Newsletter
The Weymouth Spirit
“Come into this place, feel this spirit—and take it beyond with you.”
A Newsletter for the Friends of Weymouth Spring 2010
MOVING TO ELECTRONICS
Beginning with the next issue of The Weymouth Spirit you will find it posted on our website: weymouthcenter.org The newsletter will no longer be mailed to our membership. Should you not have email, we will have a limited number printed and available for pick-up at Weymouth. Do visit our website; it is a wonderful way for you to keep abreast of what is going on at Weymouth. The schedule of events is posted and updated there, as well as lots of other information. We hope that you will understand that the cost of producing and mailing this newsletter has simply become too expensive. Thank you.
CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS by Elaine Sills, Chairman
APRIL 11, 2011: April 11th will be the final Chamber Music Concert concluding a year that has celebrated the legacy inspired by the love Katharine Lamont Boyd had for music. She was responsible for Carols at Weymouth which remains a tradition, and one account has her conducting the music. It is particularly interesting to note that she personally selected the carols, and preferred recorders and harpsichord. Research has yet to produce the presence of a harpsichord, but her preference for classical music continues to shape the concerts, and music in general, at Weymouth. Mrs. Boyd was also a state board member of the North Carolina Symphony and central to bringing the educational concerts to children in the East and West Southern Pines Schools. It is particularly appropriate that Mrs. Boyd’s portrait, by Beth Turner Van Lanen, graces the Great Room where the concerts are held.
This last concert is particularly special because Exodus, a piece based on four poems by Samuel T. Ragan, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, and composed by Elena Ruehr*, will be the centerpiece. The work was commissioned by the Coastal Carolina Chamber Music Festival and premiered during the 2005 season. Research for music and poetry by North Carolina composers yielded Ruehr’s work, a composer now living in Brookline. A faculty member at M.I.T. since 1991, Dr. Ruehr has lectured at Princeton University, Boston College, Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music, Berklee School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Oberlin Conservatory, and was a fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute, Yaddo, and the Aspen Center for Compositional Studies.
The musicians are Ilana Davidson, soprano; Laura Gilbert, Flute; Jacqui Carrasco, violin; Jonathan Bagg, Viola; Elizabeth Beilman, cello; and Jacquelyn Bartlett, harp. The program will also include Quartet for flute and strings in C Major, K 285a by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791); Deux Poemes du Ronsard for soprano and flute by Albert Roussel, (1869-1937); Dreamsteps for flute, harp and viola by Dan Locklair (1949-), a North Carolina composer of national and international fame; and Sabina for solo viola by Andrew Norman (1963-).
Sponsors for this year’s concerts include Linda and Jack Kennard, Deirdre Newton, the Norris Hodgkins family, Ann and Frank McNeill, Sr., Marshall Berg, John McKean, the Sills family, Women of Weymouth and First Bank.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the music committee for their dedication and support of the best programming possible for Weymouth audiences. They are: Patricia Williams-Dawes, Ralph Jacobson, Jeffrey Mims, Sondra Nelson, Havner Parish, Lena Stewart Brillhart, Ex-Officio, and Elaine Sills, Chair.
All concerts are at 3 pm in the Great Room. Admission is by membership or $15 at the door.
*Elena Ruehr has been called a “composer to watch,” by Opera News, and her music has been described as “stunning . . . beautifully lighted by [a] canny instinct for knowing when and how to vary key timbre, and harmony,” by The Boston Globe.
CHILDRENS’ HAIKU CLASS
Haiku began in Japan during the 17th century. Haiku are short, imagistic poems about things that make people feel a connection to nature. In this workshop, we will take a nature walk on Weymouth Grounds and talk about the haiku form. Participants will then write and perform their own haiku. 3rd-5th graders are invited to attend this free Haiku Walk/Workshop at Weymouth on Saturday, April 10th from 1pm-3pm. Anyone interested, can call the Weymouth office for reservations at 692-6261.
ARTS & HUMANITIES by Deirdre Newton
Morgan Sills Returns to Weymouth in May
A REMINDER OF THE MORGAN SILLS CONCERT MAKE-UP DATE
We are very happy that we were able to find a make-up date – Thursday, May 6 – to bring Morgan Sills here for his Oscar Hammerstein concert. Please note that the matinee will be at 3 pm (not 2 pm as advertised for the ice and snowed-out January event), and the evening performance will be at 7 pm, followed by a reception.
