Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796–1833), the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys on the grounds of the estate. This meant that Chinn, although enslaved herself, oversaw Blue Spring's slave labor force and had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely to have been consensual since she was never manumitted. What makes Chinn's life exceptional is the power that Johnson invested in her, the opportunities the couple's relationship afforded her and her daughters, and their community's tacit acceptance of the family—up to a point. When the family left their farm, they faced steep limits: pews at the rear of the church, burial in separate graveyards, exclusion from town dances, and more. Johnson's relationship with Chinn ruined his political career and Myers compellingly demonstrates that it wasn't interracial sex that led to his downfall but his refusal to keep it—and Julia Chinn—behind closed doors. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of history and gender studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Claude Clegg is currently the chair of the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also holds the Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professorship in AAAD and the UNC Department of History. Professor Clegg’s research and teaching focus on African American history, US and southern history, presidential history, and the history of American social movements. He is […]

Friday Movies Each Friday night (except July) we’ll feature a live concert or movie on the Phil H. Kohl MOSAIC Family Commons (event lawn). Food + beverage available for purchase. No outside alcohol is allowed to be brought inside the venue. All movies start at 8:30 pm (unless otherwise indicated below). Event lawn opens one hour before movie start time. October 6 Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Drive-In Movie) October 20 Hocus Pocus 2 (Drive-In Movie) Location: MOSAIC Family Commons (event lawn) near 51 Mosaic Blvd, Pittsboro, NC 27312

Join Ric's Leather at the Calico Makers Market for artisan jewelry, gourmet specialty foods, one-of-a-kind home accessories, glass, wood, ceramics, and much more! Come for the vendors, but stay for the music and food! It's going to be our best Makers Market so far! 1141 Smith Level Road.

Are you, your family and your friends ready to make some memories and have some fall fun, Huckleberry style? Fall Festival starts September 30 and runs every Saturday and Sunday through October 30. We are open from 10 to 6 on Saturday and 1 to 6 on Sunday. Our last ticket is sold one hour before closing. One admission price gives you access to all the fun. We sell our pumpkins, fall decorations, refreshments, and merchandise separately to keep our admission prices low. We have a corn maze, a real pumpkin patch (cut your own pumpkin right off the vine while they last!), a cotton patch, and lots of old-timey games and activities including a mini Field of Dreams. We sell pumpkins of all sizes as well as corn stalks, gourds, and hay bales. We are conveniently located on Hwy 64 between Pittsboro and Siler City, just 30 minutes from Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Greensboro. It’s an easy drive over a shimmering lake and rushing river, through beautiful rolling country and past farmland complete with horses, cows, and red barns. What to Bring Farm-friendly clothes; closed toe shoes suggested Weather appropriate attire A sense of adventure and fun A camera so you capture the prettiest country view ever!

The Chatham County Republican Party is hosting the annual Reagan Day dinner on October 7 at Governors Club. This year our keynote speaker is Han von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, speaking about vote integrity. You can reserve a sponsorship or buy your tickets at https://secure.winred.com/ccgop-ec60b911/reagan2023 Seating will be limited so get your tickets now. All proceeds stay locally with the Chatham County Republican Party.

If you're looking for that perfect leather gift to give to someone (or yourself), look for Ric's Leather in downtown Pittsboro in the booth near the circle.

Check out the events at BMC Brewing!

What does it take to save endangered historic properties? This practical guide builds on decades of historic preservation experience to provide readers with legal, financial, political, and technical tools and strategies to be more effective preservationists. Myrick Howard makes clear that large sums of money are not necessarily needed to save endangered historic properties, but knowledge and passion are essential. This book shows how preservation-minded neighbors and organizations can succeed with only modest resources and rather than clash with developers, can become developers themselves for community benefit. Howard draws on case studies from forty-five years of successful work leading Preservation North Carolina, with lessons that are applicable coast to coast This richly illustrated, fully revised and redesigned second edition includes detailed projects to renovate vacant houses in working-class neighborhoods; reflections on addressing racial equity through preservation; an expanded section on using preservation easements; and summaries of revolving fund programs around the country. Buying Time for Heritage is an indispensable resource for those looking to save the special places of our collective past. J. Myrick Howard is past president of Preservation North Carolina, a statewide, nonprofit historic preservation organization and a national leader in the field. Carl R. Nold is a nationally-recognized leader for not-for-profit cultural organizations. In addition to serving on the Preservation North Carolina board, Carl is vice chairman of the board of the Frances Perkins Center in Maine, serves on the board of North Carolina Opera, and as a trustee of the new Legacy Fund for Boston preservation foundation. He is also an advisor for Gibson House Museum in Boston.

Join us at The Sycamore at Chatham Mills! 8:30 am, guests welcome. Our Speaker will be Mike Stewart, with East Wind Consulting. Mike is an Active Shooter Training Instructor and offers preincident planning for businesses and organizations. "You cannot prepare for something you do not believe will ever happen."

