The Hunt Season Southern Pines Blesses on Thanksgiving Started in October

In its preview of an earlier Thanksgiving meet, The Pilot described the hour before the Blessing of the Hounds on Buchan Field as something that "could be the inspiration for an 18th-century print." The paper counted 150 horses, riders in formal coats, and 60 Penn-Marydel foxhounds bred and trained at the hunt's own kennels in Southern Pines.

This year that scene happens on Thursday, November 26, about five weeks after this post publishes. The Moore County Hounds call it the opening meet. For anyone who walks or rides in the woods north of town, that name is a little misleading. The hounds have been working those woods for weeks, and Thanksgiving morning is when the hunt formally starts its season with the public watching.

The season was already underway

According to the Moore County Hounds' hunting page, the season "begins in informal dress, 'Ratcatcher', in October with Fall Hunting." The opening meet on Thanksgiving Day is when the formal season starts, and riders wear formal attire after it.

The same page lists the regular meet days. Hunts in the Walthour-Moss Foundation run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with junior hunts during the holiday season. Hunts in Hoffman run on Mondays and bye days. Exact meet locations go out to members on fixture cards, so the public schedule stops at the days of the week.

The hunt is also a private pack. Nobody rides with the Moore County Hounds without a written invitation from the Masters, and each rider needs a signed release, a current negative Coggins test for the horse, and a North Carolina hunting license plus a game-lands stamp to hunt in Hoffman. On Thanksgiving morning, the hunt invites the public to come and watch.

Those weekday meets use the woods your neighbors walk

The Moore County Hounds' Blessing of the Hounds page says the hunt rides in the Walthour-Moss Foundation, "a 4,000-acre tract of land that the Moore County Hounds hunt by cooperative agreement." The Foundation's map describes its land as bounded by US 1, North May Street and Young's Road, which puts it close to downtown.

The Foundation does not close its trails for hunt days. Its 2026 notice says the trails are open every day. Its land use policies say the property is open "daily year-round from dawn to dusk," and visitors must sign a risk and release waiver every year. The Foundation also asks visitors to carry a cell phone and to learn the 911 location markers posted at the major fire lane intersections.

The Foundation explains its dog rule this way.

"As a place for equestrian purposes, WMF prioritizes safety, and dogs can create potentially dangerous situations for horses, riders, carriage drivers, and people on foot. Therefore, no dogs are allowed."

The only dogs allowed in Walthour-Moss are foxhounds from a Masters of Foxhounds Association member hunt, and only while they hunt or train under the direct control of a qualified huntsman and staff. So the only dogs anyone should see in those woods are a working pack of hounds. Dogs are also barred from the Thanksgiving blessing, where they could distract the foxhounds.

Why the blessing happens on Buchan Field

The location has history behind it. The Pilot reports that James and Jack Boyd founded the hunt in 1914, and the blessing is as old as the hunt. It began at Weymouth, the Boyd family's winter estate. The hunt registered with the Masters of Foxhounds Association in 1921, and The Pilot calls it the oldest hunt in North Carolina.

The Boyds set aside about 2,000 acres for foxhunting. W. Ozell "Pappy" Moss and Virginia Moss doubled that and conserved the land as the Walthour-Moss Foundation. The hounds have lived in kennels at the Mosses' Mile-A-Way Farm since 1942.

The blessing moved several times over the following century. The Pilot traces it from Lyell's Meadow, once called Kaylor Field, to Hobby Field on Youngs Road, and then to Buchan Field in 2015. Buchan Field is named for the first Scottish family to farm it, in the late 18th century, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the hunt lands around Mile Away Farm.

The ground has changed around the field. The Pilot reported that much of the original 84-acre Buchan Field tract had already become small horse farms. Preserve the Sandhills, a nonprofit, bought a 12-acre parcel off Mile Away Lane so it would stay open space. In that year's account, admission was free, and private front-row tailgating spots were sold to support land conservation. The 2026 listing on The Pines Times still names Preserve the Sandhills as host. So the open ground near the blessing site is partly there because a nonprofit bought a piece of it.

How Thanksgiving morning runs

The 2026 listing gives the event hours as 7 a.m. to noon on November 26. Thanksgiving falls on the 26th this year, so a flyer that says Thursday, November 27, is showing last year's date. Here is the morning in order:

1. Park at Lyell's Meadow. The parking field is at 225 Mile Away Lane off North May Street. The Pilot says Buchan Field is less than two miles from downtown Southern Pines. The event listing says to allow "at least an hour" to park and walk from Lyell's Meadow to Buchan Field.
2. Come early if you want breakfast. In The Pilot's earlier account, most of a crowd that can top 1,000 in good weather arrived before 8 a.m. for breakfast and tailgating.
3. Watch the field assemble. Riders gather around 10 a.m. The joint masters and hunt staff wear scarlet jackets, and the rest of the riders, known as the field, wear traditional hunting attire. The hounds arrive with their huntsman, Lincoln Sadler.
4. The blessing starts promptly at 10 a.m. The hunt's own page names Father Tom Harbold as presiding, and the ceremony includes a prayer from St. Hubert, patron saint of hunting, asking protection for "rider, horse, and hound from danger to life and limb." The Pilot's 2024 photo gallery shows Rev. Tom Harbold blessing the hunt, with Master Cameron Sadler and Huntsman Lincoln Sadler.
5. The hunt moves off. Riders split into three groups, each behind a joint field master, and a horn signals the start. They ride from Buchan Field into the Walthour-Moss woods.
6. Wait for the return. The Pilot described a short, pre-planned hunt that usually comes back to Buchan Field within an hour, and it encouraged spectators to stay.

Leave pets at home. If you want a front tailgate spot, the listing says to contact the Moore County Hounds directly, and VIP spots are limited. The hunt lists its contact as [email protected] or (609) 560-2391.

The rest of the hunt-country calendar through December

Thanksgiving gets the crowd, but other horse-country events fall between this week and the end of the year. Two of them use the same Mile Away ground.

The Moore County Hounds' Hunter Pace has three divisions, called Coyote Run, Fox Chase and Hilltopper, and it starts from the same parking meadow spectators use eleven days later. According to its website, Carolina Horse Park offers free admission to most of its events. The Foundation's 100 Miles for Moss challenge counts miles on horseback, on foot, by bicycle or by carriage, and it runs through December 31.

The land around Mile Away Farm and Walthour-Moss holds more than a century of local history. If you'd like to talk about horse properties or homes near Walthour-Moss, or just compare notes on Thanksgiving morning at Buchan Field, Bill Sahadi is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.