May with HEARTS
A Month of Tradition, Living History, and Community Celebration
This coming Saturday, May 2nd, kicks off a dynamic line-up of May events, bringing together history, hospitality, and community across multiple historic sites, each highlighting aspects of HEARTS’ mission to connect people through history, nature, arts, and shared experiences. Presenting elegant traditions at the Historic Sharpe House to immersive living history at Cedar Grove and the Hugh Torance House and Store, and a meaningful evening of recognition of academic scholarship in downtown Statesville.
HEARTS May Day 250 - Living History Day
Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 2:00 PM, HEARTS May Day 250 celebrates Spring at the historic Hugh Torance House and Store and Cedar Grove. Commencing with community dancing around the maypole, offering a chance to experience an ancient tradition with roots found throughout history and across the globe. The annual maypole dance at Cedar Grove features a traditional hand-hewn cedar pole adorned with greenery and ribbons, ready for the community to dance and weave the colorful ribbons in the grand finale dance. All ages are welcome, experience is not required, and period dress is encouraged, as we step back in time together! Live music by the Celtic Sessions, and dance calls by Randolph Lewis, step out and join us as we welcome Spring around the May Pole!
Following the time-honored dance about the maypole, the venerable tunes of the Celtic Session shall carry on at the historic Hugh Torrance House and Store for an immersive day of living history. Hear the anvil ring as our favored blacksmith demonstrates his craft, while living-history reenactors, garbed in period apparel, recount the manifold tales of workmanship, household ways, and bygone happenings. Store wares feature handwrought items, local dainties, books, toys, snacks, and beverages. All who hold an interest in history, music, and ancient customs are entreated to partake of the festivities. Period attire is most welcomed!
Free to the community, tickets are required, and donations are greatly appreciated!
Guests are welcome to explore the first floor of historic Cedar Grove during HEARTS May Day event and enjoy the stunning visual art exhibit in Cedar Grove’s Center Hall, showcasing works from three exceptional multidisciplinary artists in partnership with Nine-Eighteen-Nine Gallery.
Featured in Cedar Grove’s Center Hall Exhibit - “The Power of Love”
Tina Alberni: “I’m a multidisciplinary intuitive, semi-abstract artist working across painting, assemblage, and digital technologies to explore animal conservation, fragmentation, and humanity’s evolving relationship with nature, technology, and one another.”
Princess Cureton: “My art is a personal reflection of life’s harmony and tension. blending paint with 3D relief sculpture to grow beyond the canvas. Rooted in culture and storytelling, each piece invites connection.”
Ani Todd: “I’m a storyteller by nature, so it feels only fitting that I use my work to tell a love story. I often create a series of pieces to narrate a journey, while ensuring that each work can also stand on its own. In this case, I used five pieces to tell the story of someone searching for love and ultimately finding it.”
The Historic Sharpe House Annual Mother’s Day Tea
The historic Sharpe House presents its 10th Annual Mother’s Day Tea on Saturday, May 2, 2026. This beloved tradition honors mothers, grandmothers, and the special ladies who shape our lives, inviting guests to step back into the elegance of the Gilded and Edwardian ages with a traditional afternoon tea served on the grounds of the historic home. Featuring a tiered presentation with period-appropriate china and linens with traditional tea favorites plus Southern adaptations: finger sandwiches, scones, sweets, and a fruit-based punch. Seatings at 11:00 AM, 12:45 PM, and 2:30 PM will feature delicate teas, seasonal pastries, and traditional tea sandwiches, all served with care and precision by the Footmen of the House. Click here to read more details about the Mother’s Day Tea at the Sharpe House.
Tickets are required, and seating is limited. Reserve your seat now!
Samuel Hall Scholarship Award Banquet
May 2, 2026, at 4:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church in Statesville, this annual banquet honors four outstanding Iredell County high school seniors, each receiving a $2,500 scholarship to support their college aspirations. The evening includes dinner, entertainment, and remarks from featured speaker John Martin, co-founder and CEO of the Young Black Leadership Alliance of Charlotte. Pictured above are the 2024 scholarship recipients.
Tickets are required. Reserve your seat now!
Do you think the oldest store in North Carolina is haunted?
