By BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
Staff writer
It turns out that a missing marker that highlighted the history of North Carolina’s first Roman Catholic church isn’t missing at all.
The marker, erected by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources and N.C. Department of Transportation is exactly where it should be – at a DOT sign storage warehouse on Grimes Road in Washington.
One member of the Mother of Mercy Catholic Church said he was delighted the marker has been found.
“I have goose bumps,” said John A. Mallette, one of the church members investigating the sign’s disappearance. “It really is great for so many reasons.”
Jim Evans, traffic services supervisor, said he didn’t know the sign was considered missing until April 27, when he read about the state and members of Mother of Mercy Catholic Church investigating its disappearance in the Washington Daily News.
“It was never missing,” he said.
The DOT removed the marker from its location near the corner of U.S. Highway 17 and Third Street in Washington to protect it from damage during demolition of an old Dr Pepper bottling plant by a group of local developers. The site is slated to contain a mix of commercial and residential buildings bearing the name Washington Center.
A fence was erected around the property after the bottling plant was raised.
The sign is undamaged and, for now, will stay in DOT possession while the fence remains and to protect it from possible damage while the center is being constructed, Evans said.
Center developer Jack Ulrich said he is happy the sign has been found.
“We looked high and low for it and could not find it,” he said.
It was miscommunication between the state Office of Archives and History and NCDOT that led folks to believe that the sign had disappeared, according to Michael Hill, research supervisor with the N.C. Office of Archives and History.
“The sign is where it should have been,” he said. “DOT did the right thing when they removed the sign for storage.”
When Hill was alerted by Washington resident Sabin Leach that the sign was not in its proper place, his first step was to contact the DOT, but his query was referred to the wrong office and he was told that the transportation department did not have the sign.
That set off a search for it.
“I think it’s wonderful that the sign has been found and the state doesn’t have to spend money for a new one,” Leach said.
The marker was erected to highlight the history of St. John the Evangelist Church, consecrated on March 25, 1829, by John England, the bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, on land on the southeast corner of Third and Van Norden streets. Today, the church’s original site is home to First United Methodist Church of Washington.
The silver-and-black St. John the Evangelist historical marker is one of some 50 that stand along state and federal highways in Beaufort County denoting historic sites — among them, Colonial Bath, the First Post Road and Trinity Church — and famous residents — among them, John Gray Blount, Josephus Daniels, the DeMille family, John Garzia and Lindsay C. Warren.
They are part of a program established 75 years ago by the N.C. General Assembly in an effort to standardize the practice of marking sites of statewide historical significance. The first one was put in place in Granville County on Jan. 10, 1936.