Highlands' 150th Anniversary!
CLE is thrilled to partner with the Highlands Historical Society for these local history presentations!
May
Tuesday May 27 2:00-4:00
Brushstrokes of Freedom: An Artistic Journey Through 250 Years of Independence
As our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of our Independence, Paul Arsenault, a traveling painter since the early 1970s, has documented with his art many destinations around the world whose struggles for self determination were inspired by the American Revolution. While maintaining a career as a regional painter based in Florida and New England, Paul has sought in his travels to capture on canvas the intrigue and essence of these destinations. His paintings from these excursions, especially to the islands of the West Indies and Caribbean, provide a glimpse of these places, often before they were homogenized by tourism or decimated by natural disasters. Mr. Arsenault will reflect on the milestones of his 50 year career as a professional artist, the 150th anniversary of Highlands, and the 250th anniversary of American Independence. He presents through his paintings and stories compelling examples of the enduring spirit of Independence that unifies humanity.
This program is in collaboration with the Highlands Historical Society.
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Location: CLE Lecture Hall
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Paul Arsenault was raised in Hingham, Massachusetts where his love for the sea and travel emerged. After graduating from the Art Institute of Boston (1973), he worked as a deckhand on a research vessel that brought him to Florida. Moving to Naples in 1974, he honed his skill as a landscape artist and traveling painter. His ability to capture the essence of place and his love of history give him a distinct and entertaining perspective.
Thursday May 29 2:00-4:00
Boardinghouse Women: How Southern Keepers, Cooks, Nurses, Widows and Runaways Shaped Modern America
In this innovative and insightful book, Elizabeth Engelhardt argues that modern American food, business, caretaking, politics, sex, travel, writing, and restaurants all owe a debt to boardinghouse women in the South. From the eighteenth century well into the twentieth, entrepreneurial women ran boarding houses throughout the South; some also carried the institution to far-flung places like California, New York, and London. Owned and operated by Black, Jewish, Native American, and white women, rich and poor, immigrant and native-born, these lodgings were often hubs of business innovation and engines of financial independence for their owners. Within their walls, boardinghouse residents and owners developed the region’s earliest printed cookbooks, created space for making music and writing literary works, formed ad hoc communities of support, tested boundaries of race and sexuality, and more
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This program is in collaboration with the Highlands Historical Society.
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Location: CLE Lecture Hall
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Join us after Dr. Engelhardt's presentation from 4:30 - 6:00 for a wine reception at Highlands Historical Society!
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Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt, Distinguished Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, is a scholar of food, gender, and the US South, as well as the coconvener of Southern Futures - a universitywide network for equity, justice, and possibility in Carolina’s home region. She is the author or editor of eight books, including most recently, Boardinghouse Women: How Southern Keepers, Cooks, Nurses, Widows, and Runaways Shaped Modern America.
This program is sponsored by Millie Coleman
June
Friday June 20 2:00-4:00
Homes in the Sky: Satulah Mountain
The year 2025 marks the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Town of Highlands. On March 6, 1875, Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Carter “C.C” Hutchinson stood on the summit of Satulah Mountain and mapped out a crude survey of the town below. This presentation focuses on the neighborhood that was eventually created on the mountain itself. The lecture will, in part, review the book, Satulah: the Mountain, by James E. Green, originally published in 2010, by focusing on the unique circumstances and personalities of early residents that led them to build their homes in such an extreme location. Though the name of the mountain has uncertain origins, its impact and presence looming over Highlands’ history is most definite today.
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This program is in collaboration with the Highlands Historical Society.
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Location: CLE Lecture Hall
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Tracy L. Foor is the current President of the Highlands Historical Society. The mission of HHS is to “preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of Highlands for present and future generations.” The Historical Village owned and operated by HHS is home to a museum and the Prince House, Highlands’ oldest surviving residence. It is open from Memorial Day weekend through the end of October each year for visitors with free admission.
This program is sponsored by The Fred A. Moss Charitable Fund/Freddie Flynt
July
Tuesday July 22 2:00-4:00
Henry Ossawa Tanner: America’s First Internationally Recognized African-American Artist
In this lecture Dr. Harvey sketches the career of Henry O. Tanner, from his roots in the AME Church to his studies with Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia and his blossoming career in Paris. Although he is best known for his religious subjects, painted after his arrival in Paris in 1892, Tanner has an important connection to Highlands, where he spent the summer of 1888 during a teaching stint in Atlanta at Clark University. His experiences here influenced two of his widely admired paintings of the African-American community, The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894), both exhibited to wide acclaim in Europe.
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This program is in collaboration with the Highlands Historical Society.
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Location: CLE Lecture Hall
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Join us after Dr. Harvey’s presentation from 4:30 - 6:30 for a wine reception at High Country Wine & Provisions!
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Eleanor Jones Harvey is senior curator of 18th and 19th century American art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She earned a B.A. with distinction in art history at the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from Yale University. Dr. Harvey studies the intersection of landscape painting and American culture. In 2012 she organized The Civil War and American Art which then traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and her most recent project was Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture, on view at SAAM during 2020 and 2021.