Editor’s Note: Our VV&W founder and broker, Nancy Wilkinson Van Valkenburgh, has been a leader in the preservation of Huntsville’s downtown area since the space boom, when the push for modernization often ran roughshod over historic preservation. Here, she continues her story (the first installment of which is here) about how a controversial road plan threatened what is now known as the Twickenham Historic Preservation District.
The City of Huntsville’s early 1970’s Ring Road plan to widen downtown streets was extremely upsetting to my placid life. The plan soon would upset others as they found out about the plan and how they would be affected. One such person, (I believe her name was Mrs. Yell), owned property near South Grove Street.
South Grove was a small street between Madison Street and Gallatin Street parallel to and south of Williams. It was so named because in the olden days (1820’s to 1940’s), it led to a great mansion called “The Grove.”
You might know the site of The Grove as the recent site of the now torn down Mental Health Center. It is also known as the (maybe) future site of the New Federal Court House which has been talked about for years and years. South Grove is now a street called Manning Drive.
There were lovely Victorian cottages on the street. One had a connection to Grace Hinds, of Decatur, who went to England and became Lady Curzon, wife of the Lord who was Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905. But the real importance to Mrs. Yell was the presence of a very old and majestic Chinquapin Oak, which was endangered by the widening and enlargement of Gallatin Street.
Mrs. Yell and I would soon find that it is hard to modify plans, even troubling plans, when they are already in motion and have worked through a bureaucracy. So how to save houses and trees? One starts by telling everyone they know and attending meetings.
A meeting was advertised by a new group in town. The group was a conservancy organization and it advertised that a city official would present the program. The topic was the effort to pass state legislation permitting a residential historic district called Twickenham.
When I got to the meeting, I didn’t know Mrs. Yell or anyone else in the group. Mrs. Yell did not seem to know anyone in the group either. We both seemed out of place.
We sat politely through the interesting presentation by the city official. He explained how the plans for the Twickenham Historic Preservation District had developed through several years. Dedicated preservationists had worked tirelessly to explain the benefits and work through challenges of having a historic district like the ones in Charleston and Savannah.
Then came time for questions. There were several general questions and then Mrs. Yell stood up and said something like “The street is going to take my Chinquapin Oak. It is very valuable and beautiful. Can the street be moved over?”
The official explained that she would be compensated. She was not impressed. It was apparent that she cared about the tree and not the money. It was also apparent to me that she and I were kindred spirits.
The official went back to his topic which was to tell how wonderful Twickenham would be. It was more than I could take and I stood up and asked,
“Well if you are trying to save Twickenham, why are you going to widen the streets and take out steps of buildings and TAKE OUT ALL THE TREES?”
There was a gasp throughout the room. At that moment, I loved the tree lovers (and I still do).
The city official was very angry and truly I was not very polite. He said, “Don’t talk about things you don’t know anything about!”
Soon the meeting was over. But Mrs. Yell and I were not through yet. But that is another story.