Accessibility at Historic Sites

Download Printable Document

Alamance Battleground

The site of a revolution that helped to spark the Revolutionary War.

Physical Disabilities:

No designated paved parking spaces. Accommodations can be made as necessary for easy access.
Natural ground with grass. No paved paths. Some slopes. Benches near the restroom provide an area of rest.
The visitor center entrance is level.

One accessible restroom for each gender.
Visitors may drive or be driven to the Allen House (approx. 80 yards from the visitor center). Staff are available to assist visitors with mobility issues.

Hearing Loss:

Orientation video has volume control but is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

Restroom signs have Braille.
Two plaques outside the visitor center are a map of the site with raised letters and shapes that visitors with vision loss can feel.
Two monuments across the street also have raised letters.

Aycock Birthplace

The birthplace of North Carolina’s education governor.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces: one at the visitor center and one at the picnic shelter.
A concrete path at least 4 feet wide with slopes leads from the parking lot to the visitor center. An uneven dirt path leads to the schoolhouse and the home.
The interior of the visitor center has a ramp and carpeted floors.
The entrance to the visitor center has a ramp. Other buildings have steps.
One accessible restroom for each gender.

Hearing Loss:

A video tour is available, but is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

12 Braille copies of the site’s brochure are available (courtesy of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind).
The site offers tactile tours that allow visitors to touch reproduction items.
Restroom signs have Braille.

Battleship North Carolina

One of the most decorated battleships of World War II that now serves as a memorial to all North Carolina veterans.

Physical Disabilities:

Marked accessible parking spaces are available.
The entrance has a ramp.
Two accessible restrooms.
The main deck of the ship provides the best access for visitors with mobility disabilities. The interior contains steps and ladders.
The Back Porch Tour designed for groups with limited mobility gives them a taste without coming aboard through a 10-minute video, a tour of the Visitor Center and Exhibit Hall and a visit to the Observation Deck. Allow four weeks’ notice.
A new walkway around the ship is fully accessible.

Bennett Place

The place where the Civil War truly ended; the site of the largest surrender of the Civil War.

Physical Disabilities:

Four marked accessible parking spaces.
The entrance to the visitor center is level. The Bennett House and kitchen house have steps.
The picnic area has two wheelchair-accessible picnic tables and there is a walkway leading into the picnic area that is wheelchair friendly.

Hearing Loss:

The site’s two videos are not captioned.

Vision Loss:

Signs in the visitor center have large print with good contrast.

Bentonville Battlefield

The site of the largest Civil War conflict in North Carolina.

Physical Disabilities:

One accessible parking area marked by a sign. The rest of the parking area is either gravel or grass.
The visitor center and restrooms are at ground level. The historic structures have steps.
Two accessible restrooms.
The visitor center, restrooms and Tour Stops are wheelchair-accessible.
Photo book available for visitors with mobility disabilities to see historic structures.

Hearing Loss:

The audio-visual elements are not captioned.
The site requires a request in writing two weeks in advance for a sign language interpreter.

Vision Loss:

Cellphone audio tours are available at 910-535-2008.

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson

A Civil War fort and the ruins of an early colonial settlement.

Physical Disabilities:

Three marked accessible parking spaces.
One accessible restroom for each gender.
Entrance to the site is level.
Two manual wheelchairs are available.
The path through the exhibits in the visitor center has a ramp. The path to the fort has a bench along the way as well as a ramp with handrails, and the boardwalk has a 40-footlong bench. Steel cable around the excavated foundations makes them visible at low heights.

Hearing Loss:

The orientation video in the visitor center is not captioned, but a script is available.

Vision Loss:

The site director will give a private tour to a visitor with vision loss who requests one.

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum

A pioneering effort in African American education emphasizing the contributions African Americans made in North Carolina.

Note: The site asks groups when scheduling if there are special needs in order to help the site plan accommodations.

Physical Disabilities:

Ten marked accessible parking spaces.
The visitor center has a ramp, and the doors are at least 32 inches wide and easy to open.
Five accessible restrooms.
One building has an elevator.

Hearing Loss:

Orientation video is not captioned, but a script is available.
The walking campus tour provides the material ordinarily offered in a guided tour in written form.

Vision Loss:

The orientation video provides a verbal overview of the site, and the guided tour offers details for visitors with vision loss.

CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center

An interactive museum exploring the Civil War surrounding one of the war's few remaining ironclad ships.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
The entrance has a ramp.
Two accessible restrooms.
Tours of the CSS Neuse are accessible to all visitors. The Governor Caswell Memorial is fully accessible.

Hearing Loss:

The orientation film is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

The orientation film does not have audio description.
Signs feature various font sizes on various backgrounds.

Duke Homestead

The birthplace of the world’s largest tobacco company that would eventually make North Carolina he heart of an international tobacco empire.

