Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On July 5, 1916, widely-respected archaeologist Joffre Coe was born in Greensboro.
Coe developed his interest in archaeology early, spending time exploring the outdoors with his paternal grandfather and corresponding with prominent anthropologists during his teenage years.
After graduating from high school in Florida in 1933, Coe returned to North Carolina and helped form the Archaeological Society of North Carolina. He enrolled at Brevard College in 1934 and transferred to UNC shortly thereafter.
On July 5, 1865, ex-Confederate Governor Zebulon Baird Vance was paroled on his honor after imprisonment at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
On July 4, 1937, The Lost Colony debuted on Roanoke Island. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green, the symphonic play was the first outdoor drama.
On July 4, 1986, North Carolina’s first microbrewery opened.
Weeping Radish Brewery in Manteo was the first in what is now a long list of craft breweries in the state.
On July 4, 1833, builders laid the cornerstone of the State Capitol on Union Square. The ceremony officially kicked off construction that would last for seven years and cost $532,000, a massive sum for the era. The Capitol that stands today was not the first in Raleigh. The original Capitol building, completed in 1794, burned in 1831.
On July 3, 1981, Ervin Rouse, composer of “Orange Blossom Special,” the “unofficial anthem of bluegrass,” died. Plagued by alcoholism and mental illness, he was living on the edge of the Everglades and playing local taverns occasionally for tips.
Born in 1917 in Craven County, Rouse left home at the age of 8 to play in vaudeville shows. For a time he and his brother followed an evangelist and used their musical skills to energize audiences.
On July 2, 1829, Raleigh printer Joseph Gales published George Moses Horton’s The Hope of Liberty, the first book by an African American in the South. Horton’s life story, and how he became a published poet while enslaved, is compelling.
Horton was an infant when his owner William Horton moved from Northampton County to Chatham County. By all accounts, and given the fact that he could travel freely, George endured a relatively mild bondage.
On July 3, 1863, 34-year-old Lt. Colonel Isaac E. Avery of the 6th North Carolina State Troops died from mortal wounds he received the previous day. Shot in the neck and partially paralyzed during the Battle of Gettysburg, the Burke County native was unable to speak on his deathbed.