Publication: The Cary News
Article Title: She Digs Holly Springs History
Author: BETH HATCHER
Date: 8/13/08
Sometimes Barbara Koblich takes a lunch break under a tree beside the Holly Springs Masonic Lodge, seeking summer shade beneath its branches.
When she does her mind drifts to when the downtown building was a boys' school.
That was before the Civil War, but about 140 years later Koblich will still shut her eyes and imagine she hears the laughter of the students playing outside.
As the unofficial town historian Koblich has made it her business to dig up Holly Springs history, and for her the stories still live in the present.
That's why Koblich is busy working on another historical project a collection of images for a pictorial history of the town that will be published in October by Arcadia Publishing.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful keepsake for people," she said.
Koblich said she has partly been inspired to collect the town's history because the area is changing so rapidly.
In 1990 the town's population was just under 1,000; by 2000 it was around 10,000. Recent estimates put the population at 22,000, Koblich said.
"I have this absolute love of genealogy," Koblich said recently in a bubbling, youthful voice that belies her 51 years.
That's how it all started with the genealogy.
Koblich wanted to be a part of preserving the past as the town moved into the future.
Of course before that it started with a move to the western Wake town. Native New Yorker Koblich found herself in Holly Springs 16 years ago, when her husband's job moved her family to the area.
Back then the town was truly tiny.
But things were happening in the town, as Research Triangle Park-inspired growth continued to sprawl south, covering the town in new subdivisions and new possibilities.
So even as she found work as the founding executive director of the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce, she found time to found the Holly Springs Historical Preservation Society.
The society mainly collects and catalogues stories on the town's history and oldest family lines information Koblich hopes to soon store in a section of the town's official Web site.
It hasn't been hard to find the stories because Koblich loves to talk, and she's had jobs that allow her to talk to the town's residents every day. Eventually she started working with the Town of Holly Springs, first as a clerk in the finance department and five years ago in the same role at Town Hall's front desk. "I'm not just about dates and names," Koblich said, noting that she really likes to learn the history of an area. It was mainly through talking to people on the job that she would find out the interesting stories about Holly Springs. Like the story of Isabella Rogers Leslie, a Civil War-era woman who stood on the porch of her house which still stands in Holly Springs and told Union officers that they could occupy her house, but only if they behaved like gentlemen. Collecting stories led to collecting items, and now a Town Hall case displays several historical artifacts residents have brought to Koblich everything from the Bible of an emancipated slave to a Civil War bayonet.
Contact Beth Hatcher at 460-2608 or bhatcher@nando.com
Publication: The Springs
Article Title: Community Keepsake
Author: Staff Writer
Date: 11/2008
Holly Springs's rich history is celebrated through a new Images of America book, printed by Arcadia Publishing.
For the past 10 years, Town Historian Barbara Koblich has collected local historical documents, family histories, old photographs and genealogies.
In a collaboration with long-time residents and the Holly Springs Historical Preservation Society, Koblich has amassed more than 200 images into a pictorial keepsake collection for future generations to enjoy.
Copies are on sale at Town Hall and at these storesShabby Rose Gifts, Shelley Lane Gifts, Dewars Floral & Antiques, Java Divine Coffee Bar, Walgreen Drug Store, Lazy Lion Book Store in Fuquay-Varina, and Quail Ridge Book Store in Raleigh. The price is $19.99.