Del Vecchio, Steve

Wright, Christina

Charlotte, North Carolina

J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections & University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

2023-03-27

1 audio file (1:39:00) : digital, MP3

Audio

spoken word

eng

Steve del Vecchio was a 70-year-old man at the time of the interview, which took place in the Wendover-Sedgewood neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1952. He was educated at South Mecklenburg High School and Central Piedmont Community College and was employed by Elizabeth Clarkson as a gardener at Wing Haven Gardens for eleven years and also by internationally known garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence, but was primarily self-employed as a gardener in the Charlotte area for his entire life.

Steve del Vecchio discusses his lifelong career as a gardener in the Charlotte area and his identity as a gay man since his family moved to the city in the 1950s. Topics discussed include the different clients Mr. del Vecchio worked for including Elizabeth Lawrence and Elizabeth Clarkson (whose properties on Ridgewood Ave in Myers Park, the Elizabeth Lawrence House & Garden and Wing Haven Garden & Bird Sanctuary, are historic and open to the public); Mr. del Vecchio's relationship with Robert "Jake" Freese, owner and publisher of the queer journal, Charlotte Free Press; his own contributions to the paper as a horticultural columnist; his experience and participation in the growing queer community of mid-twentieth Charlotte.

MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV production master file. Interview originally recorded on a Zoom H5 Handy Recorder.

There is occasional bird chirping in the background and the mic falls and creates a loud audio disturbance at (00:40:03).

Del Vecchio, Steve

Wing Haven Foundation (Charlotte N.C.)
Elizabeth Lawrence House & Garden (Charlotte N.C.)
Charlotte Free Press (Charlotte N.C.)
Park Road Baptist Church (Charlotte N.C.)
Metrolina AIDS Project (Charlotte N.C.)
Josh’s Restaurant (Charlotte N.C.)

Gardeners
Gardening
Gay men--Identity
AIDS (Disease)
Gay community
Drag
Gay press publications
LGBTQ+ press

North Carolina--Charlotte

Oral histories
Interviews

1950-2030

Charlotte LGBTQ+ oral histories

Freese, John J., and Robert J. Freese. Charlotte Free Press. John J. Freese and Robert J. Freese, Jr., 1975. J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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audio/mpeg

QH-DE0079

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/uncc:8580