As you walk around downtown Albemarle, are you interested in the history of the buildings you see?

Have you ever wondered what was the first building on a particular site?

Do you try to remember who built some of the buildings you recall from earlier days that are no longer standing?

The Stanly County Historical Society’s next program to be presented by Lewis Bramlett will address some of these questions.

Do the names Rufus Brown, J.D. Harwood, D.A Holbrook or Locke Moody sound familiar?

They all played a role in the construction of buildings in Albemarle’s downtown area.

Bramlett will share information about some of the buildings constructed by these men.

The Stanly County Historical Society and the Stanly County History Center invite everyone to join Bramlett at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Fellowship Center of Central United Methodist Church, 172 N. Second St., Albemarle, for the program “Building Albemarle: A look at historic buildings in Albemarle and the men who built them.”

The presentation will focus on the development of downtown Albemarle and will include pictures and stories about some of Albemarle’s historic buildings, including a few early houses, the mills and early businesses. There will also be pictures documenting the history of the Stanly County Courthouse from its first location in the center of the square to its current location on South Second Street.

Following the program on Sunday, those who would like may visit a few of the sites covered in Bramlett’s presentation. A guide will be available at these selected sites.

To register for the program, call the Stanly County History Center at 704-986-3777. Or go to http://historicstanly.org and select the Event Registration tab. Be sure to click Submit to complete the online registration.

About The Presenter

Lewis Bramlett is a graduate of Albemarle High School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From an early age he has been developing his research skills as he pursued his interested in history. In recent years he has focused a great deal on the history of Stanly County.

As an out-of-town volunteer for the Stanly County Historical Society, Bramlett is the webmaster for historicstanly. org, the Historical Society’s website. For the last four and a half years he has done research for almost daily posts on the Stanly County History Center’s Facebook page.

Over time he has published a growing number of books and booklets on various topics related to the history of Stanly County. His books are available in the gift shop at the Stanly County History Center and all proceeds go to the Stanly County Historical Society.

He also writes a weekly column for the Stanly News & Press called Throwback Thursday which covers people, places and events that are part of Stanly County’s history.

In addition, he has been responsible for suggesting and contacting many of the presenters who have given programs for the Historical Society.

He also creates items used to publicize the Historical Society’s programs.

Bramlett and his family live in Kennesaw, Georgia, where he and his sons, Andrew and Daniel, plan and present programs for the Kennesaw Historical Society.

The family is also involved as volunteers at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park which is located not far from their home.