The Moore County Historical Association has arranged a series of special events for the second Palustris Festival March 25-27. Palustris is the Latin name for longleaf pine, and is a community wide series of over 100 events.

You can hear dramatic presentations on Moore County’s original longleaf pine turpentine industry, take tea and visit with Squire Shaw, the first mayor of Southern Pines at the Shaw House where the town originated, and hear hymns in Old Bethesda Church. The ongoing free docent tours at the 1820s-era Shaw House, corner of Morganton Road and Broad Street, will still be held on Thursday and Friday, 1-4 p.m. For information call 910-692-2051.

• A performance titled “Bleeding Pines of Turpentine,” will be held Saturday morning, the 26th, at 10 and at 11:30 a.m., at Old Bethesda Church on N.C. 5 near the Malcolm Blue Farm in Aberdeen. Inspired by the forest of turpentine trees in S. Pines & the spirit of those who created it – marked with V-shaped cuts made by former slaves & theirdescendants. Performers: Brady Beck, Rod Brower & Together-N-Unity,Abigail Dowd, Pipe Band, Diana Turner-Forte, Ryan Book, Frank Hunter. Based on a narrative by Ray Owen, director & producer. Tickets: $12 in advance / $15 at the door, available online at www.palustrisfestival.com

• “Our Scottish Heritage, 1770-1900,” is this year’s theme for a special afternoon Saturday, March 26 at the Shaw House. Take a trip back in time from 2 p.m.-4:30 that day. Tickets are $10, and may be purchased online, at the Shaw House, or at the door. Children are admitted free.

A bagpiper will be playing, welcoming ticket-holders to the front door of the Shaw House, which served as the family home from 1821-1946. The founder of Southern Pines, also the town’s first “mayor,” Squire Shaw himself, dressed in 1880s style costume, will greet visitors who come in the front room, where his portrait is hung. They will then be able to view authentic clothing on exhibit that was worn by women and children in the era that Squire Shaw and his family lived here, from the collection of Lucinda Warning Carpenter. Other special displays will show Civil War era surgeons’ and doctors’ tools, loaned by Matthew Farina, a retired pediatric surgeon from Albany, N.Y. who is a member of the Rufus Barringer Civil War Roundtable. A Shaw family member was a Civil War surgeon.

Leaving the Shaw House, visitors can then proceed to the back of the property where two 18th century cabins are open and furnished in the style of the era. Both the Sanders and the Garner cabins were built and occupied in the early 18th century in northern Moore County, but are now located on the Shaw House site in Southern Pines where they are maintained by the MCHA as house museums. A colonial housewife’s style herb garden has been added to the grounds in back and the colonial and Revolutionary War era dwellings will have living history expert Gail Mortensen-Frazer dressed as a typical homemaker in the day to explain what visitors are seeing and answer questions. Children’s clothing will be on display.

As visitors enter the Garner House, MCHA volunteer hostess Kelly Hinson dressed in Victorian-era garb will serve tea and scones, a traditional Scottish refreshment found in many households where Scottish immigrants moved to Moore, Cumberland and the Southeastern United States in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Bethesda Harmony, Hymns from the New World, will be performed Sunday, March 27 at Old Bethesda Church from 3-4:15 p.m. by Larry and Nancy Arnold. Dr. Arnold is a professor of music at UNC-Pembroke, who has prepared the program from his research and long time interest in all forms of American song. The Bethesda Chancel Choir is directed by Nancy Arnold.

Explore the history of Early American spiritual songs in the 18th century church. Americans were expressing new ideas of freedom, religion, and individuality through music of the 18th and 19th century. The program will include traditional and new renditions of rarely heard music and old favorites, with a chance to sing-along. The Bethesda Chancel Choir, the Bethesda Ensemble, and area musicians will perform early American psalms and spiritual songs. This historic program will emphasize music from “electic” tune books published in the United States during the period. The publications presented amalgamations of European, African, and Native American characteristics that established a unique style of song and singing as various as the people of the New World. Tickets are $12. Children admitted free.