• By Sue deGuzman
• Posted Thursday, September 15, 2022

“Evergreen Farm by James Monroe Jarvis: A Rare Photographic Diary"

Please join us for Lewisville Historical Society Presents: “Evergreen Farm by James Monroe Jarvis: A Rare Photographic Diary" on Monday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Mary Alice Warren Community Center in Lewisville. In partnership with the Lewisville Branch Library, LHS welcomes Martha Hartley, director of Moravian Research at Old Salem Museums & Gardens, to present research that she and her husband, Michael Hartley, anthropologist and emeritus director of archaeology at Old Salem, conducted on Evergreen Farm.

Evergreen Farm is the work of James Monroe “Ploughboy” Jarvis which reflects his progressiveness and many talents. From 1894 through the first half of the twentieth century, Jarvis created a highly productive and elegantly organized small family farm in the Pine Grove community of southwestern Forsyth County. Since his death in 1947, his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren have continued to live on the land and care for its resources.

The Hartleys' study of James Monroe Jarvis and his Evergreen Farm culminated in the 88-acre farm’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2019. Jarvis’s journals and photographs, as well as oral tradition from descendants, provide a wealth of information about the history of Evergreen Farm. A photographic album he created survives as historic record, as art, and as insight into this Renaissance man who was a successful farmer, skilled carpenter, revered seed developer, writer of a popular newspaper column, and talented photographer. This lecture will present Evergreen Farm through the camera lens of James Monroe Jarvis and his legacy on the landscape today.

Martha Hartley, a native of Winston-Salem, is also co-chair of the Hidden Town Project at Old Salem. She received undergraduate degrees from Hollins College that included a year studying in Paris, and both a master’s degree in Urban Planning and a certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Virginia. Her work as a preservation planner has included community preservation, advocacy, and public awareness. For over 35 years, the Hartleys, have worked together on the archaeology, history, landscape, and preservation of the Moravian communities in the Winston-Salem area. They have been honored for their work, most recently in 2021 with the David Schattschneider Award for Excellence from the Center for Moravian Studies in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

"Lewisville Historical Society presents ..." is a bimonthly program of the society that is presented in partnership with the Lewisville Branch Library and includes a brief business meeting of the society at the start of each presentation. Program topics range from local history to information about historical sites to antiquities. Participants do not need to be members of the society to attend. All programs are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the library at 336-703-2940 or the Lewisville Historical Society at 336-766-5842.

"Evergreen Farm by James Monroe Jarvis: A Rare Photographic Diary"
Presented by Martha Hartley
Monday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
Mary Alice Warren Community Center
7632 Warren Park Dr.
Lewisville, NC 27023

"Lewisville Historical Society Presents" ... occurs bimonthly on the following dates in 2023:
Monday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.
Monday, March 13 at 6 p.m.
Monday, May 8 at 6 p.m.
Monday, July 10 at 6 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.

All Forsyth County Public Library programs are free and open to the public. Click here for driving directions to the Mary Alice Warren Community Center.