It was a big day for a group of citizens of Caswell County. After five weeks studying authors of North Carolina’s Literary Hall of Fame, they finally had the opportunity to meet one — Burke Davis.

The Greensboro author, along with wife Judy and daughter Angela Davis-Gardner, an author who teaches at N.C. State University, came to talk with the group about his writing and share stories about his life. The group met in the restored courtroom of Caswell County’s 1860s courthouse in Yanceyville.

The seminar was presented by Caswell County’s Cooperative Extension Center, in conjunction with Humanities Extension, an outreach effort of N.C. State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The program was funded through a grant from the Caswell Council for the Arts.

Since the 1970s, Humanities Extension has been presenting workshops around the state on topics ranging from literature and writing to the social sciences. Cooperative Extension centers in every county of the state have worked in partnership with Humanities Extension to present these workshops, said Dr. Jim Clark, director of Humanities Extension.

Donna Pointer, Caswell County family and consumer education agent, has a long working relationship with Clark and Humanities Extension. Together, they have brought workshops to Caswell County on memoir writing, Southern writers and women writers. High school teachers and others interested in literature have been a captivated audience for the programs.

Davis’ appearance at the seminar wasn’t initially part of Pointer’s plan. She ran announcements in local newspapers and one day received a call from Davis’ wife who had read about the program, asking if she and her husband could attend one of the group’s seminars. Pointer was thrilled.

Clark said appearances by members of the Literary Hall of Fame are rare, since many of the living members are elderly. Only about a half-dozen members are in good enough health to participate in seminars like the one in Yanceyville, he said.

Dr. Sally Buckner, poet and retired head of the English Department at Raleigh’s Peace College, taught this seminar. The class read Burke Davis’ 1965 novel The Summer Land, which explores the life of tobacco farmers in 1916 North Carolina. It is one of 42 books he wrote during his career.

In addition to Davis, seminar participants studied the works of Hall of Fame authors such as Robert Ruark, A.R. Ammons, Olive Tilford Dargan and Helen Bevington. Buckner also encouraged seminar participants to try their hands at writing.

On the day of Davis’ visit, participants brought food for an informal reception with their honored guests. They talked of how much they had enjoyed the seminar and how they wished they could do it more often. They spoke with pride about how they value their county Cooperative Extension center.

“Our Extension Service is one of the most important things in our county,” said one participant.

In addition to covering literary topics, Humanities Extension seminars have focused on public policy issues, environmental issues, trade and international conflict. As an English professor, Clark often presents the literature workshops and calls on faculty from other humanities disciplines to handle others.

— Natalie Hampton