Wineka releases new book detailing 1976 efforts to save historic Crawford House

SALISBURY — Retired Salisbury Post reporter and columnist Mark Wineka authored a new book, “A Drive Across Town,” which chronicles a 1976 preservation saga in Salisbury that captured the city’s imagination.

Wineka joined nationally known preservationist Edward H. Clement of Salisbury in publishing the book, which is available at South Main Book Company, 110 S. Main St.

Clement and Wineka will sign copies of “A Drive Across Town “ at the bookstore from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28. They also plan to attend and sign books at this year’s OctoberTour.

It was during the country’s Bicentennial year that members of the fledgling Historic Salisbury Foundation realized if they wanted to save the 1869 Crawford House, they had only one option:

Move it. 

But the deadline was pressing. Wendy’s wanted the site for its new fast-food restaurant on East Innes Street, and the company was desperately eager to start construction.

Clement, then the foundation’s president, recognized the Crawford House was worth saving from architectural, community and historical perspectives. On the history side alone, the house had an undeniable link to Andrew Jackson, the country’s seventh president.

Clement also knew of a perfect corner in the West Square Historic District where the Crawford House could be an important neighborhood anchor.

But that meant the all-brick, 500-ton house would have to be moved through the middle of town, and this is where the preservation story begins. In the sweltering temperatures of late July, the question over four days became, would the Crawford House make it?

“A Drive Across Town” uses the house’s journey as a way to put into context some of Salisbury’s history and its people. It also documents how ingenuity, perseverance and partnerships combined then, and for generations to come, in showing communities that “preservation is progress.”

Wineka has previously co-authored with Jason Lesley two books on the Food Lion grocery chain, “Lion’s Share” and ”Five Fast Pennies.” He authored “A Family Affair,” detailing the Hurley family’s ownership of the Salisbury Post; and “A Century Strong,” the story of F&M Bank.

His series of newspaper articles on the Yadkin River, “A River Runs Through Us,” were published as a book by the Post and the Catawba College Center for the Environment. Wineka worked for the newspaper from 1980 through 2019 and also was the first editor of Salisbury the Magazine, a publication of the Post.

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