NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

could happen to him, so he had a deed drawn up officially marking the land that he had worked so hard to obtain.

Many years later, Wilson found the first land deed in Hunter’s name, written in 1872, showing his property stretching for three miles in each direction from his home — bordered by Dutchman’s Creek to the north, the Catawba River to the east, the Springs property to the west, and what is now Tuckaseegee Park to the south.

Around this time, New Jersey businessmen and brothers A.P. and D.E. Rhyne came around the Woodlawn community looking for a place to build a new cotton mill, along with A.P.’s father-in-law, Ambrose Costner. The group approached Hunter after discovering that the land they most wanted was deeded to him.

Having long been bothered by stories of freed families being forced into sharecropping in South Carolina, Hunter decided this was a time to use the leverage he now had.

“He said, ‘I will sell you the land under the stipulation that you hire former slaves that are now sharecroppers,’” Wilson said. “They agreed.”

Hunter sent word down to the communities near where his parents lived and died, and families began to seek out Hunter’s farm, which he had by then given the name Freedom Farm.

Wilson has been able to uncover records of around 35 Black families that came up from South Carolina, bought small parcels of land from Hunter and worked at the cotton mill. The community of formerly enslaved people came to be known as the Freedom community.

While the land around Hunter’s property was originally thought to be too rocky to farm — Hunter and many of the nearby residents originally called it Rocky Grove — he and his new Freedom neighbors got to work clearing all the large rocks, selling them to companies that were beginning to build roads in the area. From there on out, the land was farmable and families in Freedom were able to sustain productive gardens on their respective properties.

As the 20th century approached and the arrival of the railroad and then personal vehicles made business slow at Freedom Farm, Hunter began selling parcels of land at a profit to developers building out the burgeoning town of Mount Holly, named such by A.P. Rhyne and Co. in 1879 following completion of the Mount Holly Cotton Mill.

Many of the buildings that still stand in Mount Holly today were built on land purchased from Hunter.

The house that Hunter built was demolished around the turn of the 21st century, burned to its foundation by the city after being deemed unsafe. Remnants of the chimney are all that protrude from that foundation today.

However, while the property is heavily wooded, a large white rock is still visible at the corner of Glendale and Hawthorne. Pulled from the land as part of Hunter’s improvements to “Rocky Grove,” the rock was used as a step for clients to mount their horses after they had spent some time on Hunter’s porch drinking lemonade while their wagons or horses had work done.

To this day, the word Freedom is still clearly etched on the street-facing side of the rock.

Keeping the legacy alive

When Eric Wilson’s grandmother Mena Hunter Wilson passed away in 1983, it was the end of an era for the descendants of Ransom Hunter. Up until then, Mena had held annual family reunions for members of the sprawling family tree to connect at Ransom’s old house, where she lived until the day she died.

When Mena went, so did the family reunions, until the funeral of Eric’s aunt, one of Mena’s daughters, in 2013.

“Of course it’s a huge number of us and we went to the funeral, and we talked about, ‘Why are we only getting together now for funerals when we used to have these big family reunions?’” Wilson recalled. “Basically 30 years, that’s two generations of people that didn’t even know about a family reunion.”

Wilson and eight other descendants — one from each of his father’s eight siblings — formed a committee to plan a family reunion. During those discussions, Wilson realized that more than just the family reunions had been forgotten.

“I said, ‘We need to clean up Ransom’s grave,’ and some of the family members said, ‘Who is Ransom?’” Wilson recalled. “I said, ‘That’s grandma’s daddy, he’s the one that made all of this possible. We came from him!’”

Located just a block from the old homesite, Wilson remembered planting an oak tree with his grandmother to mark Ransom’s grave as a child. Throughout her lifetime, after Ransom’s death in 1918, Mena would bring fresh-cut flowers from the rose bushes Ransom had planted on the property to lay on his grave every Sunday.

The first order of business for the committee was to fund and install a proper new headstone at Ransom’s gravesite, now shaded by the massive oak tree that Wilson could once fit his arms around as a small child.

In 2014, the Wilson-Hunter family held its first family reunion in 30 years, returning every two years until COVID canceled the 2020 event. They were able to continue the tradition in summer 2022.

