THE STUMPThe latest news and updates from the Vance Birthplace Historic Site

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Falling for AppalachiaFrom the gorgeous colors and the crisp mountain air to thelocal celebrations of highland culture, fall in Appalachia is full ofwonder. While Covid-19 will impact visitors' enjoyment of theseason in person, staff at the Vance Birthplace want to shareour love of Appalachia in the virtual realm.

This edition of the Stump celebrates the ways our staff hascontinued working to highlight the diversity and beauty ofwestern North Carolina, despite this year's immense externalchallenges. Throughout these seasons of change, we continuallyfall in love with our region's story, and we are honored to shareit with you through this newsletter.

A Message from Kimberly

Juneteenth in the Reems

Creek Valley

Bringing Our Events Online

I N T H I S I S S U E

Fall Event Schedule

Creating a Virtual

Internship

Spring & Summer at Vance

Virtual Field Trips

This March, staff transitioned to virtual programming to maintain our interpretive and educationalgoals. Visitors enjoyed a spring and summer series called “Learning with Lauren” and “Crafting withKimberly;” we kicked off our first season of “Quarantined Historians Maybe or Maybe Not DrinkingCoffee;” and, with help from the African American Heritage Commission, we launched our firstaudio tour, “Juneteenth in the Reems Creek Valley.” While we miss our in-person programs, we areexcited about the ability to continue engaging with the public and reach new visitors.

at our Folk Festival, from weaving to blacksmithing. The most important component will be theopportunity to meet the craftspeople. Our online exhibit will feature interviews with local artists asthey tell us what makes them “fall for Appalachia.”

Along with our Story Map we will bring you a live event on Facebook and Zoom. Visitors canexpect the site to go live on Facebook at the top of the hour from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm witheducational content and demonstrations including storytelling, weaving, and music. If you do nothave Facebook, the site will also allow visitors to register ahead of time on Zoom to watch live.

In addition, the Mountain History and Culture Group will hold a silent auction online during theVirtual Folk Festival. Join us to help raise money for our educational programs and events. Theauction will go live at 10:00 am and include one-of-a-kind pieces donated from our wonderful artists.Visitors will have until 4:00 pm to make their bids. Please consider supporting the site as these fundsaid staff in future events, school programs, and exhibits that share the important history ofmountain plantations.

We will continue to share the details on our social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter, andFacebook. And we hope you can join us on October 17th as we “fall” for Appalachia.

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Falling for Appalachia: A Message from KimberlyK I M B E R L Y F L O Y D , S I T E M A N A G E R

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We are continuing our virtual programming throughthe autumn as once again, we are "falling" forAppalachia. Fall is our busiest time of year at theVance Birthplace, as the crisp cool air moves in andour beautiful maple trees turn to vibrant oranges,yellows, and reds. This year our annual Folk Festivalon October 17th will be a virtual event featuring threemajor parts.

First, we will bring you “Falling for Appalachia,” anonline Story Map that will explore information aboutthe different demonstrations our visitors typically see

"Once you discover something beautiful, you just want to keep coming back." Sarah Bareilles

As a university professor, I know a little something about group projects. Students often hate thembecause people rarely share the work equally. That is one of the special aspects of the Juneteenthexhibit. It truly was a group effort. From conception to completion, this powerful exhibit wascollaborative between the site’s staff and the Mountain History & Culture Group. Together, wecreated an exhibit testifying to the importance of Black lives at the Vances’ Reems Creek plantation.

The exhibit began with an idea. Over the past decade, site staff has conducted painstaking researchinto the lives of the men, women, and children enslaved by the Vance family. It is difficult workbecause pre-Civil War census takers rarely recorded enslaved people’s names and it was illegal toteach enslaved people to read and write in North Carolina. That invaluable research is thefoundation for the Juneteenth exhibit, which was Lauren’s idea. She suggested that the site displaythe names of the enslaved people on the grounds for Juneteenth. Kimberly expanded the idea,moving the display to outside the Vances’ house and framing it around the faintly visible “BlackLives Matter” graffiti facing Reems Creek Road.

