VALE — Visitors can jump back to Colonial times and beyond this Christmas season with a visit to Hart Square Village in Catawba County.
The Hart Square Foundation is hosting Christmas in the Village tours on Dec. 6 from 3-8 p.m.
The annual event offers visitors the opportunity to explore 25 authentic log cabins dating from 1760 to 1893, all originating from the Piedmont and High Country.
Docents lead guests on a lamplit tour to witness historical interpreters demonstrating traditional yuletide skills and practices, including candlemaking and basketmaking, blacksmithing, spinning, sewing, open-hearth cooking, Christmas caroling, playing musical instruments, square dancing and more. The nonprofit, dedicated to historical preservation and education, stages the holiday one-day event with the help of 200 volunteers.
“We’re relying on volunteer labor; none of those artisans are paid to share their craft,” Rebecca Hart, executive director of the Hart Square Foundation, said. “They are there to share out of their spirit of giving and as a way to bring the public in, to raise the funds that we need to keep up the historic site, which is huge.”
The people who bring these traditional skills to life are artisans.
“The biggest thing for them is they truly feel these crafts and folk practices are endangered, and I do agree with that,” Hart said. They contribute their time and resources to express their dedication to preserving traditional culture.
“To me, authenticity is the word I always go back to when I am trying to plan and create experiences at Hart Square. … I want to create real experiences for families to create tradition.”
This year’s celebration will feature performances by two family bands, the Wright Family Band and the Strings of Fairview. Both groups specialize in traditional Appalachian gospel. The songs played will be traditional seasonal songs that families living in the time period would have sung as part of their Christmas festivities. The candlelit service in the village church will also focus on music, with participants encouraged to join in singing holiday classics such as “Silent Night.”
Founded in 1973 by Dr. Bob Hart and his wife, Becky, Hart Square Village was initially used as a family retreat. Hart began opening the site for yearly tours in October starting in 1987. In 2014, their granddaughter, Rebecca Hart, fresh out of college, started applying for grants to open the outdoor museum to the public, forming the Hart Square Foundation.
Located at 5055 Hope Road, the site is now open year-round. There are more than 100 buildings on the grounds, including the Sigmon Family Education Center, enabling the foundation to provide educational programs for school-age students. Hart Square is the largest log cabin museum in the United States.
You can learn more about the foundation and its ongoing living history programs, including Christmas in the Village, by visiting HartSquare.com.
