Latta Place | Library of Congress

March 20. Mecklenburg County will unveil the final design for historic Latta Place at a community meeting today at the North County Regional Library in Huntersville.

The meeting will take place from 5:30-7:30 pm at the library located at 16500 Holly Crest Lane in Huntersville. Registration is requested. Visit the Historic Latta Reimagined Public Input page to register.

The reopening takes place next year.

Background

Before Mecklenburg County closed the site in 2021, Latta was a circa-1800 living history museum and farm that gave visitors partial glimpses into 19th century life in the Carolina backcountry.

But it became the subject of intense controversy when the former “Historic Latta Plantation” planned to hold a controversial Juneteenth event in 2021 that resulted in the site’s closure as well as a name change.

The event “Kingdom Coming” was set to include stories told from the point of view of a slave owner and newly freed slaves. It was canceled after county and Huntersville town leaders expressed their disapproval.

A post for the event referred to “the massa himself” as well as “white refugees.”

Since then, Mecklenburg County has embarked on a community-driven process to create a new chapter in Latta Place’s history that represents truth, transparency, compassion, transformation and unity.

Quotable

“We took our time to create a design and plan that reflects Latta Place’s full history with care and a deeper understanding of the strength and sacrifices of those who came before us,” said Mecklenburg County Manager Dena R. Diorio.