Here is where the Mountain History and Culture Group came in. We support the work thatKimberly, Lauren, and Dennis do on a daily basis. We share their commitment to making the site—physically and interpretively—accessible to everyone. A Juneteenth event has long been on our radarand Covid-19 provided a unique moment. Kimberly presented Lauren’s idea to the board. In a veryshort amount of time, things took shape. It is hard to believe, looking back, that we pulled it off.Board member Jenny Webb responded enthusiastically, pledging to donate the necessary wood andpaint. Furthermore, her husband, Charlie, designed it. At that point, we had a clear plan for how

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Creating "Juneteenth in the Reems Creek Valley"D R . S T E V E N N A S H , B O A R D P R E S I D E N T , M O U N T A I N H I S T O R Y & C U L T U R E G R O U P

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"Juneteenth in the Reems Creek Valley" installation at the Vance Birthplace Staff & board members painted each name by hand

"Members of the board ... and our families painted each post, each panel, and, mostimportantly, each name. " Steve Nash

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we would display each enslaved person's name. Members of the board, including Hilary Biggar,Jenny, myself, and our families painted each post, each panel, and, most importantly, each name.Lauren made our jobs easier by creating stencils for each name. Then, Dennis did the hard work ofinstalling it. In the course of a week, we took this project from idea to reality.

The Mountain History and Culture Group is so fortunate to work with the talented staff at theVance Birthplace. Our Juneteenth exhibit is a testament to the great rapport we have with the staffand our shared purpose. We are so proud of this exhibit. Still, it is only one forward step. With yoursupport, we can build permanent exhibits on the grounds to elevate the voices and the stories of theBlack families that lived there. With your support, we can make the site’s complex history accessibleto all visitors. You can participate in the important conversations surrounding our region’s past. As aboard, we are so proud of our Juneteenth exhibit. We invite you to come see it.

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Special thanks to the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission for their assistance with this project. You can find thecorresponding audio tour for "Juneteenth in the Reems Creek Valley" at youraudiotour.com/tours/709.

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One of my favorite artifacts at the Vance Birthplace is a small scrap of fabric embroidered byHarriette "Hattie" Espy before her 1853 wedding to Zebulon Vance. While women's stories are oftensubsumed by the narratives of men, objects can help us showcase female agency at historic sites.Hattie used her needle to document her transition to married life. As she placed each stitch in thefabric, she likely made plans for her future and mulled over her past.

Hattie's embroidery inspired me to begin organizing a workshop using the same sunflower pattern,and I challenged myself to replicate the design for a modern audience. I traced Hattie's flower,studied the stitches, and practiced recreating the design on fabric. However, as Covid-19 shook upour plans for 2020, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to host the workshop at the site.Rather than give up on the event altogether, we decided to bring it to the virtual realm.

Although we were not quite sure what to expect, over 30 people registered for the workshop. Theshift to an online program also provided a wonderful opportunity to reach visitors around NorthCarolina and the surrounding states. We even had one participant join us from Pennsylvania! Thesevirtual visitors connected with western North Carolina's history, though most of them sat at theircomputer screens hundreds of miles away. Like Hattie, they discovered a way to document atransitional period in their lives through needlework.

This program has inspired us to bring more events to you online, including our "Appalachian FolkFestival" and our holiday program, "Vance & Venus: An Appalachian Christmas Carol." Check outpage 7 to learn more!

Bringing Our Events OnlineL A U R E N M A Y , A S S I S T A N T S I T E M A N A G E R

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"If everything was perfect, you would never learn anything and you would never grow."Beyonce Knowles

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Left: The original embroidery scrap stitched by Harriette Espy ca. 1853 is on display at the Vance Birthplace.Center: Each participant received an embroidery kit in the mail before the day of the workshop.

Right: The completed embroidery project stitched by Lauren in 2020. Participants followed the same pattern.

