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Designers present schematic plan for Lewis Freeman Park, highlighting historic house and small shelter concept
Summary
OBS Architects presented a schematic design for the Lewis Freeman Park adjacent to the Lewis Freeman house, proposing a small shelter to interpret the house footprint, pathways, accessible parking options, and funding/donation needs.
OBS Architects presented a schematic design on Feb. 10 for Lewis Freeman Park, a small public site adjoining the historic Lewis Freeman house, and described plans to interpret the site’s history while preserving existing trees and addressing accessibility.
Siobhan Moore of OBS Architects told the Board of Commissioners the design team is developing a shelter and site improvements that would acknowledge Lewis Freeman, an enslaved person who secured his freedom and became a prominent property owner in early 19th-century Pittsboro. Moore said Freeman’s circa-1811 house — now part of the architect’s office and listed in the National Register of Historic Places — would be interpreted by placing a shelter roughly the size of the original house (about 16 by 18 feet) on the park site and showing the location of the original foundation and fireplace.
Moore said the project team is pursuing a limited survey (topography and tree locations) after a previously offered pro-bono surveyor rescinded and that donated materials and volunteer labor have been offered for the timber-frame shelter. The design concept includes a small lawn for gatherings, benches and picnic tables, interpretive signage, and possible low stone seating within the shelter. The team emphasized an intention to preserve large, old-growth trees on the site and to locate the shelter outside the creek’s flood-prone areas.
Accessible parking is required; Moore said the southern edge of the site — currently Chatham County property — offers the most feasible route for a handicapped parking space and a path through a dense bamboo stand to the park. Moore described several implementation constraints, including final topography, tree protection, and coordination with adjacent property owners to allow future connections or crossings to West Salisbury Street.
Moore said the project has strong community interest and support: the Johnson County Historical Association and the local NAACP have been involved, descendants of Lewis Freeman have been contacted, and volunteers have offered donations of materials and services. She also said the project team is seeking a formal mechanism for the town to accept donated labor and materials.
Commissioners asked about tree preservation and historic coordination; Moore said preservation of large trees is a primary goal, that the Johnson County Historical Association and NAACP representatives have been engaged, and that some descendants of Freeman have expressed interest in attending a grand opening if feasible.
No formal vote or commitment of town funds was recorded; the presentation was an informational update and the consultants asked for board guidance and direction to continue design work and fundraising coordination.
