{"id":118,"date":"2011-04-26T15:00:17","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/?p=118"},"modified":"2011-04-26T21:57:06","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T01:57:06","slug":"press-release-update-on-merrimon-magnolia-apr-26-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/118\/take-action\/press-release-update-on-merrimon-magnolia-apr-26-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: Update on Merrimon Magnolia, Apr. 26, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lady<\/a>Watch our news interview on WLOS-TV 13 with Charu Kumarhia, 5pm or 6pm EDT Tues. April 26, or wlos.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
\nSaving the Merrimon Magnolia and George Pack’s stone wall<\/p>\n

A large heritage magnolia on the former site of George W. Pack’s
\nmansion — now slated for a new Harris Teeter grocery store — could
\nbe picked up and moved by a California company that claims the
\nGuinness World Record for the largest tree ever moved. The old tree is
\nin need of a new home, however.<\/p>\n

An architecturally unique feature of the massive retaining wall that
\nonce bounded Pack’s “Manyoaks” property will unfortunately be
\ndemolished for the new store. Its stones will be incorporated into an
\nexpanded bus stop at the site at 136 Merrimon Ave., which will include
\na memorial to Pack. But anyone who wants to see the impressively
\nbuilt, brick-paved carriage entrance to Manyoaks had better hurry,
\nbecause it will soon be added to the ever-lengthening roll of
\nAsheville’s lost historic treasures.<\/p>\n

1) The magnolia tree<\/p>\n

Asheville residents have been urging Harris Teeter to save the stately
\nmagnolia at Merrimon and Chestnut through a Facebook page
\n(http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/merrimon.magnolia<\/a>), letters to the editor,
\nand a postcard campaign directed toward Harris Teeter’s president,
\nFred Morgenthall, a resident of Charlotte
\n(https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/93\/take-action\/send-a-postcard-to-save-the-merrimon-magnolia\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n

At the final Technical Review Committee meeting last week that granted
\nthe city’s approval to the development, Harris Teeter’s
\nrepresentative, Garland Hughes, noted that grading requirements
\nrelated to the site’s brownfields status would not allow the magnolia
\nto remain in place. He assured concerned citizens, however, that the
\ncompany is interested in relocating the tree (as well as planting many
\nmore trees on the site), had spoken about it with the city’s arborist,
\nMark Foster, and would be open to proposals for doing so.<\/p>\n

Moving big trees is not something many, if any, area arborists and
\nlandscapers are equipped to do. So I followed a tip from local
\nlandscape contractor Steve Ambrose<\/a> and contacted the Senna Tree
\nCompany in La Crescenta, Calif. Senna’s website, www.sennatree.com<\/a>,
\nshows the company transporting an 80-ton oak to a new site (I don’t
\nknow if that is the tree that won them the world’s record!).<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the California company knows a lot about moving large
\nmagnolia trees, I learned from president John Mote in an April 25
\nphone conversation, since they are a popular landscaping feature for
\nantebellum-style homes in the West. Based on the measurements and
\nphotos I gave him (see
\nhttp:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/gallery\/main.php?g2_itemId=89<\/a>), he informally
\nestimated his company could send a few men out here and relocate the
\ntree for about $25,000 to $30,000. [NOTE: $25,000 is just 1\/100th of what Harris Teeter President Fred Morganthall makes in 1 year<\/a>, and he is not even the company’s highest-paid executive. So this should be quite affordable! — S.R.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Where to move the tree to, however, has not been decided. To survive,
\nthe tree will need some 74 cubic feet of water twice a week without
\ninterruption for months after transplanting, till it recovers from the
\nshock. One possibility I am suggesting to officials might be a nearby
\npublic park or city greenway, where Parks and Recreation personnel and
\ncitizen volunteers could ensure that it receives the regular attention
\nit needs during that period (and where it’s not likely to be uprooted
\nyet again by yet another building project).<\/p>\n

2) The stone wall<\/p>\n

In the late 1800s, several years before making his famous donation of
\nPack Square to the city, George W. Pack built a grand mansion on
\nMerrimon Ave. that he named “Manyoaks<\/a>.” The mansion was, sadly,
\ndemolished in the 1960s or 1970s around the time the last Pack
\ndescendant living in the house died, and the property became the Deal
\nMotor Company lot. [NOTE: After the last local Pack owner died, the mansion became a funeral home, and then was demolished when Deal Motor Company bought the lot, according to a longtime neighbor. — S.R.]<\/em><\/p>\n

But the massive stone retaining wall along Chestnut and Holland
\nStreets was left in place, along with two stone pillars and a section
\nof wrought-iron fence next to Merrimon. (Now only one pillar, thanks
\nto an auto accident last fall.)<\/p>\n

As can be seen from the photo gallery at
\nhttp:\/\/www.oldenwilde.org\/gallery\/main.php?g2_itemId=29<\/a>, a carriage
\nentrance graces the wall on Chestnut near Merrimon. The carefully
\ncurved stonework of the entrance that terminates in two pillars is
\nunusual.<\/p>\n

In response to public and official requests, Harris Teeter designed
\nits site plan so as to keep as much of the wall as its engineers
\ndeemed possible. The stretch along Holland will remain intact
\n(although it will be penetrated by a pedestrian entrance), as will
\nmuch of the wall along Chestnut Street, which will not be widened
\nowing to neighborhood traffic concerns. However, the company will
\ninstall a large parking-lot entrance where the carriage entrance
\nstands now.<\/p>\n

Harris Teeter is working with the city and the Asheville-Buncombe
\nPreservation Society to design an expanded bus stop at the present
\nstop on Merrimon by Chestnut, which will incorporate portions of the
\ndemolished wall and possibly the iron fence and pillar on Merrimon. It
\nwill likely include a historical plaque commemorating Pack’s former
\nresidence here.<\/p>\n

For more information:<\/p>\n

Garland Hughes, Harris Teeter representative: (704)367-5003,
\n(704)622-5855, ghughes@mpvre.com<\/p>\n

John Mote, Pres., Senna Tree Company: (818)957-5755, (818)279-3054,
\nwww.sennatree.com<\/p>\n

Jack Thomson, Director, Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe
\nCounty: (828)254-2343, director@psabc.org<\/p>\n

Julia Fields, City Planning staff: JFields@ashevillenc.gov<\/p>\n

Photos and information about the Manyoaks site:
\nhttp:\/\/www.oldenwilde.org\/gallery\/main.php?g2_itemId=29<\/a> and Montford
\nNewsletter article “Elegant Relics on a Car Lot: George Pack\u2019s Lost
\nMerrimon Avenue Mansion”, http:\/\/montford.org\/?p=953<\/a><\/p>\n

— Steve Rasmussen
\n(828) 335-2486
\n(828) 251-0343<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watch our news interview on WLOS-TV 13 with Charu Kumarhia, 5pm or 6pm EDT Tues. April 26, or wlos.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saving the Merrimon Magnolia and George Pack’s stone wall A large heritage magnolia on the former site of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-take-action","tag-merrimon-magnolia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldenwilde.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}