We have only a few seats left, one or two for the matinee, 5 or 6 for the evening. So if you do not already have a reservation and would like to attend, we would advise that you call Hope Price right away at 692-6261. The matinee is $30 and the evening plus reception is $45 for Weymouth members and $55 for non-members.
THANK YOU AND WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE CONCERT!
ANNUAL YOUNG MUSICIANS FESTIVAL
The Annual Young Musicians Festival was held March 20-21 with 30 students participating in grades four through five from Moore and surrounding counties. Dr. William McConnell, Professor of Music at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, and Dr. John Noel from Wake County were the adjudicators.
Certificates and cash awards were awarded to twelve outstanding musicians who performed on piano, violin, classical guitar, and voice.
Recognition was also given to Amelia Rose Erhardt Moz, Founder of the Festival, Lydia Gill and Lena Brillhart, members of the committee. Ruth Sinclair was recognized for continuous participation since the first festival. Sincere gratitude was extended to Dr. Skladany for his generous sponsorship. Additional support is provided by registration fees and the Weymouth membership.
Plans are being explored to add a college division and a scholarship for the 2011 festival. Sue Aceves, Shelly Johnson, and Elaine Sills served on the festival committee.
HUNT RETURNS TO WEYMOUTH by Suzanne Daughtridge, Chairman
On February 20, 2010, the Moore County Hounds met at Weymouth to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Friends of Weymouth, Inc., and the history of the Boyd Estate where fox hunting began in 1914. Preceded by carriages from the Moore County Driving Club, the Masters, Staff and hounds rode up from the barn around the house and into the meadow where they met the field of riders waiting to leave on their first hunt from Weymouth since Katharine Boyd’s death. It was a beautiful, picturesque scene reminiscent of the days of James and Jackson Boyd’s sporting life.
Jane Wellard and Suzanne Daughtridge, of the Capital Campaign Committee, planned the event with the goals in mind of reenacting and bringing to the community the history of Weymouth, and to raise seed money for their future capital campaign. It was a success in both categories which reinforces the notion that when you engage the public in honoring the past, everyone benefits. Hopefully, this will be an annual event which will be even more successful in the coming years.
Report on Palustris Activities at Weymouth by Marsha Warren, Chairman
When the Arts Council of Moore County’s director, Chris Dunn invited Weymouth to participate in their first annual Palustris Festival (Pinus palustris, longleaf pine) we were excited to be involved and met with 10 members of the board around the Boyd dining room table, many, many months ago to determine what we would do for the festival.
The discussion was lively and many ideas were suggested but we had to decide just how many activities we could manage. First we would feature the house – the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities and decided on docent-guided tours to occur each day of the Festival – Thursday-Sunday. We suspected that the community would be interested in seeing the house and grounds – which would include the rarely seen Writers’ Quarters (sans writers) – but we had no idea how popular it would be, so with docents in hand, organized by Ann Arnold and then Kathy Evans, we attracted 145 visitors over the four-day period and many were interested in Weymouth membership. A great success.
Literature would have to be a major part of our activities so we decided to do the Boyd Letters’ play again that we had done at Weymouth in May 2009. “A Thousand Things Time Will Never Let Us Say: The Correspondence of James and Katharine Boyd and Friends,” researched and written by Stephen Smith was directed by Marsha Warren. All the same actors were set: James Boyd would be played by Dr. Shelby Stephenson of Pembroke University and Denise Baker, art teacher at Sandhills Community College would play Katharine Boyd; Thomas Wolfe by Southern Pines Town Manager Reagan Parsons; Moore County Arts Council Director Chris Dunn would be Paul Green; historian and graphic artist Ray Owen would portray F. Scott Fitzgerald; and Stephen Smith would play Sherwood Anderson. Marsha Warren would be narrator and read the parts for Maxwell Perkins. We’d hoped for a larger turnout, but with so many other Palustris venues there was a lot of competition. However, in a lovely cabaret setting we entertained 47 guests and the play was followed by a bountiful reception.
