History & Art

History And Arts

During the Civil War, a curly headed, 10-year-old boy watched keenly as a detachment of General Sherman's troops roared through Cary, chasing after Gen. Joe Wheeler's calvary. The detachment camped at his father's house overnight and ransacked it, looking for silver. That boy was the son of Cary founder Frank Page. Walter Hines Page, an avid reader with a quick wit, grew up to help found N.C. State University, become a well respected journalist, editor, and publisher, and serve as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.

The original Page house burned in 1970, but the Page legacy remains: the hotel that Frank Page built in the lean years after the Civil War stands today as a rare example of Second Empire architecture.

Restored and updated for modern use, the Page-Walker Hotel is Cary's cultural heart, housing literary and performing arts and a museum of Cary's history. It's reopening in 1992 heralded a time of great expansion for the arts of Cary.

Coupled with the opening of Jordan Hall Arts center a year later, and the creation of a cultural arts division within what is now the Cary Parks, Recreations and Cultural Arts Department, arts programs in Cary are flourishing. The signs are everywhere.

The Page One Book Festival, held for the first time in 1995, brought together authors, booksellers, publishers and readers in downtown Cary.

Drama now comes alive under the summer stars at Cary's Sertoma Amphitheater.

The Cary Town Band plays in its own bandstand to picnicking audiences in late afternoon concerts, and it hosts a Hometown Band Festival each April.

An annual rite of Cary summer is Summerfest, the North Carolina Symphony's June outdoor series held at Regency Park. The series is capped off each year on July 4th, with music from the symphony and breathtaking fireworks from the Town of Cary.