Franklin’s Women’s History Park receives state award
Town of Franklin photo
The Women’s History Park in east Franklin has received statewide recognition as a “Great Place for Public Art” for its Sowing the Seeds of the Future sculpture.
The North Carolina chapter of the American Planning Association presents the “Great Places Across NC” awards. The annual awards range from public recreation parks, downtown redevelopment areas, com-prehensive plans and public art.
The Folk Heritage Association of Macon County and the Women’s History Trail donated the sculpture to the town and worked with the town on creating the Women’s History Park between the town bridges in east Franklin.
This historic monument created by Academy Award-winning sculptor Wesley Wofford, was gifted as public art to the town by the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County. It serves as the trailhead for the Women’s History Trail, a designated walking path celebrating women, a dream of the late community leader Barbara McRae.
The Women’s History Trail opened in 2018 in downtown Franklin and connects 20 diverse, industrious women from all walks of life. Additional trail plaques continue to be identified and added. FHAMC commissioned Wofford to create the sculpture in late 2018. The “Sowing the Seeds of the Future” represents the interconnected lives of Na-ka Rebecca Morris (a Cherokee woman), Harriet Timoxena Siler Sloan (a pioneer woman), and Salley (an enslaved woman). These three women were linked by a specific piece of property that was on the Little Tennessee River across from the Noquisiyi (Nikwasi) Mound.
FHAMC donated the sculpture to the town as public art. The town provided the site for the park — a full circle back to a specific piece of property on the Little Tennessee River that connected the women in the statue. FHAMC oversaw the design and creation, working alongside the Town of Franklin to establish the park. The sculpture and the new Women’s History Park were dedicated on March 23, 2024.