Each week through the spring and summer,Lauren posted a live version of our HistoryMystery program, showcasing real 1800sartifacts and giving clues so that viewers couldbecome history detectives and solve the case!

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Lessons, Laughter, and Live Videos: Spring & Summer at Vance Birthplace

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T O P L E F T :

Our virtual staff meetings are still full of laughs,just like our meetings in person!

While filming a Details with Dennis video,Dennis demonstrated a foot adze. Dennis,Lauren, and Kimberly created many new videoprograms for the site's brand new YouTubechannel.

T O P R I G H T :

Using Zoom, Kimberly led our first virtual fieldtrip in May. She walked students through avirtual game of History Mystery and showedthem how to make cup and ball toys at home.

A B O V E :

B O T T O M R I G H T :

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"Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place, and I can picture it afterall these days." Taylor Swift

Upcoming Events: Fall 2020

While the annual Appalachian Folk Festival at the Vance Birthplace is postponed until next year, weare excited to bring you a virtual event and online story map so you can experience our Folk Festivalall year long. Join us on Facebook Live on October 17th between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. At the topof the hour staff will go live with demonstrations including musicians, storytelling, weaving, and crafts.For this fun filled day we will take you behind the scenes and bring you never before seen corners ofthe Vance Birthplace.

On this day, the Vance Birthplace will also launch a new online experience, Falling for Appalachia.This story map will highlight the demonstrations that our visitors typically see at the annual FolkFestival, from blacksmithing to chair caning. Staff traveled to some of our region’s amazingcraftspeople to learn a little bit more about the stories behind their crafts.

Virtual Folk Festival

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Venus & Vance: A Virtual Appalachian Christmas Carol

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We are excited to partner with the American Myth Center for a fourth year of this magicalprogram! As in years past, the AMC will utilize toy and shadow theater to share the life of Venus,a woman enslaved by the Vances. However, this year the ghosts of Christmas past, present, andfuture will be haunting the internet, taking visitors on a virtual journey through the past toilluminate Venus's story. Stay tuned to learn more about tickets and virtual tour times!

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Creating a Virtual InternshipE L I Z A B E T H B A I L E Y , S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 I N T E R N

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This internship experience with the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site has been truly rewarding,but it has also been challenging in a good way. As a graduate student in public history, I am justbeginning to learn about all the complicated aspects of running a historic site or a museum, andhow interpreting history and presenting it to public audiences can be just as challenging, andsometimes more so, than teaching it to school-aged children in the classroom. I was an educationmajor in my undergraduate career, and am finding that experience to be quite helpful in myjourney as a public historian!

One of the most challenging parts of this internship was its virtual nature. I only got to visit theactual site once, and it was a great learning experience. I was able to clean artifacts, learn aboutthem, and immerse myself in the atmosphere of the landscape and buildings on site. This boostedmy research projects that I completed later for this position. Of course, the rest of my internshiphad to be virtual due to the global pandemic. I had a hard time spending most of my workinghours on a computer and stuck in one place all day doing the same work. However, I do think thisexperience was helpful in teaching me how to handle virtual content as a public historian, andthat experience is often overlooked for interns doing in-person internships. Lauren and Kimberlywere also really supportive and helpful, and found ways to make this virtual experience fun andmeaningful!

Elizabeth and Lauren met on Zoom each week to check in and discuss various topics in public history.

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"Life imposes things on you that you can’t control, but you still have the choiceof how you’re going to live through this." Celine Dion

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I found researching and learning about the site and its history at my own pace--instead of havingto rush to learn it all so that I could immediately give tours to visitors--to be helpful and enriching.I engaged with the history in depth and was able to really focus on learning about the stories ofthe women on the site, both free and enslaved. This was right up my alley of interest as awomen’s historian, and I enjoyed being able to later tell their stories in a virtual exhibit.

