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Not everyone knows that Eden has commissions and committees made up of City Council-nominated volunteers who help enhance our local government.

Reidsville, Madison and Eden all have volunteers who are members of individual historic preservation commissions, appointed by council members.

The Eden Preservation Commission will be marking its 31st year on April 15.

Ed Holbrooke, the chairman, views the commission as “the collective memory of our community.”

One of the duties of the commission, according to city planner and staff representative Debbie Galloway, is to create and maintain an inventory of historic properties in and around Eden.

Properties included in the inventory have some significance to the community because of their history, age or architectural features.

Periodically the inventory is updated to reflect changes in the community; buildings may become old enough to be included (50 years) while other properties may have been demolished.

At a commission meeting March 21, commission members worked on an inventory that includes 375 properties.

Of those, 89 houses were in Central Leaksville, from Boone Road to Hamilton, Washington streets. The Leaksville Central Business District has 26 properties, including two homes that appear on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. Those are the Doctor Franklin King House on Bridge Street and the Bullard-Ray-Harrington House on Washington Street.

Other historic districts included in the inventory are West Leaksville, Highlands, Spray Industrial District and Flint Hill, Brick Hill and Park Heights, Primitive Heights, North Spray, South Spray and the Boulevard, Matrimony Heights, Oakland Heights, Draper, Central Area, and surrounding areas such as Sauratown Plantation (Glenn Farms).

Once completed, this inventory will be submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office to be included in the state inventory of historic properties.

There are differences between national historic places, local historic landmarks and local historic districts. All three programs are set up to recognize and protect historic properties.

A listing on the national register is an indication that the property has been evaluated under established procedures and is worthy to be preserved for its historic value.

Historic district designations apply to entire neighborhoods and are a type of zoning.

The local landmarks designations are about individual buildings, structures, sites, areas or objects studied by the commission for historical, architectural, archaeological or cultural value.

The City Council designates local landmarks.

Owners of landmarks are eligible to apply for an annual 50 percent property tax deferral as long as the property’s historic features are maintained.

Jean Harrington, a longtime member of the commission and a former chairwoman, remembers well the hard work involved in setting up the first inventory.

The hard work was worth it, she says. “It was imperative that we gather together the pieces of our story in order to preserve our history.”

Names, locations, dates of construction and photos of houses in each district had to be verified. Eventually, the State Historic Preservation Office came into the picture.

Claudia Roberts Brown arrived from Raleigh to photograph the houses and write the descriptions of each one.

All of that information resulted in two editions of a book, “A Tale of Three Cities, Eden’s Heritage: A Pictorial Survey of Leaksville, Spray and Draper.”

Books may be purchased through the planning department at City Hall and at the Eden Historic Museum on Washington Street.

The commission offers a brochure detailing a historic downtown walking tour. Another one explains the signs designed by the commission to identify historic districts.

An Eden native, Rachel Wright is retired as a teacher at Morehead High School and an instructor at RCC.