We decided that since the Moore County Hounds (MCH) was founded at Weymouth (1911-14) by the Boyd brothers, we should include a lecture on that subject and engaged Cameron Sadler – Joint Master of the Foxhounds and great niece of Pappy and Ginnie Moss, who inherited leadership of the Moore County Hounds in 1942 from James and Jackson. Cameron, replete in full Joint Master Regalia, provided an extremely interesting talk about the history of the Hunt and right up to the present day fox hunting in Moore County. She showed the small but enthusiastic audience a DVD with the actual moving 1940’s footage of the Moore County Hunt gathering with the hounds and then riding through the woods at full tilt – jumping over fences with the hounds howling. It was an excellent program.
Lastly we would focus on Weymouth’s magnificent old growth forest and pay homage to the oldest long leaf pine in the world. Weymouth Woods’ Supervisor Scott Hartley was contacted and along with his colleague, Brady Beck, a packed Great Room heard about the Long Leaf Pine and its characteristics and prevalence in the United States and then Scott spoke of the oldest tree that grows behind Weymouth that has been cored to determine its age of 462 years. An audience of 85 (we think…but felt like more) including some little children, all filed into the dining room for cake – a very large circle that looked like the slice of a tree with its varying colors of brown, black and tan icing. The cake was absolutely consumed along with lemonade and off the group went to visit the tree. At the base of the tree with everyone looking up, Happy Birthday was sung and resounded throughout the woods. A great occasion.
MOORE CO. WRITERS’ COMPETITION RECEPTION by Karen Gilchrist, Chair
The Moore County Writers’ Competition will hold its awards ceremony and reception on Sunday, April 25 at 2:00 p.m. at the Boyd House. At this time, members of the competition’s committee, Malaika Albrecht, Cos Barnes, Karen Gilchrist and Cynthia Miecznikowski, will introduce the 48 winners and present each with his or her certificate and award. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive $100, $50 and $25, respectively, and first-place winners will read their winning entries. A reception with light refreshments will immediately follow.
“We had well over 200 entries again this year,” said Gilchrist, chair of the committee. “Our judges, Carol-Faye Ashcraft in fiction, John Grooms in nonfiction and Jennifer Hubbard in poetry, were very impressed with the quality of the submissions. Hubbard cited the caliber of the poetry submissions from the 5th through 8th grades as particularly competitive.
“It is an honor and a true pleasure for us to be able to host this competition each year, thanks to the generosity of the Donald and Elizabeth Cooke Foundation. This event is a real literary gem for our community, and it is so fitting to award these budding writers at the home of the NC Literary Hall of Fame.”
WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH by Donna May, Acting President
It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of our President, Ann Arnold. She was an active community member, president and cheerleader for Weymouth and a great friend. She never failed to praise all the Women of Weymouth volunteers and the work they did. She will be missed.
I will serve as President to the end of this season and Elizabeth Kimsey will complete Ann’s term next season.
We have two more programs for the season. On April 19th, Helen O. Von Salzen will speak on “TEA IN THE ERA OF THE BOYDS AT WEYMOUTH.”
Our last event will be our Annual Strawberry Festival on May 17th. The cost will be $5 for Women of Weymouth members and $10 for guests, please call Marion Gaida for reservations, 295-0591. We are excited to announce that David Michael Wolff will be our musical guest. If you haven’t heard David play, you are in for a treat. Let’s have a big turnout for this event and anyone interested in joining Women of Weymouth, please join us.
WRITE ON: A CHILDREN’S WRITING CAMP AT WEYMOUTH
3rd grade through 5th grade
Monday, August 2- Wednesday, August 4
9 am until noon
Day One: Songwriter and performer Rae Anne Kinney and poet Malaika King Albrecht will teach campers how to write lyrics for songs and how to write poems. Participants will have a chance to create their own masterpieces and to perform them.
Day Two: Non-fiction and Fiction: Writers Cos Barnes and Karen Gilchrist will teach participants about the basics of writing short personal essays and short stories. Around a virtual camp fire each child will get a chance to share their story.
