Media release provided by Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust.
Greenville County, SC - The Greenville County Historic & Natural Resources Trust (the Trust) and its partners gathered Tuesday, October 20, at 3141 Highway 14 to celebrate the protection of the Bates House and its nearly 11-acre grounds. The circa 1835 house, barn, and spring are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property is now owned by Upstate Preservation Trust, which will manage the site.
The property is valued at $1.17 million. The Trust committed $600,000, $100,000 of which came from a gift by the New Leaf Fund at the Community Foundation of Greenville, for a net county investment of $500,000. The Trust's share came from funds appropriated by Greenville County Council. The South Carolina Conservation Bank, the Trust's longest-running funding partner, invested $400,000, and the former owners, the Ward family, sold the property at a significant discount from its appraised value. Bates House is the Trust's third historic preservation project.
From left, Lindsey Strand, Rob Howell, Carlton Owen, Ryan Thackray (speaking), Curt McGahhey, and Jim O'Connor at the Bates House.Greenville County Historic & Natural Resources Trust
"The Trust does not carry out preservation projects directly," said Jim O'Connor, Chairman of the Trust's Board. "Rather, we help make them possible by providing funds and, just as importantly, providing leadership to help create coalitions and project partners."
William Bates came to South Carolina from Rhode Island and established the Batesville Manufacturing Company. His son-in-law, Henry Hammett, later founded Piedmont Manufacturing Company, helping make Greenville a major textile center.
"Opportunities like this don't come along every day," said Lindsey Strand, Founder and Chair of Upstate Preservation Trust. She credited UPT board member Dr. Anne Peden, who reached out to the Ward family and stayed in close contact with them for more than two years. "Preserving places like the Bates House allows us to do more than just save an old building," Strand said. "It allows us to protect the tangible connections to the people, the businesses, and the stories that shaped the Upstate as we know it today."
"State dollars can help leverage local public and private investment," said Rob Howell, a South Carolina Conservation Bank board member and Greenville resident, "stretching resources further and helping communities protect places that they value."
Ryan Thackray, Director of Development at the Community Foundation of Greenville, said, "We are pleased to support this project and to show that private dollars can support public dollars. We can all do this together, and it has to be done together."
Greenville County Councilman Curt McGahhey, whose District 21 includes the Bates House, thanked the partners. "These are the people that we need to thank. These are the people that make it happen," he said. "The brilliance of the public-private partnership to preserve places like this and preserve land in Greenville County is amazing, because it is getting eaten up quick. Everybody knows that. If you take the rosy-colored glasses off, there's no end in sight if we continue like this."
O'Connor closed the event. "We know the citizens of our fast-growing county care deeply about preserving our natural, historic, and cultural resources that contribute so much to our quality of life," he said. "We are proud of what the Trust and its partners have accomplished on their behalf, and equally proud we've done it while carefully leveraging county tax dollars."
