Horses and hounds will once again gather in the meadow at the Boyd estate as members of the Moore County Hounds begin a hunt in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities.

The Friends of Weymouth invite the public to attend the event, which begins Saturday, Feb. 20, at 8:15 a.m. as the carriages of the Moore County Driving Club will enter the property from the Ridge Street entrance and proceed to the Boyd house entrance.

"Horse Country" is synonymous with Southern Pines, so much so that the current long-range planning process for the town has revealed the preservation of this aspect of the community to be of primary interest to the residents.

Best known as the home of writer James Boyd II, Weymouth is also the birthplace of the town's equestrian heritage with the founding of the Moore County Hounds by James and his brother Jack in the winter of 1914. The Boyds saw this aristocratic sport in democratic terms and felt that it should belong to the town.

Proper dress or not, anyone who wished to hunt was invited to come along. In a letter to a friend, James Boyd described a hunt on New Year's Day 1916 with farmers on horses more accustomed to plowing than jumping fences, alongside huntsmen in their formal attire.

In the early days all hunts proceeded from Weymouth, becoming more elaborate in the 1920s and '30s. As many as 60 to 65 men and women rode three days a week during the season, following the Boyds' pack of hounds.

William Ozelle Moss and his wife, Virginia, inherited the Moore County Hounds from James and Jackson Boyd in 1942, when the founding brothers departed for service in World War II. Know to the community as "Ginnie" and "Pappy," the couple were responsible for the preservation of the Boyds' equestrian legacy, as they enticed wealthy horsemen to the region by putting on impressive shows featuring the virtues of Sandhills country life. Families named Rockefeller, Reynolds, Firestone and others began acquiring large parcels of land, resulting in the establishment of a world-class equestrian district.

The Moore County Hounds is today one of the oldest hunt clubs in the United States. It is managed by joint masters Richard Webb, Cameron Sadler, Michael Russell and Effie Ellis. Riders wear traditional equestrian dress of breeches, boots and riding coats, following the protocols of a fox-hunting tradition that dates back to early 19th-century England.

The hounds are cast by the huntsman at the start, and the masters and the field follow behind until the scent is discovered. Then the chase begins, going through the fields and forests of the Southern Pines countryside as well as the Walthour-Moss Foundation.

The Moore County Driving Club, with more than 200 members, is the oldest in America. The group stages several high level competitions annually, and according to the American Driving Society, southern Moore County is home to the largest concentration of carriage drivers in the world.

Weymouth was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and in addition to its equestrian heritage, was an important center during the Southern literary renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, hosting such notable figures as William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Green, Thomas Wolfe and others.

The estate was originally more than 2,500 acres in size and included a forest of virgin longleaf pine trees. The 1904 design for Weymouth commenced with plans for a great park. Public roads were opened in all directions across the hilly terrain, using to advantage natural features, and with care not to harm the old trees. Plans ultimately included tennis courts, a croquet lawn, a practice golf course, stables and riding rings.

This is the first time the hunt has been at Weymouth since the 1970s, and it is the hope of the Friends of Weymouth to re-establish this important community tradition at the site. Spectators are advised to come early in advance of the equestrian procession. The estate is located at the corner of East Connecticut Avenue and Ridge Street in Southern Pines.

Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the site and the legacy of the Boyd family.

For more information, call (910) 692-6261.