Join us on Wednesdays on the Philip H. Kohl MOSAIC Family Commons (event lawn) for self-care sessions. Sunset Yoga hosted by Yoga Garden PBO on select Wednesdays in August, September and October. Specific times listed below. Sign-up required. October 11 (5:30 – 6:30 pm) Sign-up here October 25 (5:30 – 6:30 pm) Sign-up here

Jazz nights are continuing on Wednesdays so don't miss out on the chance to hear some great holiday jazz this month, sprinkled in alongside your classic favorites. Here are our upcoming performers 10/11- GLK Trio 10/18- Steve Hobbs Trio 10/25- Lauren Meehan 11/1- Dave Quick Trio 11/8- Lauren Meehan 11/15- Tony Galiani 11/22- Steve Hobbs Trio 11/29- GLK Trio

Join An Acquired Style and local realtors for a bus tour of this year's Parade of Homes! RSVP required.

The Triangle Parade of Homes returns starting September 30th-October 1st for three back-to-back weekends - including October 6-8, 13-15. This year, Chatham Park is featuring 13 beautiful homes from 12-5pm! 🏠 Stop by our Information Center to pick up a map! See Chatham Park's 2023 Parade map at https://bit.ly/3PK6sv8 📍 500 Vine Parkway, Pittsboro, NC

A stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil—when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. And their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrifying means imaginable. To repel the virulent tidal wave of violence, President Ulysses S. Grant waged a two-term battle against both armed Southern enemies of Reconstruction and Northern politicians seduced by visions of postwar conciliation, testing the limits of the federal government in determining the extent of states’ rights. In this book, Bordewich transports us to the front lines, in the hamlets of the former Confederate States and in the marble corridors of Congress, reviving an unsung generation of grassroots Black leaders and key figures such as crusading Missouri senator Carl Schurz, who sacrificed the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform,” and the ruthless former slave trader and Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. Klan War is a bold and bracing record of America’s past that reveals the bloody, Reconstruction-era roots of present-day battles to protect the ballot box and stamp out resurgent white supremacist ideologies. Fergus M. Bordewich is the author of eight previous nonfiction books, including Congress at War: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America; The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group […]

Friday Night Concerts + Movies Each Friday night (except July) we’ll feature a live concert or movie on the Phil H. Kohl MOSAIC Family Commons (event lawn). Food + beverage available for purchase. No outside alcohol is allowed to be brought inside the venue. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Friday Concerts All concerts start at 7 pm (unless otherwise indicated below). Event lawn opens one hour before concert start time. Fall Music Series October 13 Cat 5 with special guest: The Will McBride Group October 27 Tuesday’s Gone with special guest: Circle City Rockers Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Food, beer + wine available for purchase. Location: MOSAIC Family Commons (event lawn) near 51 Mosaic Blvd, Pittsboro, NC 27312

Join Ric's Leather at Goldston Old Fashion Day, 10-4, for artisan jewelry, gourmet specialty foods, one-of-a-kind home accessories, glass, wood, ceramics, and much more! Come for the vendors, children's area, and great food!

Are you, your family and your friends ready to make some memories and have some fall fun, Huckleberry style? Fall Festival starts September 30 and runs every Saturday and Sunday through October 30. We are open from 10 to 6 on Saturday and 1 to 6 on Sunday. Our last ticket is sold one hour before closing. One admission price gives you access to all the fun. We sell our pumpkins, fall decorations, refreshments, and merchandise separately to keep our admission prices low. We have a corn maze, a real pumpkin patch (cut your own pumpkin right off the vine while they last!), a cotton patch, and lots of old-timey games and activities including a mini Field of Dreams. We sell pumpkins of all sizes as well as corn stalks, gourds, and hay bales. We are conveniently located on Hwy 64 between Pittsboro and Siler City, just 30 minutes from Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Greensboro. It’s an easy drive over a shimmering lake and rushing river, through beautiful rolling country and past farmland complete with horses, cows, and red barns. What to Bring Farm-friendly clothes; closed toe shoes suggested Weather appropriate attire A sense of adventure and fun A camera so you capture the prettiest country view ever!

Teachers, first responders, doctors, nurses, caregivers and military personnel, active duty and veterans, receive free admission with ID and one paid admission this weekend. Are you, your family and your friends ready to make some memories and have some fall fun, Huckleberry style? Fall Festival starts September 30 and runs every Saturday and Sunday through October 30. We are open from 10 to 6 on Saturday and 1 to 6 on Sunday. Our last ticket is sold one hour before closing. One admission price gives you access to all the fun. We sell our pumpkins, fall decorations, refreshments, and merchandise separately to keep our admission prices low. We have a corn maze, a real pumpkin patch (cut your own pumpkin right off the vine while they last!), a cotton patch, and lots of old-timey games and activities including a mini Field of Dreams. We sell pumpkins of all sizes as well as corn stalks, gourds, and hay bales. We are conveniently located on Hwy 64 between Pittsboro and Siler City, just 30 minutes from Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Greensboro. It’s an easy drive over a shimmering lake and rushing river, through beautiful rolling country and past farmland complete with horses, cows, and red barns. What to Bring Farm-friendly clothes; closed toe shoes suggested Weather appropriate attire A sense of adventure and fun A camera so you capture the prettiest country view ever! Weekend events schedule