If home is where the heart is...
 What happens when a community comes together with a lot of heart? It’s voted Best Neighborhood in Rowan County.
Readers of Rowan Magazine voted Fulton Heights Best Neighborhood and neighbors are thrilled.
“I love living in Fulton Heights because the people are hard-working, family people who care about simple pleasures, like repairing things to use them longer, planting backyard gardens, or riding bikes with their children,” said resident Maggie Blackwell. “We cook for each other when we’re under the weather. We encourage each other, and borrow each other’s tools. Most of us are much like our houses: quirky, individual, and closely knit. I can’t imagine a better community for me and my family.”
When Doug Black, a Fulton Heights resident of eight years, thinks about why he and his wife Leslie chose the neighborhood, there are so many reasons. “The abundance of trees and green lawns, mostly small well-kept homes, some fancy ones, many churches, a vibrant downtown, friendly people, good neighbors,” just to name a few.
Roughly bounded by Fulton Street, Heilig Avenue, Ridge Avenue and Boyden Street, Fulton Heights is made up of about 500 homes, including a few late Victorian Queen Anne houses, Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Tudor Revival, Prairie School and Craftsman style residences ranging in size from modest cottages and bungalows to more stately homes. The neighborhood was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
 The neighborhood was born in 1902 when the Southern Development Company bought the nearly 100 acres where Fulton Heights now sits. The bordering streets were all named for the original investors. At the time the neighborhood was popular because of its modern amenities like water, sewer, electricity and phone service. Fulton Heights was also the only neighborhood at the time where the street car was planned as a neighborhood amenity.
In 1904 in Salisbury, the existing streetcar line, which ended at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, was extended 340 feet down Mitchell Avenue. This allowed residents to use the street car as a way to get to work in places as far as the Spencer Shops. The line also brought people into the neighborhood to enjoy the park, which was createdin 1906. Though the street cars of the early 1900s are no more, the median that runs down Mitchell Avenue is a reminder of the neighborhood’s beginnings. At Fulton Heights Park, people enjoyed sporting events, picnics and carnivals until it closed just after World War I. With pressure to develop the land, it was subdivided and sold.
But the neighborhood would not be without a park forever. In 2005, residents looked to make the neighborhood more attractive to young families and saw a park as a step towards this effort, according to Blackwell.
 Several donors made the park at the corner of Wiley and Stanley avenues possible. Reggie Hall donated the lot beyond the creek that, coupled with the city-owned lot, makes up the park today. Playground equipment, the picnic area and landscaping were made possible by contributions from the Woodson Foundation, Blanche & Julian Robertson Family Foundation and Bob and Sara Cook through the LandTrust for Central North Carolina. Neighbors also came together to raise funds to help make the park possible, including fundraising events and soliciting donations for pavers and park benches.
The City of Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department worked closely with Fulton Heights to make the project possible. Neighbors pitched in on several Saturdays to help with planting, and Blackwell remembers city employees working right along side them even though it was the weekend.
On June 10, 2006, city officials and children joined together to break ground on the park, and about a year and a half later the park opening was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony in October of 2007.
 Today Centennial Park is used by families from Fulton Heights as well as other Rowan County residents. “It’s a popular spot for kids to bicycle, throw the football, or just run,” Blackwell said. “Kids still line up with their sleds at the hill on snowy days.”
The neighborhood uses the park for events such as the annual Easter Egg Hunt and the Christmas Tree dedication with the LandTrust.
Alisa Palmer, who has lived is Fulton Heights for six-and-a-half years, says the events held by residents are great for families. The neighborhood association is very active, she says, and integral in the success of neighborhood events like the Easter egg hunt, Halloween parade, picnics, holiday open houses and caroling. “The neighbors are friendly and helpful. There is a real sense of community here.”
“Our neighborhood is like a little community all on its own. You know who to call when you need help carpooling the kids to school, you know who you can rely on to watch your house when you are away, and when someone gets hurt or has a new baby, we help with lawn work and make dinner,” said Shakeisha Gray, Fulton Heights Neighborhood Association president.
Story by Jill McCartney Wagoner
Historical information for this article was provided by Doug Black and is from the National Historic Register Documentation for Fulton Heights in the Rowan Public Library. Photos courtesy of the City of Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department, The LandTrust for Central North Carolina and Teen Aron.
|
|
Share your feedback with us!
Become a fan on Facebook!
| |
|
Advertise with the only magazine dedicated solely to Rowan County.
|
 |
| |
We want to hear from our readers.
Ask us a question. Tell us what you think. Or just drop a note to say hello.
Click here to reach us!
|
| |
|