Some local news outlets picked up on the story when the family installed the new headstone in 2014, and following that, the family heard from Mount Holly officials about the potential to clear the homesite and build a park there.

“I think at the time maybe some of the people who were in charge maybe saw some dollar signs,” Wilson told Queen City Nerve. “‘We can take this name of Ransom Hunter and maybe we can bring some notoriety to Mount Holly.’ They didn’t say that but I think that was the thought. Because we were only approached after all of these news articles came out, and it was on all the news channels in Charlotte and they came to our family reunion and it was on everybody’s TV as they watched at night eating dinner. They bought the land, they told us they were going to develop it into a park.”

The family asked that the park be named after Ransom Hunter as a way to memorialize the man that played such a large part in the town’s creation. Though members of the Mount Holly City Council originally balked at the idea, they eventually asked the committee to get a petition signed to name the park after Hunter. The committee presented their petition to council in the spring of 2015, exceeding the number of signatures needed for approval.

The council accepted the petition then tucked it away, according to Wilson.

“They said, ‘OK, well, we’ll go to the next step,’ and then it was put on the back burner,” he said.

That was nearly 10 years ago, and not much progress has been made on a Ransom Hunter Park — or on anything at the homesite — since.

Calls and emails to the Mount Holly Parks & Recreation Department had gone unanswered at the time of this story’s publication, but Wilson did say that talks have been renewed over the last year. According to him, the city formed a new committee to explore options for the homesite in summer 2022, and are expecting to come back with recommendations following a retreat scheduled for February, with a possible final decision coming this summer.

Wilson, who has been fighting to preserve his great-grandfather’s legacy since taking up the cause in college, reserves his right to a cautious optimism.

“I’m very optimistic. I give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but 10 years?” he asked. “It’s been a long time … We’re just sitting, watching, in hopes that our time will come.” RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

Passport To Europe

Can’t afford to travel abroad? The Bechtler offers the next best thing with a journey that immerses patrons in the diverse European influences that inspire the paintings, prints and sculptures found within the museum’s collection. By extension, the grand tour also subliminally suggests that Americans’ view of ourselves and our place in the world has been filtered through a Eurocentric lens. On a more straightforward level, the Bechtler’s “trip” functions as a kick-ass travel brochure with cool artwork by Edgar Degas, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and others.

More: Free; Feb. 8, 5 p.m.; Bechtler Museum, 420 S. Tryon St.; bechtler.org

‘THE KUDZU QUEEN’ & ‘HEMLOCK HOLLOW’ AUTHOR TALKS

Get a dose of Southern gothic plant life when North Carolina authors Mimi Herman and Cully Holderfield discuss their latest novels, both of which put the culture in horticulture. In The Kudzu Queen, 2017 NC Piedmont Laureate Herman delves into Tar Heel history to weave a tale that snakes through sexuality, power, race and kudzu like a tangled vine. In UNC-Chapel Hill graduate Holderfield’s Hemlock Hollow, a supposedly murderous ghost inhabits a family cabin, prompting a meditation on how we haunt the places we love and how they haunt us in return.

More: Free; Feb. 9, 7 p.m.; Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road; parkroadbooks.com

PICASSO LANDSCAPES: OUT OF BOUNDS & BEARDEN/PICASSO: RHYTHMS & REVERBERATIONS

The Mint celebrates the opening of two landmark exhibits. Featuring over 40 dynamic landscapes spanning the artist’s career, Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds debuts in Charlotte, the first of only two venues where it’s scheduled to appear in the US. The Bearden/Picasso: Rhythms and Reverberations exhibit invites viewers to compare and contrast Picasso’s work to that of Black Charlotte-born painter and collagist Romare Bearden. For instance, Picasso’s “Three Musicians” is a jazz-and-blues-influenced cubist abstraction while Bearden’s “Three Musicians” is equally kinetic, yet more down to Earth.

