Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam & Jess Gilbert.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Jess and I moved our family to Hendersonville from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2006, where I accepted positions at both Hendersonville High School (as an ELA teacher) and Historic Rock Castle. We moved into the caretakers house on Rock Castle’s property in 2007, and Jess began working at Rock Castle shortly thereafter. The events at Rock Castle just sort of grew naturally from our personal interests. When our kids were little, we started the Wonderland Egg Hunt, and when I took a position teaching songwriting as an elective course at HHS, the music series events were a natural byproduct. There were a lot of other people working alongside us to plan and orchestrate the events, of course; Rock Castle has always had incredible directors and board members, and there has been a consistent community-focused culture to how the site is run, which makes growth easy.
We’ve been at Rock Castle nearly twenty years now, and it has been thrilling to see how the community has embraced Rock Castle and its programs. At this point, the site offers more than 30 core programs and events for students and families to enjoy, including the beloved Nashville Symphony by the Lake event, the largest egg hunt in Tennessee, a festival-style summer songwriter series, the largest Bluegrass fest in the region, a series of winter house concert events, seven summer camps, the most expansive living history festival in the Midsouth, and a plethora of other stand-alone holiday, educational, literary, historical, and interpretative programs that take place throughout the year.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There are going to be complications and challenges on any path, and we have certainly experienced a few over the year; but I think whatever struggles we have contended with along the way have only helped us more fully appreciate the successes.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Historic Rock Castle?
Historic Rock Castle is a Tennessee state historic site managed by a 501(c)3 nonprofit board of directors and executive staff.
Rock Castle has three main missions as a non-profit historic site:
1. educate through immersive, hands-on experiences
2. connect the community through meaningful, family-friendly events
3. preserve the history and heritage of a Tennessee state treasure
Rock Castle is best known for its unique history and engaging community events. The following events typically attract more than 60,000 visitors to Rock Castle annually, but we fully expect to surpass those numbers in 2026 when our new visitor and event center opens. While many of Rock Castle’s guests are local, repeat visitors who enjoy the educational and family-friendly programming, there are also thousands of out-of-county, out-of-state, and out-of-country guests among them. These out-of-town visitors eat at local restaurants, stay in local hotels, and invest their time and resources into our local economy. It is a benefit Rock Castle is proud to provide for the community it loves.
1. Wonderland Festival — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzHravg7aU
Saturday, March 28, 2026
• This children-focused event features the largest egg hunt in all of Tennessee
• The event is themed around the children’s book Alice In Wonderland and features professional character
actors, Mad Hatter Tea Parties, inflatables, and festival games
• The Wonderland Festival attracts between 3,000 & 4,000 guests each year.
2. Summer Songwriter Series — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXiUDJZ4NyA
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKnWG_H4dyQ
Saturday, June 20, 2026; Saturday, July 18, 2026; Saturday, August 15, 2026
• This is a music festival series of 3 events (one each month from June-August).
• The Summer Songwriter Series attracts between 6,000-8,000 guests over the course of the season.
• We bring in 9-12 bands (both regionally and nationally touring acts) each year.
• The series is intentionally family-friendly with inflatables, yard games, and food trucks
3. Nashville Symphony by the Lake — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7_vu1RsIT8
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
• This rare symphonic concert is offered entirely FREE to guests.
• The Symphony by the Lake event attracts between 6,000 & 7,000 guests each year.
4. Rock Castle Summer Camps
American Girl Camp (two weeks), Frontier Camp, Revolutionary Adventure Camp,
Mythology Camp, Wizarding Camp, & Survivor Camp
• This is a series of 7 camps that take place during the summer months of June and July.
5. Folk ‘n Bluegrass Fest — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykoro_0nNzo
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGndV8UJuVo
Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12, 2026
• The Folk ‘n Bluegrass Fest is a bluegrass focused music festival that attracts between 2,000-3,000 guests annually.
• We bring in 5-7 bands (both local and nationally touring acts) each year.
• The event is intentionally family-friendly, with inflatables, yard games, and food trucks.
6. Rock Castle Living History Days Festival — https://youtu.be/wGd-Wz7NnUU
Thursday, September 17, Friday, September 18, and Saturday, September 19, 2026
• This educational event is offered FREE to every public school 5th grader in Sumner County.
• The Sumner County Board of Education provides student transportation to and front the festival
• The event attracts between 5,000 & 7,000 guests each year.
• We bring in 50 or more educational presenters and demonstrators each year.
7. Castle of Villains — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgRczaHA7w
2026 Date(s) TBD, but it will happen during the Halloween season
• The Castle of Villains is a children-focused community event that attracts between 2,500-4,000 guests annually.
• We hire professional actors to portray classic storybook Villains, and children meander down a mile-long trail through Rock Castle’s enchanted woods to meet them, collecting candy in their Halloween costumes along the way.
8. Winter House Concert Series — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5OTvD76qJo
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7k3ElgUy-8
Saturday & Sunday, November 21 & 22, 2026; Saturday & Sunday, January 16 & 17, 2027; and
Saturday & Sunday, February 13 & 14, 2027
• This is a series of 6 events (two each month during November, January, & February).
• Each event is an intimate one-of-a-kind listening room experience.
9. A Merry Castle Christmas — https://youtu.be/HrKUfBWHOiM
Christmas Open House, Weekly Candlelight Tours, A Little Women Christmas Tour, and a Jane Austen Christmas Tour
• A Merry Castle Christmas is a series of history & literature-themed community events that take place the first three weeks of December.
• Guests are welcomed into the history of Rock Castle & the interactive experience of several literary classics.
• Refreshments, song, and stories are provided in the historic home.
• The A Merry Castle Christmas series of events is expected to attract between 2000-3000 guests in 2026.
In addition to the programs and events already mentioned, Rock Castle will be offering a variety of history-focused tour experiences (rotated seasonally) in 2026. It will also facilitate a folk arts training program to reinfuse knowledge of diminishing historic skills and art forms back into the community (i.e. blacksmithing, fireside cooking, fiber arts, natural dyes, etc.). To this end, we are always eager to connect with other people who are inclined toward such things, and we eagerly invite those who are interested to participate in both the enjoyment and presentation of these programs. You need not be well acquainted with history to volunteer; our staff will ease you into the process as your comfort and alacrity dictate.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
For us, networking has always been about building authentic relationships with the people in our community. It’s important to produce a good product, of course–and I think we have–but I also think Rock Castle’s successes have come as much from genuinely caring for the community it serves as it has from its programing. Our staff eagerly and happily volunteers at other events, we promote and celebrate the successes of other community programs, and we actively look for ways to serve our local students and families. That’s not a concept of our own design either…it’s a selfless example we’ve often seen modeled well by other organizations in our community, and we are simply grateful to be able to follow in their footsteps–to be a part of that positive mindset and culture. When organizations and the people who run them see each other as assets and partners in the common goal of improving life for the community, everyone wins.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.historicrockcastle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historicrockcastle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historic.rock.castle
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rockcastle-samgilbert/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@samgilbertofficial
