Paul Pierce, retired producing artistic director of the Springer Opera House, grew up in Rome, Georgia, but his family ties to southern Georgia stretch back seven generations. Pierce’s ancestors moved to Georgia after purchasing land through the 1827 Land Lottery, an act which redistributed native people’s land to settlers. When Pierce moved to Columbus to work at the Springer, he researched his family’s history in the region and met Mac Moye, a local historian and steward of the Singer-Moye Mounds with his wife, Georgia.