Urgent appeal to save historic home of Harley Davidson founder

By Mark Dowie via SWNS

An urgent fundraising campaign has been set up to save the family home of the Harley Davidson founder.

The ancestral home of the Davidsons at Netherton near Aberlemno, Scotland, is facing the bulldozers a second time after being saved from ruin in 2008.

It was bought by a dedicated group of fans who set about an ambitious renovation program to restore the house back to how it would have looked in 1858 when the Davidsons emigrated.

It was officially opened in 2012 and a festival to mark Harley-Davidson’s Scottish heritage was held annually in Brechin which attracted hundreds of bikers.

Davidson Cottage was home to Sandy and Margaret Davidson and their six children, one of whom, William C, became father to Arthur, Walter and William, founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

It was William C who built the iconic ‘shed,’ where the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle was built by his sons.

The cottage has again been put on the market and, recognizing the renewed threat, the Davidson Legacy Preservation Group (DLPG), now a registered charity Davidson Legacy Cottage SCIO (DLC), has started a fundraising effort with a target figure of £70,000 to help secure the cottage’s future.

Nyree Aitken, DLC project co-ordinator, said: “When we heard the cottage might be sold for development we knew we couldn’t let that happen.”

Nyree continued: “It’s more than just a house. It's a tangible connection to the rich heritage of the Davidson family and the Harley-Davidson brand. It offers a glimpse into a time of immense significance for Scots at home and abroad.

“Even without its Harley-Davidson ties, the building stands testament to the tumultuous changes in the lives of ordinary people. Preserving this cottage is vital for safeguarding a crucial part of Scottish history and the legacy the Davidson family built by following the American Dream."

The group aims to buy the cottage and turn it into a community hub, hosting events, workshops and gatherings for the wider community to enjoy.

While £250,000 has been promised from the Community Ownership Fund, the group urgently needs to raise match funding of £70,000.

Nyree added: “We are against the clock as a recent unsuccessful funding application has forced our last hopes on raising the match funding via the community. Hopefully, we can save the cottage and this time for good.”

Maggie Sherrit, one of the current owners, said: “In 2008, shortly after Angus Council’s Cultural Services Department had established its provenance, we heard the property was on the market. By then, it was under offer to a developer and we didn’t want to see it lost, so three of us - myself, Mike Sinclair and Keith Mackintosh - pooled our resources.

“The cottage has become a pilgrimage site for thousands of Harley-Davidson enthusiasts. We’ve welcomed visitors from as far afield as Canada and New Zealand. We’ve never charged for entry or tours.

"We always just wanted the cottage to be available for people to enjoy. The huge number of visits became too much for us to handle and we decided to put the property on the market in the hope of finding a buyer who would be able to develop it as it deserves.

"The only interest we had was from people wishing to purchase the site for development, so we’re absolutely thrilled that the Davidson Legacy Preservation Group has come forward.”

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