Jonesville Community Connect
In the summer of 2023 a group of concerned residents got together to share their concerns regional growth and the possible impact on the Jonesville Community. Through a series of meetings the group established a list of "threats" that needed to be addressed. The group created a plan to reach out to the residents of Jonesville through a series of community meetings where these concerns would be shared with neighbors. The information sessions lead to the creation of four(4) main committes designed to address these threats.
- CommUNITY Committee
To create a legal entity our community can use to address the issues we are facing. - History Committee
Preserve community history and earn various, official historic designations and recognition. - Communication Committee
Interact with government entities and build community awareness and envolvement. - Safety & Traffic Committee
Engage NCDOT and Law Enforcement authorities to improve roadway infrastructure and neighborhood safety.
Meetings
Below are the list of meetings with links to the flyer used to promote each meeting as well as the agenda covered.
To learn more about our next meeting(s) please contact one of our Community Connect Committee Leads.
- Monday December 11, 2023 | flyer | agenda
- Monday November 07, 2023 | flyer | agenda --
- Community Benefits Agreement - DRAFT | pdf
- Community Legal Entity Options - PRESENTATION | pdf
Links
This section contains a number of vaious links that community members might find helpful/useful as we work through various initiatives.
- Wake County Water Testing | web
- NCDOT Traffic Control Devices | web
- Rolesville Planning | Harris Creek Farm (pending) | web
- Rolesville Planning | Hills at Harris Creek (denied) | web
- Rolesville Planning | Mitchell Mill Preserve (approved) | web
Events
Our Jonesville community celebrates a number of events. Listed below are several examples of celebrations both past and those that continue to this day.
Family Reunion
For generations the Jones Family has held family reunions at Family Field. The event reunites family members from all over and helps to highlight and reinforce the importance of family by giving us the opportunity to remind ourselves that what we have today is forged from the labor and conditions under which our enslaved ancestors worked.
Frederick Douglass Adjournment
The day after Frederick Douglass's death, on February 21, 1895, the North Carolina legislature adjourned for a day to honor Douglass. The North Carolina legislature had voted against adjourning on February 22 for George Washington's birthday, even though it was a state holiday. Adjournment honors were also denied to General Robert E. Lee on January 19, 1895.
The resolution to adjourn to honor Frederick Douglass created a sensation throughout North Carolina as it was the first time in the country that a legislative body had adjourned to honor a black man. In Jonesville, our residents celebrated the affair1 annually for an unknown number of years. A decade later, the adjournment continued to irritate certain members2 of the countries population.
Although no longer celebrated, the event forever holds a great amount of importance to the history of our community.
Independence Day / Juneteenth
The 4th of July has been celebrated in Family Field, however many Black Americans consider it to be America's second Independence Day. On June 19, 1865 some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas where the army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. That day would become known as "Juneteenth" by the newly freed people in Texas.
Birthdays & Special Occasions
For decades family members gather at Family Field, a small 1 acre clearing off Cousins Lane, to celebrate a variety of occasions such as birthdays and graduations.
Tours
Ask about our comunity tour. We'll take you on a journey through time, showing everything from the orginal Home house location of John and Mattie Hartsfield, through the various subdivision built by each decendent's families, to the various structures throughout the area that were built by our enslaved ancestors.
1) https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn85042104/1896-01-23/ed-1/seq-5/
2) https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn99061556/1906-10-30/ed-1/seq-8/