Press release from the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site:
This Christmas season at the Vance Birthplace, we will present one of the greatest Christmas stories ever told, but with our own Zebulon Vance right smack dab in the middle. On Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9 through the theatrical magic of toy and shadow theatre, we will transport the audience directly into the Christmas Carol. Visitors will go on an extraordinary and illuminating journey through the entire site from the Birthplace to the 1790s slave cabin.
The American Myth Center is a new non-profit organization in Asheville, whose mission is to create new American myths to serve as familiar points of reference in the urgent yet enduring investigation of our home. For more information visit, www.americanmythcenter.org.
This is a ticketed event. Tours will run every 30 minutes starting at 5 p.m. with the last tour at 9 p.m. Adults are $5, 18 and under $2, 5 and under free. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made for $2 per ticket. Call the site at 828-645-6706 (9a-5p, Tues-Sat) to reserve tickets for your group. Please note, that reservations must be picked up *at least* 20 minutes prior to the ticketed time or the reservation will be forfeited. Visitors can get in the Christmas spirit with holiday entertainment in our visitor center, or purchase apple cider and make a free take-away craft.
Throughout Zebulon Vance’s career, public opinion ranged widely concerning Vance’s beliefs, abilities, and general demeanor. His ambition, quick wit and oratory skills helped propel him from the state’s highest peaks to its highest political offices. Although he stood alone in guiding the state through its most profound crisis, The Civil War, later in his career he adopted the strategies of many Southern Democrats, infusing white supremacist policies into North Carolina politics. Many of the traits that endeared Vance to his supporters were the same ones that made him highly controversial to his critics. Regardless, by the end of his lifetime, he had achieved national fame as a politician, orator and leader. For this candlelit evening, the visitor will observe as the ghost of Christmas past, present and future reexamine the legacy of Zebulon Vance.
For more information, contact the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site at vance@ncdcr.gov or (828) 645-6706.
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