Historic Hayes is Topic of Slide Show, Talk
The history and inhabitants of Hayes, built as a plantation near Edenton, N.C., will be the topic of an illustrated talk in UNC's Wilson Library on Sept. 6.
John G. Zehmer, author of Hayes: the Plantation, its People, and their Papers, newly published by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, will show slides and discuss researching what he calls "one of North Carolina's most historic and most beautiful estates."
Zehmer will speak at 5:45 p.m. in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room on the main floor of Wilson Library. Copies of Zehmer's book will be available for sale at the event. For program information, contact Liza Terll at 919-962-4207.
James Cathcart Johnston built Hayes between 1814 and 1817. Upon his death in 1865 he bequeathed it to trusted business associate Edward Wood. The property, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, remains in the Wood family.
Zehmer's research drew extensively upon the 20,000-item Hayes Collection in Wilson Library's Southern Historical Collection. Correspondence, business records, tax papers, and other documents allowed Zehmer to tell the stories of those who created and cared for Hayes, including the experience of slaves there and at Johnston's other farms.Zehmer, of Richmond, Va., is a retired architectural historian who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia. From 1970 to 1974, he worked at the North Carolina Department of Archives and History before moving to Richmond to become the city's first preservation planner. He has also been director of the Historic Richmond Foundation and the head of the capital regional office for Virginia's Department of Historic Resources.
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