Desperate to save family home of Harley-Davidson founder

Bikers and social history enthusiasts have united to 'desperately' try and stop the family home of the founder of Harley-Davidson being bulldozed.

The Davidson Legacy Preservation Group has weeks to raise enough funds to save a piece of the storied motorcycle marque's Angus history.

Netherton Cottage - a few miles west of Brechin in Scotland - was the 19th century home of the Davidson family before they emigrated to America and started the iconic motorcycle brand alongside William Harley.

The group needs to raise £70,000 in two months to secure the building's future and maintain the historical visitor attraction to tell the story of the Davidson family.

The fate of the 300-year-old home was put on the market in 2021 and preservation campaigners fear the historic property could be bulldozed to make way for new housing as the only offers reported would see the cottage and museum flattened.

Nyree Aitkson, 52, of Davidson Legacy Preservation Group revealed the group 'banded together three years ago to work towards community ownership'.

The group has been awarded £250,000 from the UK Government's community ownership fund.

She added: 'In September we were told that the capital funding is really really tight so that is what the problem is - trying to get the capital for the match funding. So we need £70,000 for the match funding and with that that secures it and takes it to community ownership.

'We were originally looking at October as our deadline because we have to have the money spent by December.

'We are working with community enterprise who have been supporting us with our funding applications.

'They said that as long as we keep fundraising and showing increase in the amount that we are raising - we would be able to apply in the end of November for an extension to get the conveyancing done.'

Ms Aitkson said that they have so far raised £20,000 - with donations given by biker-enthusiasts and the local community.

They have uncovered worldwide interest in the project, with 27,000 people seeing the group's Facebook page within a week of them launching their GoFundMe.

'If that 27,000 people had all donated the price for coffee - £3 - we would have been there,' Ms Aitkson said.

The group's aim is to transform the cottage into a community hub - offering educational programs, workshops, and events celebrating local culture and heritage.

They also hope to create opportunities for volunteering through various initiatives, such as a café and grounds work.

Ms Aitkson said the cottage is a 'symbol' of their community's history.

The Davidson family left the cottage in 1857, and brothers Arther, Walter and William A. Davidson went on to found the motorbike brand in Milwaukee.

It was the brothers' father, William C. Davidson, who had left Scotland at just 11 years old. and went on to build the first ever Harley-Davidson workshop for his sons in 1903.

After being discovered derelict in 2008, Netherton Cottage was restored to the state the Davidson family would have left it in 150 years earlier.