Historical Scottish houses to open during Highland Games weekend

WAGRAM — Soon Scotland County will be full of tartan and the sounds of bagpipes as the clans will be gathering for the Highland Games.

On Oct. 5, the games will be held at the John Blue House followed by the Kirkin of the Tartans at Old Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church on Oct. 6.

Two Scottish historical sites have joined forces to continue the Scottish experience that weekend. On Oct. 6 from 2 to 5 p.m. Mill Prong and The Richmond Temperance and Literary Society will be open for tours.

Erected in 1795, Mill Prong bears witness to the varied cultural layers that shaped the Cape Fear region. It is a tangible reminder of their legacy as well as the emergence of a political and social order that is unique to the Lumber River and Cape Fear River valleys.

The Richmond Temperance and Literary Society was established around 1855 by a group of young men and women concerned about the intemperance in the area. The group’s one-room building, built in 1860 near Wagram and known still as Temperance Hall, is hexagonal with sixteen-foot sides. It is topped with a wooden finial representing an overturned wine glass sitting atop a book.

John Charles McNeill (1874-1907), among North Carolina’s most important poets, enjoyed a short, yet successful, career as a journalist and a lawyer. His boyhood home has been preserved and is open to the public at Temperance Hall in Wagram. Two collections of McNeill’s poems were published, “Songs Merry and Sad” in 1906 followed by “Lyrics from Cottonland,” published posthumously.

Visitors are encouraged to come out and learn more about the Scottish influence in the area. Mill Prong is located at 3062 Edinburgh Road, Red Springs, NC. The McNeill House and Temperance Hall are located at 20669 Spring Hill Road, Wagram.