HICKORY, NC – Just three miles south east of Hickory, visitors got their chance to step back in time at Hart Square this past weekend. The story behind Hart Square is that in 1967, Dr. Robert Hart and his family bought a tract of land in Catawba County with the intention of establishing a wildlife refuge and retreat.
Both Hart and his wife were ardent conservationists. This passion for nature lead Dr. and Mrs. Hart to build five ponds on the property for swans, ducks and geese that alight there, and fenced the entire area to allow fallow deer to roam.
Later a friend suggested that the natural setting needed a log cabin, so Dr. Hart moved the Hunsucker Cabin, built around 1840, to a prominent place on the property.
Lincoln Tribune Photographer M. Dawn Crouse captured this photo of musicians at Hart Square on Saturday.
This began a preservation movement for all the log buildings in the area, and the Harts built an entire village by carefully cataloging and moving buildings from their original location -- boards, interior fixtures, furniture and all -- and carefully reconstructing them on their property.
Care was taken in the restorations to replace any missing elements with period materials and furnishings to make the village as realistic with regards to the time period as possible.
Hart Square is open only once each year the last Saturday in October. Ticket sales benefit the Catawba County Historical Association.
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