This internship was a wonderful way to experience public history during a challenging time, and Iam inspired by all of the efforts public historians have made, including those at the VanceBirthplace, to give historical content to the public and to engage visitors from afar during this time.One of the most fun experiences of my internship was participating in a virtual embroideryworkshop in July. I feel that the workshop really showcased how creative public historians have tobe sometimes in order to engage visitors. There are many people interested in history, and you asthe historian simply have to find the best way to connect with them, whether that be through art,sewing, music, pictures, or other methods!

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I also felt that the virtual experience of having weeklyworkshops with Lauren and Kimberly really helped melearn more about daily life as a public historian. I got toknow Lauren really well, and it was nice to have amentor who was willing to be so open and honestabout her experiences with me! The weekly Zoommeetings we had were usually a mix of checking inwith each other about upcoming projects anddeadlines, and a learning experience about a specifictopic in public history. I learned a lot from Lauren andKimberly about interpreting the history of slavery in themountain South, writing at an appropriate level formultiple age groups (a challenge for me), andresearching with the goal of presenting history to apublic audience. Both of my mentors talked to me aswell about how to manage teaching others aboutdifficult historical topics, and handling the backlash thatoften comes with those efforts. I also got to talk tothese amazing ladies about how they got to wherethey are today, and it really helped me put my futurein the field into perspective, and get excited about thelearning experiences in store for me.

Top: Elizabeth assisted with conservation efforts on thisdeerskin trunk, shown here on display in the Vance House.Bottom: Elizabeth exploring history in Old Salem.

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Virtual Field Trips to the Vance BirthplaceL A U R E N M A Y , A S S I S T A N T S I T E M A N A G E R

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In May, Kimberly received a request from a local preschool for a virtual field trip. After twomonths in quarantine, our staff had begun considering the problem of reaching students online inthe fall but had not yet prepared any concrete programs. This request pushed our plans forwardand helped us create the backbone of our new, virtual field trip programs.

Our virtual field trips utilize the themes and hands-on ideals of our in person field trips. During avirtual field trip, K-5 students will interact with a guide, participate in our History Mysteryprogram, and make a craft together. This program is live, although we have filmed someresources for students to engage with before and after their virtual visit. Although unable tophysically interact with the historic spaces and artifacts, students have enjoyed engaging withobjects through their screens and learning about the people who lived in the Reems Creek Valley.

For middle grades, our program focuses on a primary source activity that encourages students tothink critically about historical sources, artifacts, and narratives. The program relies on Zoom'sBreakout function, giving small groups of students the chance to work collaboratively inquestioning a historic document. Through their analysis, students will piece together the stories ofVenus, an enslaved woman, and Mira Vance, her enslaver. While this field trip was designed formiddle grades, it can be adapted for high school students or even college groups.

To schedule a virtual field trip, please contact Lauren May at Lauren.May@ncdcr.gov. We lookforward to working with your students!

Kimberly leads a virtual field trip in May, talking with students about life on a mountain plantation.

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." Dolly Parton

Donate! Your financial contributions help us care for the historic buildings and artifacts; createeducational programs, online content, and special events; and bring the history of western NorthCarolina to an ever-expanding audience. You can send a check made out to the Vance Birthplaceto the address below, call (828) 645-6706 to donate over the phone, or visit (website) to make anonline contribution.

Attend programs! Join us for our virtual events, from our monthly History Mystery Live programson Facebook to our Virtual Folk Festival or Appalachian Christmas Carol. We love seeing familiarfaces and new visitors at our programs.

Visit! Governor Cooper has announced that under Phase 2.5 of his plan to ease COVID-19restrictions, historic sites may allow greater public access to our visitor centers and historicstructures. The Vance Birthplace Site Visitor Center and historic structures will open weather andstaffing permitting on Saturday, September 12th. Please call the site to determine what activitiesare available on the day of your visit. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Share the love! Drop us a line sharing why you love the Vance Birthplace! Whether through email,snail mail, or social media messaging, your supportive words inspire us!

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How You Can Support the Site through COVID-19

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