Physical Disabilities:

The entrance to the visitor center has a ramp.
Two accessible restrooms.
The visitor center and the house are wheelchair-accessible. Historic buildings have steps.

Hearing Loss:

A script for the orientation video is available.
Written materials are available for the historic area.

Vision Loss:

Orientation video does not include audio description.

Fort Dobbs

A frontier fort during the French and Indian War and North Carolina's only site from the period.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
The visitor center has a ramp.
Accessible restroom facility on site.
The nature trail is not accessible to visitors with mobility disabilities.

Vision Loss:

Fort Dobbs offers various objects that visitors with vision loss may touch, including a scale model of the fort and reproductions of period clothing and bullets. Tactile tours are offered.

Fort Fisher

A Civil War fort that tells story of the fall of Wilmington during the Civil War and served as a World War II training facility.

Physical Disabilities:

Five marked accessible parking spaces in the museum lot and four at the oceanfront.
One paved path, one concrete path, one boardwalk path and three dirt paths at least 4 feet wide with slopes. The paved and concrete paths have ramps.
The visitor center entrance has a ramp.
One accessible restroom for each gender.
Two regular wheelchairs are available.

Hearing Loss:

A script of the orientation video is available.

Historic Bath

North Carolina’s first town.

Physical Disabilities:

No marked individual spaces in the paved parking lot, but there is one reserved accessible parking sign near the Visitor Center entrance.
Visitor Center entrance is level.
The Van Der Veer House has a ramp with a slope no greater than 1:12. The guided tour homes (Palmer-Marsh and Bonner) have steps.

Hearing Loss:

A captioned version of the 15-minute orientation film is available upon request.

Vision Loss:

Visitor signs (restrooms and the orientation room) have Braille.

Historic Edenton

Featuring 18th and 19th century history, North Carolina's second oldest town Edenton was one of the fledgling nation's chief political, cultural, and commercial centers.

Physical Disabilities:

One marked accessible parking space in a gravel lot at the Visitor Center. The Barker House has a paved parking lot.
The Visitor Center has a ramp. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Chowan County Courthouse both have a ramp. The Barker House has 10 steps, the Cupola House has three steps, and the Iredell House has five steps.
One accessible restroom for each gender.
Two wheelchairs are available for loan.
The trolley has a wheelchair lift and space to anchor one wheelchair.

Hearing Loss:

A script is available for the audio-visual program.

Vision Loss:

A Braille copy of the audio-visual program is available.

Historic Halifax

The place where the "Halifax Resolves“ was adopted, the first cry from an entire colony recommending independence from England.

Physical Disabilities:

One marked accessible parking space with curb cuts near the visitor center.
The entrance to the visitor center, the Tap Room tavern, the Jail and the archeological museum each has a ramp. Other buildings have steps.

Hearing Loss:

Demonstrations allowing visitors to see and try the demos themselves can be arranged with advanced notice.
The orientation film is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

Guided tours and demonstrations such as buttermaking that allow participants to feel objects can be arranged with advanced notice.
A Braille version of the film’s script is available.

Historic Stagville

The center of North Carolina's largest pre-Civil War plantation and one of the largest such operations in the South.

Note: The site makes every attempt to accommodate any visitor with a disability and is flexible to work with any group to resolve any issue surrounding touring the facilities.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces at the visitor center and two at the Bennehan House.
The entrance to the visitor center has a ramp.

Hearing Loss:

The orientation film is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

The orientation film does not contain audio description.

Horne Creek Farm

A historic site showcasing middle class farm life in the northwestern Piedmont at the turn of the 20th century.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
A ramp at the farmhouse’s rear entrance provides access to the first floor.
Two accessible restrooms.
The site is not fully wheelchair-accessible but will provide golf cart transportation and tours only to visitors with mobility disabilities and Physical Disabilities challenges and to expectant mothers upon request.
An all-terrain wheelchair is available.

Vision Loss:

A Braille information brochure is available in the visitor center.

House in the Horseshoe

The site of a significant Revolutionary War skirmish and home to one of North Carolina's early governors.

Physical Disabilities:

One marked accessible parking space.
The entrance to the Alston House has steps, but a ramp leads to the sun porch. A ramp leads to the greeting station’s museum and gift shop.
One accessible restroom for each gender.

Hearing Loss:

A written walking tour brochure is available.

NC Transportation Museum

A museum focusing on history that moves you, located on the site of the Southern Railway’s former steam locomotive repair facility.

Physical Disabilities:

Eight marked accessible parking spaces at Barber Junction and two by the Roundhouse.
The entrances to Barber Junction and the Mechanic’s Office have a ramp, and the entrance to the Roundhouse is level.
Accessible restrooms in Barber Junction, the Mechanic’s Office and the Roundhouse.
The train ride has a wheelchair lift available with 15 minutes notice and six spaces for wheelchair tie-downs.
Wheelchairs are available.

