Story via David Menconi, Down on Copperline, Orange County Arts Commission
Some years back, Danielle Rose went to the annual bluegrass festival regularly held at the Moorefields estate just outside of Hillsborough. Even more than the event’s music, what made the biggest impression on her was the festival’s bucolic woodlands setting at Moorefields, a 70-acre tract a few miles west of where Interstates 40 and 85 split.
“Moorefields is an absolutely stunning place, a beautiful estate with a lot of history,” Rose says of Moorefields (which is in the National Register of Historic Places due to its architecture). “I went to one of their bluegrass festivals and was just in awe of the grounds. And I just really thought we should hold a concert series out there.”
Fast-forward to the present day, in which Rose is now station manager at WHUP, 104.7-FM – the Hillsborough community radio station’s first paid employee. WHUP is co-sponsoring the inaugural Hillsborough Jazz Festival at Mooresville on April 18, and it’s actually something of a revival despite also being the first edition of this event…