Here's your chance to out! Join us for an authentic ghost hunt led by the experienced experts at the Charlotte Area Paranormal Society (CAPS). Full access inside the house as well as our site grounds (weather permitting) to seek existential activity using professional investigative tools and equipment provided by CAPS (CharlotteAreaParanormal.org). You can also bring your own tools or equipment. Saturday, May 9, 2026, 7:30 PM
Very limited tickets. Reserve your seat now!
New Program Launch!
HEARTS: Trails Through Time
The “T” in HEARTS is for Trails, and we’re excited to feature our first HEARTS Happening devoted to celebrating an important but nearly unknown historic trail in our region. On May 23, 2026, at 2:00 PM, we invite you to the premiere of HEARTS Trails Through Time, presenting Sherrill’s Path, an important spur off the Great Wagon Road, now preserved in Troutman, NC, and open to the community.
Presenting featured speaker, Susan Autry, a college historian with 20+ years of teaching experience at Central Piedmont Community College, York Technical College, and UNC Charlotte. As a full-time instructor at Central Piedmont, she chaired the History Department for 7 years, received several awards for her teaching, and was appointed as a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence.
Live music by Tom Eure and Amelia Osborne, and possibly a Crankie sighting too. Don’t miss this nature, music, and history-filled afternoon. Learn what’s growing and discover the path originally formed by bison and deer, adopted by the Native Americans, and eventually led Adam Sherrill to the west side of the Catawba River, now known as Sherrills Ford.
Tickets are required, and limited for this event, so please register early to save your spot! Please dress for outdoors and possibly muddy conditions, and feel free to bring a chair or blanket. Admission is free, and donations are very appreciated. In the event of rain, this event will be postponed to a later date. All ticket holders will be notified in the event of cancellation. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.
Free to the community, tickets are required, and donations are greatly appreciated!
HEARTS Happenings are made possible by our passionate staff and volunteers, HEARTS Circle Members, and our 2026 presenting sponsors, Lake Norman Realtyand blueharbor bank, proudly supporting local history, art, nature, and community.
May Is for Membership
Join the Circle
Have you ever wished for “someone to do something” about our disappearing historic and natural places?
When you join HEARTS Circle, you become someone who is doing something!
Becoming a HEARTS Circle member means joining a community dedicated to protecting the places and stories that shape who we are. Your support helps make LOCAL preservation possible and makes history, nature, and the arts accessible to all.
Together, we can do so much more.
HEARTS Circle Members support HEARTS’ vital, local, place-based initiatives that promote history, ecology, arts, reunion, trails, and help preserve our special historic places. However, it’s not just HEARTS Happenings that your support makes possible. The Hugh Torance House and Store is fueled by HEARTS Circle members, Brevard’s Chapel is being saved by HEARTS Circle members, and most recently, the historic Sharpe House is utilizing HEARTS for enhanced programs and preservation. Through community collaborations, HEARTS is actively playing an integral role in historic preservation. The Alexander Tenant House restoration plan is (finally!) underway, and the Nelson House in Smithville is being transformed and preserved with HEARTS’ help. HEARTS is on the frontline for local preservation in our region, and we’re grateful we can help thanks to our HEARTS Circle Members and the generosity of our community.
Our 2026 new and renewing HEARTS Circle members will be invited to our 5th Annual HEARTS Circle Members’ Gala on September 12, 2026, at 6:00 PM at historic Cedar Grove. We’re cooking up something special to celebrate HEARTS fifth anniversary; you won’t want to miss it!
Join HEARTS Circle
and join us for an exclusive House Concert by Charly Lowry & Gourmet Dinner, September 12, 2026, at Historic Cedar Grove
Charly Lowry is a powerhouse singer-songwriter from Pembroke, North Carolina. She is an Indigenous woman of the Lumbee and Tuscarora tribes and is well-known for her soul-stirring music that blends her heritage with contemporary styles. Nationally recognized, she has performed with Rhiannon Giddens at Carnegie Hall, among many other notable performances. Charley’s September 12th house concert at Cedar Grove is a rare treat and an exclusive benefit for 2026 HEARTS Circle new and renewing members. So don’t wait, renew today. Help us preserve more, connect more, and share more with the community.
