Our region’s history is disappearing.
HEARTS gives our area’s oldest homes, churches, schools, and stores a new life — bringing them back with events the whole community shows up for —so history doesn’t vanish on our watch.
Every year, another piece of local history is neglected or lost — soon it’s gone for good.
TAP A BLOCK TO LEARN MORE
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Become a member
Join HEARTS Circle and put your support behind saving real, important, local history.
How you can help
Three simple steps — no guesswork, no risk.
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We put it to work
Your membership funds the events and operations that keep these sites alive and open.
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You see the difference
Visit a HEARTS site and watch a once-forgotten place come back to life.
THE HUGH TORANCE HOUSE & STORE - HUNTERSVILLE, NC
North Carolina’s oldest standing store sat nearly unknown for decades.
Dating back to 1779, it’s one of Mecklenburg County’s last surviving 18th-century structures. But before HEARTS got involved in 2022, the site had limited exposure to the public.
As HEARTS’ first Affiliate, it’s now a thriving hub — weekly guided tours, school field trips, and community living history events fill a place that once sat quiet.
HEARTS took North Carolina's oldest standing store from struggling to thriving, and now supports 10+ historic sites across the Lake Norman area.
A Hugh Success Story!
Testimonials
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"I drove past Cedar Grove for thirty years and never once were the doors were open. Now my grandkids have been to three events there. HEARTS did that."
Huntersville resident and HEARTS Circle Member
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"By helping and encouraging the collaboration of different agencies that focus on the preservation of our cultural resources, HEARTS has established itself as an invaluable component of the regional historic preservation movement."
Dr. Dan Morrill, Historian
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“I liken HEARTS Happenings to an art salon in 1920's Paris. You're there, along with a lot of other curious, interesting people. It makes you think, or gives you an art-thrill, or exposes you to a scrap of history that helps you connect the dots. Smart conversations happen. The curating is as profound as the talent. It's a rare banquet in an evocative place that is, itself, a chance to step into another time.”
Elizabeth Bradford, NC Artist
Stories Live Here
Don’t want these places lost?
Become a HEARTS member to help keep them alive