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By Gordon Rago

The Charlotte Observer

CORNELIUS, N.C. (AP) 鈥� It鈥檚 3:39 p.m. and W.C. Wright fires up the engine of his red Ford F-600 and backs it up toward the front of the Alexander Farm Tenant House.

A pair of trees shade the century-old structure, tucked away in a corner of the 55-acre farm in Cornelius. A few steps away, cars whir by on busy West Catawba Avenue. In the coming months, a Florida-based developer will begin work on a project to build senior housing and commercial space on the property.

On this recent afternoon, Wright, 77, stares down the old wooden house in the truck鈥檚 side-view mirror. Coke cans litter the front entrance. Inside, stacks of old furniture take up some of the floor space. Hornets occupy one end of the home; a can of Raid sits empty on the ground nearby.

At about 16 feet by 20 feet, the house weighs around 30,000 pounds, Wright guesses. It鈥檚 mostly intact, save for some wooden sideboards falling apart. The tin roof still appears in good condition.

Wright, who calls himself a fifth-generation mover, has moved houses like this nearly his whole life. He started with his first at age 12 in Polkton, the Anson County town where he lives. He enjoys the challenge each one presents.

鈥淵ou can do things right,鈥� Wright says, 鈥渙r you can do things haphazard.鈥�

This move was likely his last. Wright says he鈥檚 ready to retire and none of his sons appears willing to take up the job full time in his place.

鈥淭his is a good one to retire on,鈥� Wright says. 鈥淚 like antiques and I鈥檓 glad to see people preserving old structures.鈥�

Few signs remain indicating that the tenant house was once someone鈥檚 home, but the historic record shows it was.

It鈥檚 one of the last surviving examples of a tenant farming house in Mecklenburg County, according to an architectural evaluation by engineering consulting firm Terracon. After the Civil War, tenant farming, or sharecropping, emerged as a system where formerly enslaved people rented houses and farmland from white landowners and turned profits over to those landowners.

Not all sharecroppers were Black, but a review of census records showed the families that lived in this home were, local historian Dan Morrill said.

To carry out the project, WIN Development needed federal permits because the property has water or wetlands, Morrill said. WIN had to hire a consultant to review the property for any historic buildings that could be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources deemed the tenant house was eligible.

That led to an arrangement to save the house to mitigate any development impacts like demolition.

In April, WIN and Cornelius reached an agreement where the historic building would be moved to another end of the Alexander Farm property.

While the move spares the home from demolition, it also ends eligibility for listing on the national register. That鈥檚 because the house will be separated from its original setting and location and not convey its story of an original tenant house, said Renee Gledhill-Earley, an environmental review coordinator with the State Historic Preservation Office.

But Morrill鈥檚 nonprofit, Preserve Mecklenburg, will hold a preservation easement on the home. That document will protect the house in perpetuity from demolition or any big material changes, Morrill said.

WIN鈥檚 plans include senior housing units, a potential grocery store, and additional commercial space. The land where the house has sat will be developed for a dental clinic, according to WIN.

But none of that was on the minds of W.C. Wright or his son Oliver. They had a house to move.

鈥淗and me my gloves and we will commence picking it up one more time,鈥� Wright says to his son. 鈥淵ou ready?鈥�

The house was already a few inches off the ground, thanks to the F-600 and a steel beam Wright used to hoist the structure up from the earth.

Wright instructs his son to grab a couple mechanical jacks from their other, newer pickup parked nearby. One jack is placed by one end of the home鈥檚 front entrance, and another on the other end. Oliver starts pumping the jack to lift the house a few more inches off the ground.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 enough, son,鈥� W.C. calls out.

The Wrights position two sets of large wheels under two steel beams, which the house will sit on for the move across the property.

W.C. drives the F-600 to the other side of the house. Using another steel beam and the truck鈥檚 winch, Wright has created a mobile home of sorts. The beams take the place of the foundation. Wright explains he is moving the house on a three-point system to maintain its plane, so it doesn鈥檛 twist or get stressed while moving over rough terrain.

By 5:30 p.m., W.C. gets in his cab again and starts the truck up. He inches the rumbling Ford forward and the house is moving. Wright keeps the speedometer under 10 mph. He鈥檚 at the other end of the property in about two minutes with the house still intact.

The destination is under another shaded corner, this time under larger trees. Drivers on West Catawba Avenue and Westmoreland Road will have a fuller view of the historic building.

Four small, wooden stakes that have 鈥渢enant house corner鈥� written on the side mark its new home.

This kind of preservation work is hard, Morrill said that afternoon. He was there to get a look at the house being moved.

鈥淵ou have to go totally off the standard menu,鈥� he said.

Ultimately, though, any community is better off when it has a sense of its history, Morrill said. By escaping the bulldozers, the tenant house can be used to teach people about Mecklenburg鈥檚 history.

The exact plans for the house are not yet clear. Once it鈥檚 on a new foundation, the building will be restored. Someday soon, people might be able to go up to it, look inside and read about its history.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not what this was,鈥� Morrill said, 鈥渂ut what it鈥檚 going to be.鈥