More: $25; Feb. 11, 10 a.m.; Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St.; mintmuseum.org

BLACK FILM SERIES: ‘LOVE & BASKETBALL’ & ’TALK TO ME’

Independent Picture House continues its first annual Black Film Series, launched on Feb. 3. In Love & Basketball (2000), two neighbors (Omar Epps, Sanaa Latham) strive to balance passion for each other with love of the game. UNC Charlotte Social Sciences & Business Librarian Angel Truesdale leads a post-film discussion on Feb.14. Don Cheadle shines as radio personality Ralph Petey Greene in the turbulent bio-pic Talk to Me (2007). Journalist Mary C. Curtis moderates a panel on the impact of Black radio on Feb. 11.

More: $10-$12; Feb.10-14 (Love & Basketball), Feb.11-15 (Talk to Me); Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh St.; independentpicturehouse.org

CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES

Given The Beatles’ overarching ambitions and vision from 1965 on, a program of orchestral re-imaginings of the Fab Four’s oeuvre is not that far a stretch. The whirlwind orchestral maelstrom that brings “A Day in The Life” to a close with a final foreboding piano chord drew contemporary comparisons to radiation from the Big Bang. For good or ill, The Beatles’ practice of augmenting pop with orchestral flourishes spawned an entire sub-genre (The Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra). This tribute ensemble is presented and bolstered by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

More: $31 and up; Feb. 17-18, 7:30 p.m.; Knight Theater, 420 S. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

BLACK FILM SERIES: ‘WATERMELON WOMAN’ & ’DESTINATION PLANET NEGRO’

Week three of Independent Picture House’s Black Film Series presents two gems. Mock documentary The Watermelon Woman (1996) follows a Black lesbian filmmaker on the trail of a beautiful Black actress who played a mammy character in 1930s dramas. In the satirical send-up of cheap sci-fi flicks Destination Planet Negro (2013), three African American intellectuals respond to Jim Crow in 1939 by building and manning a rocket to Mars. Things go haywire and they land in America in 2013. CineOdyssey Film festival founder Tre McGriff leads a post-screening discussion, date TBD.

More: $10-$12; Feb.17-21 (Destination Planet Negro), Feb.18-22 (The Watermelon Woman); Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh St.; independentpicturehouse.org

Adam Sandler

A comic that defined the field in the ’90s and early 2000s, Adam Sandler returns to his stand-up roots. By now, Sandler’s apparent contradictions have taken on a warm nostalgic glow. His dumb (albeit funny) comedies will never be confused with good films, and they rely too much on Sandler yelling like an angry man child. Meanwhile, his serious film roles display considerable dramatic range. Which is the real Sandman? His stand-up act suggests he’s both. His comic stories rely on irritation and getting grumpy with age, while his absurdist songs are inspired rare gems.

More: $35 and up; Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m.; Spectrum Center, 3330 Trade St.; spectrumcentercharlotte.com

Drew Lynch

“I stutter. I have to say that every show, because people look at me like, ‘Does he know?’” Back in 2017, Drew Lynch debuted on Conan O’Brien with a standup set about stuttering, dating and turtle shells. Until his 20s, Lynch was a chatty actor, until a softball injury left him with a severe stutter. No matter, with his sly comedy he came in second place on Season 10 of America’s Got Talent. Amassing a YouTube following of over 2 million subscribers, Lynch has become a dynamic content creator with his channel hosting his own original animated series, a popular vlog and a cache of clever comedy sketches.

More: $29 and up; Feb. 19, 7 p.m.; Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd.; boplex.com/events

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Growing up poor in a tiny Texas town, visionary choreographer Alvin Ailey was profoundly influenced by Black church services and music he heard at the local dance hall. In 1958 he launched the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Since then, the multi-racial dance ensemble has popularized modern dance around the world. The troupe’s dancers electrify the stage with contemporary works by in-demand choreographers and classic favorites from the repertory. Each program closes with Revelations, which Ailey said came from “blood memories” of his childhood in rural Texas and the Baptist Church.

More: $29.50 and up; Feb. 21-22, 7:30 p.m.; Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

KING BUFFALO, THE SWELL FELLAS

With a brooding buildup of hovering synths, King Buffalo’s barnstorming title track to their 2022 LP Regenerator kicks into gear with scything guitar riffs and crisp galloping drums. Then guitarist/vocalist Sean McVey launches into a psychedelic koan-like lyric, borne aloft on an addictively catchy melody: “I rise from the withering night/ New dawn brings the morning light.” The Rochester, New York trio flows seamlessly from heavy blues rock to psychedelic prog and whip-smart pop. Nashville’s The Swell Fellas deliver equally heavy psych rock with a mystical bent that suggests the result of dropping acid in a biker bar.

