senator; and also is the site of Hayes House, one of the best preserved Federalist mansions in the State; and

Whereas, the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin on the border of Forsyth and Davie Counties represents one of the best‑preserved sites of a river ford on the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road that brought thousands of German and Scotch‑Irish settlers to the Piedmont of North Carolina in the 18th century and was the site of important engagements and events during the American Revolution and the Civil War; and

Whereas, Moore's Creek National Battlefield in Pender County is the site of an important early engagement in the Revolutionary War in which Patriot militias decisively defeated Loyalists marching towards Wilmington with the intent to restore Royal rule in North Carolina. However, land just a few hundred feet from the site of this engagement remains in private hands and could be developed in a manner that would diminish the experience of the battlefield; and

Whereas, Alamance Battleground State Historic Site in Alamance County preserves a portion of the site of a 1771 encounter between Royal Governor Tryon's militia and the Regulators, who rose up in protest of official corruption and unjust tax policies, but key portions of the battleground remain unprotected and under significant development pressure; and

Whereas, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historic Site preserves the site of the Palmer Memorial Institute, a school founded by Brown to provide education for black children during an era when official segregation and Jim Crow laws severely limited such opportunities. However, the rural character of the site is threatened by the increasing pressures of suburbanization; and

Whereas, Watauga Town and Nikwasi Town in Macon County are the sites of two of the so‑called Middle Towns of the Cherokee burned by a Patriot militia in an early Revolutionary War campaign and now form part of an emerging cultural corridor along the Little Tennessee and Tuckaseegee Rivers that tells the story of Cherokee civilization in Western North Carolina at the time of the American Revolution; and

Whereas, all these historic sites are the focus of preservation efforts by nonprofit organizations who are racing to keep these sites from sale to private parties that could result in development and loss of public access to future generations of the State's citizens; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  The sum of nine million eight hundred seventy‑five thousand four hundred dollars ($9,875,400) is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, to be allocated for the following properties or property interests:

(1)        Purchase of approximately 194 acres containing Hayes Manor and the Samuel Johnston Historic Farm in Chowan County, to be added to Edenton State Historic Site.

(2)        Purchase of approximately 48 acres adjacent to the Moore's Creek National Battlefield in Pender County. The Department shall seek to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Park Service to manage the site.

(3)        Purchase of approximately 2.35 acres near the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site in Alamance County, to be added to the Historic Site.

(4)        Purchase of approximately 100 acres adjacent to the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site in Guilford County, to be added to the Historic Site.

(5)        Purchase of approximately 245 acres at the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin in Forsyth County, to be managed in conjunction with other nearby historic sites.

(6)        Purchase of a conservation and preservation easement for an approximately 40‑acre tract at the site of the Cherokee settlement of Watauga Town in Macon County.

(7)        Purchase of two sites totaling approximately 2.6 acres and of a conservation and preservation easement at a third site of approximately 0.7 acres at the site of the Cherokee settlement of Nikwasi Town in the Town of Franklin in Macon County.

SECTION 1.(b)  At each of the sites described in subsection (a) of this section, the Department shall seek to partner with nonprofit organizations to provide funds and in‑kind contributions for site development, preservation, or operational support in order to minimize the use of public funds. The Department will report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources and the Fiscal Research Division no later than April 1, 2022, with an estimate of any additional recurring costs associated with acquisition, maintenance, and operation of the sites acquired pursuant to this act.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2021.