2023 Hometown Spirit Award Recipient

From Nominators:

Peggy Van Scoyoc is a Cary treasure. She exemplifies so many of the traits of a Hometown Spirit award winner. 

Peggy demonstrates hospitality to new and established citizens of Cary. As a member of the Friends of the Page‐Walker’s Speakers Bureau, she has spoken to women's clubs, church groups, senior groups, newcomers’ groups and others about Cary’s history, helping everyone feel at home and establish a sense of community. 

Peggy promotes traditional American pastimes. For seven years, along with her friend Nancy Ryan, Peggy hosted a silent auction of beautiful garden items at Cary’s annual Herbfest. During that time, she and Nancy not only hosted the auction each year, but also created and donated all of the special and unique auction items. Their dedicated efforts and support of Herbfest have earned more than $5,900 for the Friends of the Page‐Walker. 

Peggy is among Cary’s top historians and thus shows concern for preservation and works to preserve traditions and the small‐town atmosphere in the community. For more than 24 years, she has been compiling oral histories of prominent people in Cary’s history, recently completing her 100th oral history! This collection is part of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Some oral history selections are included in Peggy’s books, Just A Horse‐Stopping Place and Desegregating Cary. Peggy has previously been recognized by the Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources division with the Town’s Heritage Award. 

As a long‐time board member and multiple‐term past president of the Friends of the Page‐Walker, Peggy has been engaged in many community outreach efforts that promote a sense of community. These include Herbfest, holiday open houses, antiques appraisal fairs, a teen talent show, an African American historic artifact cataloging session and others. Peggy also wrote a popular recurring column about Cary’s history for the CaryCitizen until 2022 when the publication ended its circulation. She continues to share Cary’s rich history through blog posts, social media and the Friends’ newsletter, The Innkeeper, all accessed on the Friends of the Page-Walker’s website.

Peggy demonstrates patriotism through her speaking, writing and oral history recording of our country’s past. In 2013, she was a featured speaker at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) ceremony that recognized Cary’s Nathaniel Jones as a Revolutionary War patriot at the White Plains Cemetery (also known as the Nathaniel Jones Graveyard, a Cary historic landmark). In 2014, Peggy was recognized by the Yates Mill Chapter of the DAR with their historic preservation award. 

We believe that Peggy Van Scoyoc exemplifies hometown spirit and we can think of no one more deserving of this award than Peggy.