More: $17.30; Feb. 21, 9:30 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

John Mellencamp (Ovens Auditorium)

Quad w/ Majic Dust, Ego Death Machine (Snug Harbor)

Prog For Wishes (Visulite Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Carrie Underwood (Spectrum Center)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Shindig! A Night of ’50s & ’60’s Music w/ Cory Wigg & Robin Knudsen (Tommy’s Pub)

OPEN MIC

Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Emanuel Wynter w/ Elora Dash (Evening Muse)

Rah Digga w/ Kil Ripkin, Indigo Jo (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Canaan Cox (Amos’ Southend)

JAZZ/BLUES

TRS: Famous Girl Groups Through the Decades (Middle C Jazz)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Ben Mignogna (Comet Grill)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Dr. Bacon w/ Bella’s Bartok (Neighborhood Theatre)

OPEN MIC

Open Mic Night w/ Josh Daniel (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Lenny Federal (Comet Grill)

Outerloop w/ The Groove Skeletons, Ink Swell, Moving Boxes (The Milestone) Supersuckers (Neighborhood Theatre)

The Phantom Friends w/ Carver Commodore, Regence (Petra’s)

The Bunny The Bear w/ MISERY!, LIFE right now, Fleshworm, Victim Complex (Skylark Social Club)

Vinyl Williams w/ Spirit System, The Wormholes, NA$A (Snug Harbor)

Face 2 Face (Elton John & Billy Joel tribute) (The Fillmore)

Maiden Voyage (Iron Maide tribute) (The Rooster)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Corey Smith (Coyote Joe’s)

Town Mountain w/ Cole Chaney (Visulite Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Oceanic w/ Trent Thompson, Willingdon (Amos’ Southend) Reflexions w/ DJ Velvetine (Tommy’s Pub)

JAZZ/BLUES

John Dillard Band (Stage Door Theater)

Jamison Ross w/ Tamra Simone & the Finnas (Evening Muse)

Noel Freidline & Maria Howell: Love Letters from Middle C (Middle C Jazz)

CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Brahms Symphony No. 4 (Belk Theater)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Pintos (Comet Grill)

Kathleen Edwards w/ Matt Sucich (Evening Muse)

Jim Messina (The Fillmore)

Shoegaze Prom feat. The Mother Superior, Vespers, Swae, DJ Honey Power (The Milestone)

Late Bloomer w/ Complaint Club, Jackson Fig (Petra’s)

30th Annual Johnson Valentine’s Bash feat. Alternative Champs, Hardcore Lounge (Snug Harbor)

Tool Chest Productions Presents: Hard Rockin’Valentine (Tommy’s Pub)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Tamra Simone & the Finnas (Starlight on 22nd)

JAZZ/BLUES

Keb Mo (Knight Theater)

Noel Freidline & Maria Howell: Love Letters from Middle C (Middle C Jazz)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Ben Gatlin Band (The Rooster)

Yo Momma’s Big Fat Booty Band w/ Cosmic Collective (Visulite Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

DJ Adoni (World Nightclub)

CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Brahms Symphony No. 4 (Belk Theater)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Mercury Dimes w/ Pocket Vinyl, Gaffer Project, Family Video (Tommy’s Pub)

JAZZ/BLUES

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Lil’ Darkie (The Underground)

JAZZ/BLUES

The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

OPEN MIC

Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Dan Martin (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

STRFKR (The Underground)

Wine Pride w/ Goon, Teethe (Petra’s)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Matt Nathanson (Amos’ Southend) ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Tosco Music: Songs for Lovers (Booth Playhouse)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)

Cosmic Jam Session (Crown Station)

JAZZ/BLUES

Songs in the Key of Love feat. JD, Robyn Springer, Jay D Jones (Middle C Jazz)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Parkway Drive (The Underground)

Selfgod w/ Angel Massacre, Corpse Dust (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Charles Wesley Godwin & the Allegheny High w/ JR Carroll (Amos’ Southend)

Lua Flora w/ Taylor Winchester, Wilfred (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

