Polk Celebrations
Build Momentum
You could say 1995 has been one big
"Polk Party” in parts of North Carolina
so far.
Indeed, celebrations of President
James K. Polk's 200th birthday are con¬
tinuing to pick up steam, as the year¬
long party, which began in January,
heads for a November Finale. The kick-
oil foi this bicentennial birthday cele¬
bration was held on the steps of the
Capitol in Raleigh earlier this year, with
special speeches and music.
The next red-letter date on the calen¬
dar is September 15. when a special
dinner in southern Mecklenburg
County will be held at Pineville
Elementary School in Pineville.
Following dinner. Dr. Wayne Cutler,
associate professor of American history
at Vanderbilt University and director of
the Polk Research Project at the
University of Tennessee, will give a lec¬
ture on the Util United States presi¬
dent. Winners of the Polk Debate, a
competition among students from
Chailotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools,
will debate the issues that "Young
Hickory” (as the Andrew Jackson pro¬
tege was known) dealt with during his
term as president. The dinner, which
begins at 6:30 p.m. is $15 per person,
while the 7:30 p.m. lecture is open free
to the public.
During the evening the boon is
McGlohon Trio will provide special
music, and Hunter Garbcc, who has
portrayed President Polk at special
events throughout the year, will greet
guests. On September 16, Dr. James
Sasser of Central Piedmont Community
College in Charlotte will lead a bus tour
of historic sites in Mecklenburg County,
stopping foi lunch at Hopewell
Presbyterian Church near Huntersville.
(The tour is free, but lunch costs $1(1
pei person). Reservations for the din¬
ner at Pineville School, the bus lour
and the luncheon at Hopewell Church
can lie made by calling (704) 889-7145.
Space is limited for all events.
On November 5. Polk’s birthday,
there will be a grand celebration at the
James K. Polk Stale Historic Site near
Pineville. where Polk was bom in 1795.
The celebration will feature an histori¬
cal drama, storytelling, period music,
18th-century crafts and speeches by
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President Polk (delivered by Carbec).
Most of the events are free, but there
will be a small charge for carriage rides,
picture-taking with cardboard cut-outs
of Polk and his wife. Sarah Childress
Polk, plus barbecue and Brunswick
stew.
The James K. Polk State Historic Site
is located near the 250-acre farm near
Pineville where Polk spent his early
years. Log cabins of the period have
been reconstructed to portray life of
that time. When Polk was 1 1, his family
sold the farm and moved to Tennessee.
Educated in academies there, he
returned to North Carolina to attend
the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and graduated in 1818. He
practiced law in Tennessee for a num¬
ber of years and served as a representa¬
tive in the Tennessee House before
being elected to the U.S. Congress for
several terms and serving as Speaker of
the House. In 1844, he ran for presi¬
dent on the Democratic ticket and
defeated Whig nominee Henry Clay.
I lc strongly favored the addition of new
territories to the United States, and vot¬
ers responded to his campaign slogan
"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight.” which
referred to the northern boundary of
the Oregon Territory.
Though a one-term president, Polk
accomplished all the goals he set for his
administration, which included estab¬
lishing an independent treasury, reduc¬
ing the import tariff, settling the
Oregon boundary dispute with Great
Britain and acquiring Texas and
California. In 1849. three months after
retiring from the presidency, he died at
his home in Nashville.
— Carol Timblin
Micaville Gallery Offering
Mountain Artists’ Showcase
Every artist needs a change of pace
every now and then.
Nancy Livingston gets hers every
Friday at an early 1900s country store in
Mitchell County that has been convened
into a mountain art gallery.
The gallery is located on N.C. I lighway
HO South between Burnsville in Yancey
Count)' and Spnice Pine in Mitchell
County.
Livingston, a 54-year-old potter, is one
of about 15 artists making a living
The SiJte/Scpicnibci 1995
4
Nancy Livingston in her mountain studio.
through their art in the sparsely populat¬
ed mountain environs of Mitchell, Avery
and Yancey counties. The artists have
joined together to present their work in
a natural historic environment that adds
sensory delight to folks who drive
through the Blue Ridge Mountains each
season.
Mitchell, Yancey and Avery counties
have had a high concentration of artists
and studios since the 1970s, when many
artisans left city life up north to settle in
the rural pastoral settings of western
North Carolina.
Livingston grew up in New York City
and settled in Little Switzerland, where
she has a studio called Crystal Cabin,
located a quarter of a mile from the Blue
Ridge Parkway.
1 ler work is fundamental and func¬
tional kitchenware pottery. It includes an
array of cups, mugs and bowls that can fit
into any home decor.
Livingston says the gallery oilers a
place for artists to gather — away from
their studios — to share and represent
their art to the public.
"1 laving the gallery is a way of us being
able to have our work in an open space
and available to mountain travelers in an
old store/gallery environment,” says
Livingston, who has been making pottery
for 30 years.
lire gallery offers art in addition to
pottery, stained glass, weaving, dried
Bowers, beeswax candles, photography,
mountain woodwork and mural paint¬
ings. mountain dolls and baskets.
The store is one of the oldest occupied
country stores in the area. In the early
1920s, it was the company store for
