EDENTON — A Chapel Hill law firm has proposed purchasing Edenton’s Confederate monument for $50,000 and moving it to a site designated by a committee of Edenton citizens.
But the town’s manager said the town can’t consider the proposal because it doesn’t take into account the litigation currently blocking the town’s efforts to move the monument from its current site.
The Brough Law Firm emailed the monument-purchase proposal to the town in a July 26 letter. In the letter, attorney T.C. Morphis, Jr. said the offer was being made on behalf of “clients who wish to remain anonymous but are dedicated to the well-being of the people of Edenton.”
Morphis cited a similar remedy was used in Pitt County regarding its Confederate monument.
“We have attached a proposal aimed at addressing a critical issue in Edenton through a creative solution recently proven effective in Pitt County,” Morphis said.
“We believe that the majority of the town will support this proposal, which promises to end the waste of resources and time without progress.”
Under the proposal, the town of Edenton would transfer ownership of the monument to the Edenton Racial Reconciliation Group. The nonprofit seeks racial reconciliation and has not been directly involved in protests to remove the monument from the town’s waterfront area. The group would get the monument in exchange for a $50,000 charitable donation to the Chowan County Community Fund, which, according to Morphis’ letter, helps “serve unmet needs of town residents.”
According to Morphis’ letter, the CCCF provided funding in 2024 to a variety of nonprofits, including: the Albemarle Commission Senior Nutrition Program for Chowan Meals on Wheels, the American Red Cross for disaster cycle services, Boys & Girls Club of the Albemarle, Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas for the Chowan County Childhood Cancer Safety Net, and the Chowan Arts Council, among others.
The proposal outlined in Morphis’ letter says the monument would be moved after a new location selected by a committee chosen by the town’s Human Relations Commission and/or the Edenton Racial Reconciliation Group. Both groups have been supporters of moving the monument.
A similar proposal transferred ownership of Pitt County’s monument after it had been taken down and stored. The monument was transferred to a group called Commemorating Honor, which said it wanted to restore it and then put it on private property.
That has not been done yet. According to the group receiving the monument, the cost of restoration is unknown.
Town Manager Corey Gooden told the Chowan Herald that the town has worked under the assumption that it owns the Confederate monument.
“The town has assumed that it is the owner by default since the monument has been on the town’s property since the early 1960s, and no one to date has challenged the town’s assumption of ownership,” he said in an email. “At the time (Chowan) County was considering relocating the monument to the county’s War Memorial Park, there was discussion of the town giving the county a non-warranty or quitclaim or similar instrument whereby the town would relinquish any right, title, and interest to the county in the monument.”
But he said the town cannot consider the Brough Law Firm’s proposal because it doesn’t take into account the current legal restrictions on the town that prevent the monument’s being moved.
“The town cannot consider the proposal because it (the proposal) does not acknowledge the lawsuit and/or the restraining order prohibiting the monument’s relocation,” he said. “Any consideration of the proposal would have to consider the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and the court’s pending order.”
Gooden was referring to the lawsuit filed in December 2022 by three groups with ties to the Confederacy to block the town’s efforts to move the Confederate monument from South Broad Street to Hollowell Park, and a Superior Court judge’s March 2023 injunction on the move until questions about a 2015 state law limiting the movement of “objects of remembrance” like Confederate monuments are resolved. The town has requested a hearing before Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett on lifting the injunction; however, no date for a hearing has been publicly announced.
Gooden said Edenton Mayor Hackney High and Town Council would decide on the makeup of any committee to move the monument to a new site. He said that the mayor and the council intend to protect the monument and obey both state law and court rulings.
“The mayor and Town Council have been very careful to follow the applicable law, and the monument will not be relocated until the mayor and council are reasonably certain by agreement or otherwise that the relocation site meets the letter and spirit of the applicable law,” Gooden said.
Asked if the Brough Law Firm’s proposed agreement would circumvent the requirements in state law, Gooden said any such agreement would be negotiated to comply with the law and court rulings.
“To the contrary, any agreement entered by the town would mandate compliance with the requirements of state law,” he said. “However, .. the proposal presented does not recognize the plaintiffs in the current lawsuit or the restraining order.”
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