The North Country w/ Swansgate, The Real Dolls (The Milestone)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Kind Hearted Strangers w/ Kaska Sun (Evening Muse)

Tenderlash w/ The Mother Superior, DJ Sweetboy (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Charles Wesley Godwin & the Allegheny High w/ JR Carroll (Amos’ Southend)

Russell Dickerson (The Fillmore)

Ben Sollee w/ Scott Mulvahill (Neighborhood Theatre)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Jeff Ruby w/ Jackson Fig, Kevin Goodwin, Val Merza (The Milestone)

JAZZ/BLUES

Selwyn Birchwood (Middle C Jazz)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Space Truck (Comet Grill)

OPEN MIC

Open Mic Night w/ Josh Daniel (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Lenny Federal (Comet Grill)

Brent Cates w/ Garrett Huffman (The Rooster)

Wombat Junction w/ The Menders, Aluminum Six (Tommy’s Pub)

Trial by Fire (Journey tribute) (Visulite Theatre)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Lainey Wilson (Coyote Joe’s)

Kayla Ray w/ Justin Clyde Williams (Evening Muse)

Colby Acuff (Evening Muse)

For the Love of Doc feat. Jack Lawrence, CLT Bluegrass All-Stars (Doc Watson tribute) (Neighborhood Theatre)

JAZZ/BLUES

Jacob Webb (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Gimme Gimme Disco: Abba DJ Dance Party (The Underground)

Peace Love & Rage: A Divorced Dad Rock Dance Party (The Milestone)

Deep Fried Disco (Snug Harbor)

DJ Dance Night (Starlight on 22nd)

CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Classical Mystery Tour (Beatles tribute) (Knight Theater)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Ryan Hughes (Birdsong Brewing)

Jason Scavone w/ Ashlyn Uribe, Carly Taich (Petra’s)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Wonder Years w/ Hot Mulligan (The Fillmore)

Wilwither w/ Discoveries, Heirlooom, Den of Wolves, Blaakhol (The Milestone)

Chris Ferree & Medicine Crow w/ ECHO13 (The Rooster)

Jacuzzi Boys w/ Snacks, Paint Fumes (Snug Harbor)

Harvest Moon (Crosby Stills Nash & Young tribute) (Visulite Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Long Live: Taylor Swift Dance Party (Amos’ Southend)

JAZZ/BLUES

Mandyl Evans (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Adam Melchor (The Underground)

CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL

Charlotte Symphony: Classical Mystery Tour (Beatles tribute) (Knight Theater)

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Night in Rio (Neighborhood Theatre)

Urbanda Celebrando La Independencia De Republica Dominicana (World Nightclub)

EXPERIMENTAL/CROSS-GENRE

The Wormholes w/ Late Nite Laundry, Jameilyara (Petra’s)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Federation of Mecklenburg Natives (Primal Brewery)

Ben Gatlin Band (Comet Grill)

Space Lazers (Starlight on 22nd)

FAMILY

Charlotte Symphony: Emperor’s New Clothes (Knight Theater)

OPEN MIC

Carolina Waves Showcase and Open Mic (Evening Muse)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Within Destruction w/ VCTMS, Fix Lake, Carcose (The Milestone) Palmetto Drive (The Rooster)

No Anger Control w/ Bog Loaf, Dumpster Service, The Whiskey Predicament (Tommy’s Pub)

JAZZ/BLUES

Omari & the Hellhounds (Comet Grill)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

A Bluegrass Gospel Sunday feat. Kayla Ray, Kevin Dedmon & Friends (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Danny Ocean (The Fillmore)

Hazy Sunday (Petra’s)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Youth Crusher w/ Dry Cough, Boiling Point, Dead Senate (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/BLUES

The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

OPEN MIC

Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. William Massey (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Colony House (The Underground)

King Buffalo w/ The Swell Fellas (Snug Harbor)

JAZZ/BLUES

Seven Day Haze w/ Social Creatures, Fox n’ Vead, Anna Kimm (The Milestone)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)

Cosmic Jam Session (Crown Station)

Fat Tuesday feat. The Soda City Brass Band (Middle C Jazz)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Ron Sexsmith w/ Jay Garrigan (Neighborhood Theatre)

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