The roof of the Southern Pines Civic Club building, located at 105 S. Ashe St., is in the process of restoration by a crew from The Historic Workshop, under the supervision of Carl Kessler, who specializes in historic preservation projects.

The clubhouse was built in 1925 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It originally had a slate roof, and the most recent asphalt roofing had long outlasted its expected lifespan.

Kessler recommended the newest roofing material as a suitable substitution for slate, which is cost-prohibitive. His crew has been working through the heat wave, and they had expected to have to replace the old copper flashing and to repair the chimneys, which are going to get new chimney caps.

Happily, according to Elaine Sills, who is in charge of the clubhouse building maintenance, “When they removed all of the old roofing, etc., they found the copper flashing around the chimneys so strong, a heavier gauge than could be gotten today, that they left it in place, determining that replacing it with the new material would not be needed.

“Carl (Kessler) said that the chimneys were also in great shape and didn’t need repair,” she adds. “They sure knew how to build things well when this clubhouse was erected 85 years ago!”

Helen Boyd Dull and Anna Jenks and others founded the Southern Pines Civic Club back in 1907, and the women of the club have served the ever-expanding community ever since.

“Sometimes I think that the presence of the club validates its existence quite superbly by the preservation of this building, the people and history it represents,” says Sills. “Of course the mission (of the club) so ably constructed by that group of women who simply wanted to bring beauty, culture, health and education to town is the icing on the cake.”

Sills believes that the club’s role in the development of the Sandhills and the history of the town of Southern Pines “has been a long journey beginning with John Patrick, the Shaws, the Boyds, Elizabeth S. Ives and many others until the journey reached today’s (Civic Club) members.”

Membership in the Southern Pines Civic Club is open women of all ages. The club meets on the first Monday of each month from October through May. Send inquiries to the Southern Pines Civic Club, 105 S. Ashe St., Southern Pines, NC 28387.

Helen Von Salzen is the vice president for community relations for the SPCC.