Hearing Loss:

The orientation film is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

Many signs have large print and good contrast.
The orientation film does not contain audio description.

Polk Historic Site

North Carolina’s only presidential site, focused on our nation's 11 president and the issues that dominated his term.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
The visitor center has a ramp. The house and the kitchen have three steps each.
Two accessible restrooms.
Visitors with mobility disabilities may need assistance on the path to the historic buildings.

Hearing Loss:

The film is not captioned.

Vision Loss:

A Braille version of the guided tour is available.

Reed Gold Mine

The site of the first documented discovery of gold in North America that launched the country's first gold rush.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
The visitor center and the stamp mill have a ramp.
Two accessible restrooms.
The stamp mill has an elevator.
The underground tour is on a level gravel surface with the exception of a series of steps at the end. Visitors with mobility disabilities may elect to return from the tour using the level entrance.
Two wheelchairs capable of going through the underground are available.

Hearing Loss:

The site has a written tour script for the general tour and the nature tour loop.

Vision Loss:

A Braille tour script is available; it is of the older tour script and may not contain the same information the newer scripts contain.

Roanoke Island Festival Park

A celebration of the first English settlement in America, including a hands-on historic site with a kid-friendly museum, 16th century replica ship and American Indian town.

Physical Disabilities:

Nine marked accessible parking spaces.
The entrance to the visitor center has a boardwalk ramp with wooden handrails.
Three accessible restrooms.
The ship, Elizabeth II, is not accessible to visitors with mobility disabilities.

Hearing Loss:

The park does not provide sign language interpreters for the Performance series.

Vision Loss:

The park offers numerous hands-on activities.
Large-print signs with good contrast.

Somerset Place

The prototypical Antebellum plantation, and of the state's largest before the Civil War.

Physical Disabilities:

One accessible parking space marked by a sign near the visitor center.
The entrance to the visitor center and each historic structure has steps. Only the entrance to the restrooms has a ramp. Portable ramps provide access to the visitor center.
Two accessible restrooms.

Vision Loss:

Objects for visitors to touch include sedge brooms, baskets and ironware.

State Capitol

A National Historic Landmark. prime example of Greek Revival architecture and the home to all of state government for decades.

Physical Disabilities:

Five marked accessible parking spaces available in a visitor lot on the corner of Edenton and Wilmington streets.
The entrance has a ramp.
The first-floor men’s restroom is accessible. Women may request to use the accessible first-floor staff restroom.
The building has an elevator.
All areas except the third floor are accessible to visitors with mobility disabilities.

Hearing Loss:

Tour materials are available in writing.

Vision Loss:

With one week’s advanced notice, the staff will provide a touch tour. The grounds contain bronze objects that provide a tactile experience.

Thomas Wolfe Memorial

The childhood home of one of North Carolina’s most famous writers, and the setting of his best-known novel.

Physical Disabilities:

One accessible parking space in front of the Visitor Center.
The visitor center is level with the ground. The historic house has steps, but a wheelchair lift provides access.
One accessible restroom for each gender in the visitor center.
Only the first floor of the house is accessible (stairs to the second floor).
The visitor center is fully accessible.

Hearing Loss:

Printed supplemental handouts are available, including a script of the audio-visual program in the visitor center.

Town Creek Indian Mound

An archaeological site focusing on early Native American culture.

Physical Disabilities:

Three marked accessible parking spaces.
The entrance to the visitor center is level.
The ramp to the mound and townhouse is 25 feet long with an incline of approximately 50 degrees.
One accessible restroom for each gender.
The burial hut and the visitor center/museum are wheelchair-accessible.

Hearing Loss:

The visitor center has an orientation movie that is captioned.
Self-guided tour leaflets are available for touring the site.

Vision Loss:

Restroom signs have Braille.

Tryon Palace

Historic homes and gardens crowned by a grand palace, all at North Carolina’s first state capitol.

Physical Disabilities:

Four marked accessible parking spaces at the North Carolina History Center and two in the Eden Street lot.
Palace main building: ramp for first floor access. Palace Kitchen Office and Stables: ramps. Other houses: steps only. A photo album is available for visitors who cannot tour the second floor.
One accessible restroom for each gender at the Way Station and the Palace Stables.
Wheelchairs are available in the History Center.
The gardens are accessible to all visitors, but some surfaces may be uneven.

Hearing Loss:

Please call ahead to arrange a special, personal tour or request a sign language interpreter.

Vision Loss:

Please call ahead to arrange a special, personal tour.

Vance Birthplace

A representation of 19th century frontier life and the birthplace of one of North Carolina’s most famous governors.

Physical Disabilities:

Two marked accessible parking spaces.
The visitor center has a ramp.
Two accessible restrooms.
The visitor center and picnic shelter are accessible to people with mobility disabilities.