Press Releases

This event has been postponed due to the threat of severe weather 

The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA) soon will hold a town hall meeting in Columbia, N.C. to gather local information about the area’s historic sites, cemeteries, community ties and local history. The meeting will be held Wednesday, Aug. 30, from 6-8 p.m.

The State Library of North Carolina is offering opportunity youth living in Halifax, Hertford, Northampton and Wayne counties scholarships to earn a high school diploma through Gale Presents: Excel Adult High School. The program, provided to public libraries by Gale, part of Cengage Group, is designed to help adults obtain their high school diploma entirely online, as well as prepare them for college or the workplace and is a collaboration between the State Library of North Carolina and local public libraries in participating counties.

The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation announced that Keith Nealson, who has been with state parks for 25 years, has been named a superintendent at Kerr Lake State Recreation Area. Nealson joins Bill Stanley, the lead superintendent, who moved into that role last year after longtime superintendent Bryce Fleming retired.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the N.C. African American Heritage Commission and the N.C. Freedom Park Board of Directors will celebrate the opening of North Carolina Freedom Park Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m.The site is the first park in North Carolina to honor the African American struggle for freedom, an experience that represents universal themes of freedom, perseverance and equality.

The Museum of the Albemarle will be at Dixieland Speedway on Friday evening, September 8, 2023.  Join us as we take Moonshine and Motorsports Trail to the track under the lights and sounds of roaring engines.  Take a minute to learn a few facts about the local moonshiner, Mr. Alvin Sawyer portrayed by Dickie Sanders.  While supplies last grab a Moonshine and Motorsports hat or keychain.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) announced today that Clint Taylor has been named the next director of the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. An aquarium employee for more than 18 years, Taylor currently serves as assistant aquarium director at Fort Fisher.

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site is hosting a special exhibition of Gullah Geechee-inspired art.Part of the Victoria Smalls Gullah Geechee Art Collection “Da Wada Brought Us and Kept Us,” will be on display through Aug. 30. The exhibition, presented in partnership with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and N.C. Division of Historic Sites and Properties, consists of 13 original works of art from emerging and notable artists whose styles are influenced by Gullah Geechee culture and heritage.  

The life of a major figure in the African American civil rights movement from North Carolina will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.The marker commemorating Robert Franklin Williams will be unveiled during a ceremony on Aug. 26 in his hometown.

This fall the North Carolina State Capitol will be hosting a series of walking tours centered on the history of protest and civil rights in downtown Raleigh.The tour, “We've Always Been Out There,” will be a short (0.5 mile) trek around downtown that discusses the lengthy history of protest and civil rights demonstrations in Raleigh. Topics will range in time from the early 19th century to the 1980s and include the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, women's suffrage, prohibition, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and Raleigh's first pride parade.