Posted: 11:45 AM - Jan 28, 2006
(From the Charlotte News Observer Posted on Sat, 28 Jan 2006)
Windows to yesteryear
Women's project illustrates past to contribute to future park
STEVE LYTTLE slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Two local women are using artwork to open a window to the past of a western Mecklenburg County community -- and to help build the future.
Jodi McKay and Dawn Strouse are using window panes from now-demolished homes and a former crossroads grocery store to tell the story of Shuffletown, a 19th-century farming settlement on the banks of the Catawba River.
"It started after I saw someone at the beach painting scenery on window panes," said McKay, a former schoolteacher who, like Strouse, is not a professional artist. "We realized we had plenty of scenery in our own area."
The women are using a portion of the sales to buy playground equipment at a park to be built at the site of the old Shuffletown Dragway.
McKay and Strouse are neighbors in a subdivision not far from Shuffletown, which was centered near what is now the intersection of Rozzelles Ferry and Mount Holly-Huntersville roads.
The community, which dates to 1746 was a thriving farming and trade center in the 19th century. It also was a stepping-off point for the Rozzelle's Ferry, a vital link across the flood-prone Catawba River for people traveling between Charlotte and Hickory.
The art project took off last summer when McKay and Strouse learned that Anne Rozzelle Edwards, a descendant of the family who operated the ferry, was planning to demolish three old homes along Rozzelles Ferry Road.
"We asked if we could get the windows from those houses," said Strouse, a speech therapist.
She and McKay also got the windows from the grocery store operated by the Rozzelle family for 60 years until it was closed in July 2004. They ended up with 99 windows and have painted more than 40.
"People started asking us to paint windows that were related to Shuffletown's history," Strouse said. "They'd give us photos and say, `Here's the house I grew up in. Can you do that?' "
McKay and Strouse are giving 20 percent of their proceeds to buy playground equipment for the park, which will be built on the site of Shuffletown's most vivid memory among longtime Mecklenburg residents -- the dragway.
The drag strip, a subject of controversy among some Shuffletown residents who complained about the noise, closed about a decade ago. County officials are building a regional park there, and McKay and Strouse already have raised $1,000.
The painted windows depict a Shuffletown that has changed, Edwards said, with new housing subdivisions springing up everywhere. "Most of the open fields are gone," Edwards said. "There's construction everywhere.
"We loved Shuffletown. But Shuffletown is gone."
About Shuffletown
The location: Its center is the current intersection of Rozzelles Ferry and Mount Holly-Huntersville roads.
The beginnings: Historic records of Shuffletown date to 1764. Sam Spurrier built the community's first store, sometime in the mid-1800s.
Saving Charlotte: A military confrontation at Shuffletown is credited with saving Charlotte from an invasion by Union cavalry in the spring of 1865. Union troops were advancing southeast from Lincolnton but were stopped at the Catawba River by Confederate forces led by Gen. R.D. Johnston. Union troops couldn't find a way to cross the river and dropped the idea of moving against Charlotte.
Shuffletown Dragway: The drag strip attracted thousands of fans every weekend until it was closed more than a decade ago. Among those who raced there was Robert Yates, now one of NASCAR's top team owners.
The Artwork
Some of the windows painted by Jodi McKay and Dawn Strouse are on display at Dilworth Coffee House, at Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and N.C. 16; and at Cottage Chic, an art shop on East Boulevard in Dilworth. They can be contacted at (704) 393-0836 or at rmckay@carolina.rr.com.
Windows to yesteryear
Women's project illustrates past to contribute to future park
STEVE LYTTLE slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
 |
Jodi McKay and Dawn Strouse are using window panes from now-demolished homes and a former crossroads grocery store to tell the story of Shuffletown, a 19th-century farming settlement on the banks of the Catawba River.
"It started after I saw someone at the beach painting scenery on window panes," said McKay, a former schoolteacher who, like Strouse, is not a professional artist. "We realized we had plenty of scenery in our own area."
The women are using a portion of the sales to buy playground equipment at a park to be built at the site of the old Shuffletown Dragway.
McKay and Strouse are neighbors in a subdivision not far from Shuffletown, which was centered near what is now the intersection of Rozzelles Ferry and Mount Holly-Huntersville roads.
The community, which dates to 1746 was a thriving farming and trade center in the 19th century. It also was a stepping-off point for the Rozzelle's Ferry, a vital link across the flood-prone Catawba River for people traveling between Charlotte and Hickory.
The art project took off last summer when McKay and Strouse learned that Anne Rozzelle Edwards, a descendant of the family who operated the ferry, was planning to demolish three old homes along Rozzelles Ferry Road.
"We asked if we could get the windows from those houses," said Strouse, a speech therapist.
She and McKay also got the windows from the grocery store operated by the Rozzelle family for 60 years until it was closed in July 2004. They ended up with 99 windows and have painted more than 40.
"People started asking us to paint windows that were related to Shuffletown's history," Strouse said. "They'd give us photos and say, `Here's the house I grew up in. Can you do that?' "
McKay and Strouse are giving 20 percent of their proceeds to buy playground equipment for the park, which will be built on the site of Shuffletown's most vivid memory among longtime Mecklenburg residents -- the dragway.
The drag strip, a subject of controversy among some Shuffletown residents who complained about the noise, closed about a decade ago. County officials are building a regional park there, and McKay and Strouse already have raised $1,000.
The painted windows depict a Shuffletown that has changed, Edwards said, with new housing subdivisions springing up everywhere. "Most of the open fields are gone," Edwards said. "There's construction everywhere.
"We loved Shuffletown. But Shuffletown is gone."
About Shuffletown
The location: Its center is the current intersection of Rozzelles Ferry and Mount Holly-Huntersville roads.
The beginnings: Historic records of Shuffletown date to 1764. Sam Spurrier built the community's first store, sometime in the mid-1800s.
Saving Charlotte: A military confrontation at Shuffletown is credited with saving Charlotte from an invasion by Union cavalry in the spring of 1865. Union troops were advancing southeast from Lincolnton but were stopped at the Catawba River by Confederate forces led by Gen. R.D. Johnston. Union troops couldn't find a way to cross the river and dropped the idea of moving against Charlotte.
Shuffletown Dragway: The drag strip attracted thousands of fans every weekend until it was closed more than a decade ago. Among those who raced there was Robert Yates, now one of NASCAR's top team owners.
The Artwork
Some of the windows painted by Jodi McKay and Dawn Strouse are on display at Dilworth Coffee House, at Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and N.C. 16; and at Cottage Chic, an art shop on East Boulevard in Dilworth. They can be contacted at (704) 393-0836 or at rmckay@carolina.rr.com.
 Jodi McKay & Dawn Strouse working on a painting. |