Day Three: Free-lance writer Ellen Marcus will teach how to get the facts straight, Kit Kitteridge style. Participates will interview Weymouth Board members and write articles about their interviews. Parents are invited to attend the last 30 minutes of camp for a reading of some of the participants’ creative writings.
Campers will bring their own snacks and drinks. Please register with Hope Price at 692-6261 because there is a limited amount of space in the camp. Cost for the camp is $30.
DEVELOPMENT by Deirdre Newton, Chairman
The primary purpose of the Development Committee is to seek sponsors for Weymouth programs in order to fulfill our mission for Weymouth to become a “center for educational, literary, social and civic research, study and similar activity for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations of the public.” During the year 2009-2010, the committee sought and found many sponsors who generously supported Weymouth programs in the amount of $24,500. In order to avoid duplicate requests to the same potential donor, the Board in 2008 requested that the Development Committee become the coordinating body for fundraising at Weymouth, not including the work of the Women of Weymouth. Therefore, the work of this committee has expanded to approving fundraisers. That responsibility has worked well for the past year and is ongoing for next year.
WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM by Cos Barnes, Chairman
Long-time writer-in-residence Frances Outhwaite, coordinator of the NC Bluebird Society, and her friend, Pamela F. Kirby, author of “What Bluebirds Do,” presented a well-received program on bluebirds on Sunday, March 14 at Weymouth Center. The women did the program gratis as Frances said she would like to repay Weymouth for her years of visiting here. She even brought a door mat to replace a worn-out one at the back door.
30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
The Thirtieth Anniversary was most recently celebrated with an overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience at the musical luncheon featuring Lydia Gill, member of the music committee for many years, chair of the concerts and Young Musicians Festival, and her sister, Julliard graduate Maryann Cantrell-Colas.
Given a standing ovation, the accomplished duo demonstrated their technical facility and musicianship throughout the Brahms, Bizet, and Chopin performances.
That they love music, playing together, and performing is obvious from the moment they enter the room.
The Great Room was full with sixty-eight seated guests hosted by Kathy Evans, Gerry Turk, Deirdre Newton, Cynthia McIver, Mabel Barker, Milton and Elaine Sills. Flowers were by Andrea Wise-Leech, reservations with Pat Dawes, and the continued professional assistance by Hope Price and Alex Klalo.
A Thirtieth Birthday Present – Landscape Committee by Ray Owen, Chairman
The Weymouth Center recently received a generous gift of $5000 from the Southern Pines Garden Club, designated for the Landscape Committee to help defray the cost of a Cultural Landscape Report. The Landscape Committee has been interviewing professional candidates and expects to announce its choice by this summer. Several months will be needed to complete the report, which will chronicle according to our mission statement “the conservation and development of the Boyd Place, with its unique virgin longleaf pine forest and rolling Sandhills, as a natural preserve and park.”
Through the Boyd’s original landscape design by Alfred B. Yeomans, Weymouth has influenced and enhanced life in Southern Pines as the core of one of the most significant cultural landscapes in the state, if not the nation. It is the great hope of the Landscape Committee that we might engage the entire Weymouth community in the development of the Cultural Landscape Report, as together, we explore this aspect of our history.
Thank you Southern Pines Garden Club for your continuing support.
ARCHITECTURAL TOUR
The Architectural Tour has been postponed until the fall so that full attention can be given to this worthy new project. Andrea Wise-Leech, Mary Schwab, Elaine and Milton Sills are currently developing an event that will include an overview at Weymouth, a tour of Aymar Embury II homes, a touring guide featuring photos and architectural/historical information, lunch at a place to be announced, and a Grand Finale. Subsequent events featuring the homes designed by Alfred B. Yeomans, the Shaw House, and others are also being planned.
The Grand Finale/Opening for the 31st! What’s this? To Be Announced!
WEYMOUTH TOUR OF GARDENS
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Weymonth’s 8th Annual Garden Tour is scheduled for June 12th between 10 am and 3 pm
(rain date, Sunday June 13th)
Please plan to attend……and bring friends with you!
GIVE A GIFT OF WEYMOUTH
Why not give a Friends of Weymouth membership as a gift your family or friends will treasure?
Contact the Weymouth Center office at (910) 692-6261 for more information.
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