HEARTSongs Next Saturday & Much More
HEARTSongs
Next Saturday, February 22, 2025, join us from 2:00-5:00 PM for HEARTSongs ‘25: Poetry of Freedom
The 4th anniversary of HEARTS’ inaugural event features award-winning artists, poets, dance, and music, intertwined with history and nature at historic Cedar Grove. HEARTS, (history, ecology, arts, reunion, trails, store) presents “HEARTSongs ‘25: Poetry of Freedom,” a celebration of poetry past and present with a local twist. It all takes place at Huntersville’s historic Cedar Grove and Hugh Torance House and Store on Saturday, February 22, from 2:00-5:00. This event is free to the community with donations greatly appreciated. Limited tickets available below.
Can You Dig It?
On Sunday, March 9, 2025, 10:00-Noon, it’s Community Service Day at the Hugh Torance House and Store. Volunteers of all ages are welcome to come and lend a hand. We'll be focusing on invasive species removal and removing undergrowth and debris. Volunteers should bring work gloves and label personal tools. Tools needed are pruners, hand saws, hand spades, rakes, and wheelbarrows. 10:00 AM - Noon. Registration is required, and lunch will be provided.
Do You Know Her Story? It Happened Here!
HEARTS Irish Connections ‘25: Jane’s Famous Ride
In 1780, the hope for liberty pushed Jane, a young mother and patriot with Scots-Irish roots, to make a perilous ride to help the Continental Army. March 22, 2025, 2:00-5:00 PM, join us as Historian Hugh Dussek returns to Cedar Grove along with Irish music and dance. We’ll share insights on moss, natural gardening, and the art exhibit, “Unspoken Poetry” featured in the Center Hall. Join us for an afternoon of history, nature, and art as we share Mecklenburg County’s role in the Revolutionary War with a focus on the patriotic actions of Jane Parks McDowell. This event is free to the community with donations greatly appreciated. Limited tickets are available below.
HOT Off the Press!
Check out Andre’ Kearn's recent interview with National Genealogical Society Magazine discussing his research on Cedar Grove 143, and HEARTS Reunion Project, a tribute to their memory, and our partnership with American Ancestors on the 10 Million Names Project to make the Cedar Grove Plantation Estate Record volume available to researchers. Andre’ is the Co-chair of the HEARTS Reunion Project and our featured annual guest for Junion. Click for the full story.
Congratulations,
Elizabeth Bradford!
Elizabeth Bradford, Huntersville native, HEARTS Circle Member, and a featured artist at HEARTS Harvest ‘23, has an incredible new show at the Van Every Gallery at Davidson College, “Warp Weft Water Weeds” open to the public now through April 9th.
Hear more about her artistic inspirations from nature in this week’s interview on WFAE with Tommy Tomlinson
You can also check out Elizabeth at Cedar Grove on HEARTS’ new website, featuring artists in our HEARTS community. Here’s Elizabeth’s page.
Additional content is being added daily to our robust new site and we welcome your HEARTS connections too!
Join Us
Our community needs YOU and it needs HEARTS. We are a one-of-a-kind nonprofit dedicated to connecting, preserving, and sharing the important history, nature, and arts in the Piedmont region. Through growing the HEARTS Circle, the possibilities are exhilarating to imagine - We will help preserve and share our local history and connect the stories of the people, places, and pieces of our region throughout time. HEARTS’ wide range of resources can achieve the best preservation or conservation outcomes, which are just as uniquely specific as each specific and unique place in our region worth saving. If you have local history, stories, or HEARTS-related info to share, we’re weaving it all together in one place, so join us so we can do more, together. Our mission is grand and, as such, the benefits are many! A HEARTS Circle Membership includes an exclusive ticket to our coveted annual HEARTS Circle Members’ Gala featuring incredible national talent like Nicole Atkins in 2023 and Kyshona in 2024. We’d love to see you there!
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Mark Your Calendars!
April 12th and 13th - Loch Norman Highland Games
Annual Scottish heritage celebration at Rural Hill. A unique mix of the sporting, the cultural, the music, and the social. Featuring field and track events, piping and Highland dancing competitions, and ‘heavy events’ like the tug-o-war, the hammer throw, and tossing the caber. Learn more.
May 3rd - HEARTS May Day ‘25 at the Hugh Torance House and Store
Come enjoy spring in nature at our outdoor event featuring 1775 history, nature, fresh flowers, live demonstrations, live music, and a community Maypole dance on the grounds of Cedar Grove and the Hugh Torance House and Store.
May 24th - HEARTS Let Freedom Spring
Featuring Scott Syfert and David Fleming on land once part of Alexandriana, the massive plantation estate of John McKnitt Alexander. Presented at Pioneer Springs Community School, the program features the historic Freedom Spring, where a group of Princeton scholars met to discuss freedom from British Rule, prompting the creation of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on May 20, 1775.
June 14th- HEARTS Junion ‘25: Revolutionary Descent
Our fourth anniversary of Junion, featuring Co-Chair of HEARTS Reunion Project, SAR (Son of the American Revolution) member Andre’ Kearns, a descendant of Charlotte Kerns who was enslaved at Cedar Grove. This year, Kearns will share his journey of discovering his Revolutionary War roots through Henry Johnston of Long Creek.
