FRANKLIN (AP) - The Tennessee Preservation Trust has unveiled its 2016 list of the 10 most-endangered historic properties across the state.
The "Ten in Tenn." list was presented at an event held Wednesday at the Hiram Masonic Hall in downtown Franklin.
Placing the properties on the annual endangered list helps bring attention and possible funding to preserve the sites, organization chairman Michael Birdwell told news outlets.
"It's a call to arms," Birdwell said. "Let's save our past; let's preserve it."
Included on this year's list are Aretha Franklin's birthplace home in Memphis, the Oak Hill cemetery in Johnson City and the Stonecipher Kelly log house in Wartburg.
The Hiram Masonic Hall, which hosted this year's event, was included on the 2015 list but is now moving toward "saved" status because structural repairs are underway, The Tennessean reported (http://tnne.ws/2eNQv6B).
While the list certainly helps in the preservation process, officials said it's not the final step.
"Being on the list is valuable and it takes a place of prominence," said organization board member Rachel Finch. "But it's also incumbent upon that site to embrace a call to action and to recognize what is necessary toward preserving your site."