[slideshow_deploy id=’66476′]
Lu Mil Vineyard was the place to be on Tuesday morning as the announcement was made about the upcoming Carolina Caledonian Festival which is slated for October 28-30. Organizers of the event encourage everyone to come out and wear their 18th Century dress.
Alan McDavid with AKA Entertainment of Greensboro is assisting in the planning of the event and addressed those in attendance.
He explained that the name Caledonia was the name the Romans gave to the area that is now known as Scotland.
“Our Scottish Festival is a little different than most,” said McDavid. He said there will be athletic events but the festival will also pay homage to the Scots who settled in North Carolina. He said many people automatically assume that Scottish Highlanders settled in the mountains, but that is not true.
McDavid said there about 1 million Argyll Colony descendants that live in North Carolina. He said most people are unaware of their ancestry.
McDavid said the objectives for the first Carolina Caledonian Festival are: paying homage to Argyll Colony settlers; providing information both genealogical and historical; educating the public on Cape Fear history; and working towards creating a permanent year-round Highland Scot Exhibit.
“We want this event to be one that will have an economic impact,” said McDavid.
He said there will be such activities as 18th Century Cricket, a traditional Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee) which McDavid described as dancing that is different from the Sword dances that are familiar to most people. McDavid said the dances at a Ceilidh were called Reels and lots more fun.
McDavid also gave some historical background as to why the choice of Bladen County to hold such a festival. He pointed out Bladen County is the Mother County and is where many Scottish settlers arrived.
He said originally about 350 Scottish settlers arrived in North Carolina and many belonged to the Clan Campbell. McDavid said that people were talking in Scotland and learned about the possibility of obtaining land in North Carolina. He said many people in Scotland were not land holders so the possibility of coming to North Carolina and owning land was intriguing to them.
The Scottish were recruited to come to North Carolina and settle in the area that was considered by many to be a wilderness area, according to McDavid.
He shared a song with the group titled, “O’er to Carolina, A Jacobite’s Lament” which tells the story of the Scottish migration to North Carolina.
About Author
