Encore: The Dreamers – The Doers! Five Women Who Moved a Neighborhood and Rebuilt a Palace

Lindy Cummings
Lindy Cummings

It is such a compelling story, it has to be told again! New Bern Historical Society and Tryon Palace return Lindy Cummings to the podium on April 12 at 7 p.m. at the Cullman Performance Hall inside the North Carolina History Center where she’ll present The Dreamers – The Doers! Five Women Who Moved a Neighborhood & Rebuilt a Palace. In an era when women didn’t have the freedom to open a checking account or apply for credit, a group of dynamic women undertook an ambitious project: the removal of the 200-block of George Street, relocation of a major highway, and the reconstruction of North Carolina’s first permanent capitol, Tryon Palace. New Bern would not be the place it is without the visionary leadership of Minnette Chapman Duffy, Maude Moore Latham, Kate B. Reynolds, May Gordon Kellenberger, Ruth Coltrane Cannon, and Gertrude Sprague Carraway. Together, they worked tirelessly for the next 30 years to make the dream of a reconstructed Tryon Palace a reality.

Who better to tell this story than Tryon Palace Research Historian Lindy Cummings? A popular speaker, Lindy was born and raised in Northeast Indiana. She holds a BA in history from Indiana/Purdue University Fort Wayne, a Master of Arts from Miami University of Ohio, and has completed additional graduate work at University of Maryland College Park. Prior to joining Tryon Palace in 2016, she worked for the William Homes McGuffey Museum, Oxford Ohio; University of Maryland Department of Preservation; and Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, Wilmington, North Carolina. Lindy lives with her husband and two daughters in New Bern’s Riverside Historic District.

John Hawks Palace design 1767

Join the New Bern Historical Society and Tryon Palace for this special program on April 12 at the North Carolina History Center located at 529 S. Front St. Cost is $10; reservations are recommended. Go to newbernhistorical.org/tickets or call 252-638-8558. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Submitted by Kathy Morrison