Amy NeeSmith

Public Historian, Entrepreneur and Historic Preservationist

About

My name is Amy NeeSmith

Welcome!

Amy NeeSmith is a burgeoning public historian with a focus on vernacular sites and material culture from the 19th and 20th century south. She strives to highlight the stories of citizens of every class, race, and gender.

She is currently a research assistant at the Heritage Center of Rutherford County. Her research centers on researching and preserving historic sites, developing interpretation plans and exhibits, as well as documenting sites with various digital tools like the DSLR camera and the 360 camera. She is well versed in using websites such as Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, and Canva to bring her work together.

Amy became interested in the field of public history while she owned and operated an antique store beginning in 2013. Interacting with antiques on a daily basis and researching their value and previous uses grew into a desire to work more closely in preserving these items and utilizing them to tell stories of the past.

Portfolio

While working as a graduate assistant at the Center for Historic Preservation and The Heritage Center in Murfreesboro, Amy has been apart of several projects. The work done on these projects is expansive and encompasses a wide range of learned skills. Check below to see an overview of these projects.

Cemetery School

Amy worked on listing the Cemetery School on the National Register of Historic Places. The Cemetery School was an African American School that was in use from 1873 to 1962 in rural Rutherford County.

Rippa Villa Structures Report

This project involved creating a detailed report of all of the various changes that had been made to the historic home known as Rippa Villa. The house was built between 1852 & 1855 for the Cheairs family who remained in possession of the home until the 1920's. It was then sold and underwent a complete remodel on the interior. After this owner sold the home just a few years later it continued to be modified for both individual needs and to accommodate modern technologies for each new owner that came after the first. This report was an attempt to document those changes and to provide a detailed look at the home as it stands today. This involved creating digital images and a complete 3D virtual tour of the entire home.