Events & Programs
Speakers Bureau & Hands-on History
For schools, civic groups, churches, and other organizations — let the Historical Association be part of your next program, with topics for all ages.
Are you interested in the Victorian lifestyle? Let us share our very own Harper House with you and the families who lived there. Wonder what living in the 1930s was like in rural Catawba County? Our Murray’s Mill program brings to life what one family accomplished through hard work and community. Curious about the beginnings of Catawba County? We can share the founding families and how the county helped shape the Western Piedmont region of North Carolina.
Our staff will happily design a program for your needs. Some examples:
- Women’s Suffrage in Catawba County
- Impact of the WPA in Catawba County
- The HERstory of Catawba County
- The History of Murray’s Mill
- The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge
- The Miracle of Hickory
- Caring for and Maintaining a Historic Property
- Cemetery Preservation
Hands-on History Outreach Program
Since the pandemic we’ve seen a decline in school tour groups visiting our sites. Our goal is to reach into the community as much as possible and share the history of our county — so we created the Hands-on History Outreach program to bring presentations directly to schools that can’t come to us. This plan was generously supported in part by the Millholland Endowment.
Presentations offered
- Settlers of Catawba County — the Native American groups who lived here before European settlement, and the first European families to settle the region.
- Victorian Age Catawbans — the Victorian era in Catawba County, focusing on what life was like for children of the time.
- Murray’s Mill in the 1930s — subsistence living during the Great Depression, with emphasis on Murray’s Mill.
All presentations feature staff from each site dressing in period-appropriate costume and traveling to schools with materials for hands-on activities and crafts, highlighted with activities that help students think critically about what they’re learning. We have performed all presentations at multiple locations free of charge, and hope to see even more of this programming scheduled in the future.
For more information contact our Director of Education at (828) 465-0383 or cchaaball@gmail.com.