Part of historic Latta Place reopening next year with emphasis on education

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Part of the former historic Latta Plantation, now known as Latta Place, is expected to reopen next year in northwest Mecklenburg County.

Tuesday night, officials with Latta Place met with stakeholders and Mecklenburg County staff to discuss reopening the area.

The historic site closed last year after controversy due to a planned Juneteenth event that focused on slave owners.

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Since the closure, efforts have been made to revamp the site with a new interpretive plan.

“[The plan will show] what we could reimagine this site to be, how it can be an asset to the community, how it could possibly serve as a place for education, for healing, for reconciliation, for transformation,” said Liz Morrell with Mecklenburg County.

W. Lee Jones with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation made the presentation to the board of county commissioners over a year ago. Now, Jones says the site will reopen with an entirely new outlook.

“As we move forward with programming and operation with the site, we are going to have trained people, we are going to have interpreters that will be able to tell the story in a way that won’t be offensive,” Jones told Channel 9.

Tuesday night, Mecklenburg County leaders and stakeholders discussed the next steps for the site after a year of research. The county just hired a consultant to help build the interpretive plan, which will also help create educational experiences that are inclusive for visitors.

“The stories at somewhere like the plantation site are hard to deal with for a lot of folks, and there are a lot of dark pasts with that, but there is also a lot we can learn, that can help us make greater understanding for our world today,” said Andrew Hamilton, a senior interpretive planner with Design Minds in Fairfax, Virginia.

The plan will take months to develop, but once it’s done, Jones says Latta Place can reopen.

“Historic Latta Place is going to be an educational venue,” Jones said. “It’s going to respond to all different demographics, in regards to their interpretations and their continuing education within regards to enslaved people, plantations, the Civil War, and you know, triumph over adversary.”

Officials say they’ll implement the plan and then reopen the site in phases.