local history
Abigail Jennings lands top award from leading preservation group
Oct. 20. By Dave Yochum. Cornelius businesswoman Abigail Jennings received the Best All Around Preserver Award at the Golden Night of Preservation at the Duke Mansion in Charlotte this week. The CEO of Lake Norman Realty has been an advocate of historic preservation and served on the Historic Preservation Commission in Cornelius before it was […]
Battle of Charlotte re-enactment at Historic Rural Hill
Aug. 29. Want to meet Gen. Cornwallis? Historic Rural Hill will commemorate the Battle of Charlotte this Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 2-3) complete with Revolutionary War re-enactors showcasing the tactics, weapons and strategies used by the soldiers who fought for American independence. The Battle of Charlotte is one of the most important battles in the […]
Preserve Mecklenburg moves to save historic houses on Catawba
HISTORIC PRESERVATION June 6. By Dave Yochum. Preserve Mecklenburg (PMI) has obtained a one-year option to purchase four parcels of land at the corner of School Street and Catawba Avenue, not far from the old agricultural building on the grounds of the Cornelius Elementary School where town officials hope to house a museum for local […]
MecDec Day: Book signing, revolutionary new beer at Lost Worlds Saturday
May 18. By Dave Yochum. Fourth of July rolls off the tongue like fireworks and watermelon, but author David Fleming says the right day to celebrate American independence is May 20 because on that date 248 years ago the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed. Sadly it was destroyed in a fire in 1800. Eye-witness […]
‘No right way to tear down oppressive systems’: The risks of toppling Confederate monuments
April 19. [Analysis] By Kelan Lyons/NC Newsline. Jeremy Collins didn’t know where he was going to get one, but he needed a crane. It was June 2020, a month after George Floyd’s murder. Collins’s boss, Gov. Roy Cooper, had just ordered the removal of three Confederate monuments in Raleigh after protestors had toppled two bronze […]
November HEARTS event postponed for renovation at Cedar Grove
Nov. 3. The November HEARTS event at the Hugh Torance House and Store is being postponed to allow for the installation of a whole-house HVAC system. The needed rehabilitation work at Cedar Grove is starts with the HVAC system to provide climate control and recommended humidity levels to protect and preserve the 1831 Greek Revival […]
HEARTS event at Cedar Grove features local music, local food discussion
Oct. 3. What did harvest and harvest time mean to the people in our region throughout the ages? Find out at the the Oct. 15 HEARTS event at historic Cedar Grove and Hugh Torance House and Store on Gilead Road. The theme is “Harvest.” Ashli Quesinberry Stokes, PhD will explore local foodways and traditions from […]
Tenant house: It really is saved, but it won’t move to a town park
April 6. By Dave Yochum. As of April 5, Preserve Mecklenburg says they “can now see a way to preserve the tenant house” on the Alexander Farm property which will soon become a large mixed-use development. It all came down to the wire with the developer at odds with the Town of Cornelius over where […]
Local history: The Alexander Farm
April 6. By Dan Morrill/Preserve Mecklenburg. J. Wilson Alexander (1887-1972) owned and operated a large cotton farm in Northern Mecklenburg. Cotton was a labor-intensive crop. It took a lot of people to plant, cultivate, and harvest cotton. Most of the labor was provided by sharecroppers and tenant farmers. They lived in modest houses on the […]
No place for home: Historic tenant house has no place to go
March 14. By Dave Yochum. It turns out there’s a glitch in the efforts to save the tenant house on the Alexander Farm at the corner of Westmoreland and West Catawba. The town may have identified a permanent site, but it won’t be ready any time soon. Meanwhile, an April 12 demolition deadline is looming. […]
