Lunch Lecture: A Woman, A Hustler, A House, and A Legacy with Dawn Carroll

Join us for a riveting talk and presentation of music with part-time Island resident, Dawn Carroll. Dawn is an award-winning Boston designer turned songwriter, producer, preservationist, and storyteller, bewitched by a house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and driven to help save it from destruction. The Queen Ann style “Mystery Manor” was once owned by the banker William “Woogie” Harris who ran it as a speakeasy, but opened it up to Mary Caldwell Dawson to establish the National Negro Opera Company. Ms. Dawson was a pioneer in classical music who fought discrimination and exclusion and became a legend. To preserve her story, Dawn wrote over 15 “Songs for Mary”, bringing Mary back to life, as well as celebrities like Big Joe Louis, Lena Horne, Roberto Clemente, Count Basie, and contributing to the mission of saving the fascinating house.