This Commonwealth Neighborhood Keeps A Holiday Tradition Alive
Sarah Mulligan Rhodes was a leader in the Commonwealth neighborhood who, every year, turned her home into a holiday showpiece. When she died in 2016, she left her home and tradition to her beloved neighbors, who have made it all their own
Moses Halterman and Rick Dyson met in 1980 at The Scorpio, Charlotte’s oldest gay club, and they’ve been life partners ever since. In 1985, in an era and city far less accommodating to same-sex couples, they moved to the Commonwealth neighborhood, where they met their neighbor across the street, Sarah Mulligan Rhodes.
Rhodes was a widow and community leader. She raised money to spruce up nearby Veterans Park, organized yard sales and other fundraisers for Commonwealth United Methodist Church, and served for 10 years as president of the Neighborhood Association. Yet she’s remembered most for the lavish holiday decorations she’d put up every year at 2500 Commonwealth Ave. Her display came to include a “snow village” in her living room with detailed, exquisitely crafted miniature homes, shops, and restaurants from the Minnesota decoration outlet Department 56. Over the years, Halterman and Dyson, who lived at 2501 Commonwealth, grew close to Rhodes, like family. They happily pitched in on the decorating and, especially as Rhodes’ health waned, took charge of and even enhanced it.
Halterman estimates that he and Dyson have collected more than 100 individual pieces for the snow village.
Rhodes died of lung cancer in 2016 at age 83, and she did something extraordinary in her will: She left her home to her beloved neighbor Rick, who with Moses moved across the street and have kept Rhodes’ holiday tradition alive for the benefit of the neighborhood she loved—and in her memory. They both work on it, but it’s mainly Halterman’s handiwork. “I guess it’s just for the enjoyment of the people,” Halterman says. “We’ve been doing it for so long, it’s hard to stop.”
The snow village in the living room contains numerous pieces (above and below) from Department 56.
A portrait of Rhodes hangs above the entry into the kitchen, flanked by photographs of the house lit up for the holidays. Halterman and Dyson still enjoy decorating, but they’re both beginning to feel the pressures of age, as she did; Halterman is 67, Dyson 63. On a chilly December morning, Halterman struggles a bit as he assembles a miniature merry-go-round for the front yard. Why do they keep doing it? How much longer can they? “I don’t know,” Halterman says. “People in the neighborhood expect it.” The couple created some of that expectation. In late October, they festoon the porch and yard with skeletons and ghouls for Halloween and hand out candy to the kids. That’s a lot of work. They’re thinking about devoting themselves to just Christmas from now on. Still, they hesitate to disappoint the neighbors.
Rhodes started the tradition of decorating her home, and Halterman and Dyson enhanced it after she left them her house upon her death in 2016.
Halterman is a furniture upholsterer—he once had a shop in the building that’s now Common Market in Plaza Midwood—and Dyson recently retired from Bank of America, where he worked in IT. They’re both avid collectors, too, which helps explain why they took to decoration. Their refrigerator is covered in bottle caps that contain photos of people they care about—including Rhodes, of course. When visitors come in to see the snow village, Halterman plays a video for them. It’s a kind of mini-documentary in which Rhodes, dressed as Mrs. Claus, explains the idea behind the snow village: In 1976, Department 56 began to offer a collection of six ceramic buildings hand-painted by independent artists, and the company created and sold more pieces and holiday displays as the decades passed. The display here is the Original Snow Village, which remains true to the vision of small-town America that Department 56 aimed for with its original collection.
Halterman and Dyson are avid collectors. Their refrigerator is covered in bottle caps that contain photos of people close to them—including their late friend, community leader Sarah Mulligan Rhodes.
Rhodes started with just a few pieces but kept collecting, and Halterman and Dyson were happy to take up the pastime. Halterman estimates that about three-quarters of the more than 100 miniatures in the collection come from his and Dyson’s purchases from estate sales and other sources. It’s another habit that’s hard to break. “I’m not supposed to be buying more,” he says, “but I picked up a few more at an antique store in Concord this weekend.” His and Dyson’s hearts are a bit heavier lately—both recently lost sisters, and Dyson’s father died. The losses have dampened some of their enthusiasm. But they still greet the people who stop by. “I don’t know how you all do it, Moses,” one says. “It gets better each year.”
The collection Halterman has built with his life partner, Rick Dyson, ranges from near-life-size pieces to intricately crafted miniatures.
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The Halterman/Dyson home is at 2500 Commonwealth Ave., and the Christmas decorations are usually finished
a week or so after Thanksgiving.
LOGAN CYRUS is a photojournalist in Charlotte.
