Press Releases

After victories at Fort Fisher and Bentonville, Union Gen. William T. Sherman occupied Raleigh with 75,000 troops camped at the State Capitol. The State Capitol will commemorate that tenuous Civil War period of 150 years ago with a free encampment program and tours featuring character actors at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and hourly 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (919) 733-4994.

Award-winning director James Moll traveled across the country to meet farmers and ranchers in their 20s who are responsible for running their own farms. In the 2014 documentary “Farmland,” he presents an intimate look into the lives and families of six farmers or ranchers. Join a film screening of “Farmland” on Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m. at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. After the film, people associated with the film and local farmers will lead a discussion and Q&A session. Admission is free. The film is not rated.

Soldiers from across North Carolina were returning home in May 1865, exhausted at the end of the Civil War. It was a brother's war that divided families and communities, and now healing the nation would begin. "A Soldier's Walk Home" May 11 to 23 recaptures such a journey.

This Mother’s Day weekend Tryon Palace invites visitors to step back in time and embark on a tea tour that will focus on tea culture in 18th century Great Britain and Colonial America. The tours will be held Saturday, May 9, at Tryon Palace in historic downtown New Bern, N.C.

In the 2005 comedy-drama “Junebug,” Madeleine, a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago, visits North Carolina to check out a self-taught “outsider” artist. She and her brand-new husband extend the trip to meet her eccentric in-laws in a small North Carolina town. This homecoming story of clashing cultures, family complexities, and small-town life was written by University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumnus Angus MacLachlan. The film was shot in Winston-Salem, as well as Pfafftown and McLeansville.   

The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that 18 individual properties and districts across the state have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The following properties were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee and were subsequently approved by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer and forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register.

A partnership between the North Carolina Symphony (NCS) and the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) has received a prestigious Yale Distinguished Music Award. Symphony Education Director Sarah Gilpin and Martin Middle Magnet School orchestra director Anita Hynus will attend Yale’s fifth biennial Symposium on Music in Schools, which will take place June 4-7 in New Haven, Conn.  

Shelby Stephenson, award winning poet, educator and recipient of a North Carolina Award for literature, will be installed as the state's poet laureate in a ceremony with North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Monday, Feb. 2, 5:30 p.m. in the historic State Capitol, House of Representatives Chamber, One E. Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh.

The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is honored to announce its 2015 induction class. The 10 new members, listed alphabetically, are Jeff Bostic, Joe Bostic, John Clougherty, Freddie Combs, Rick Hendrick, Gene Littles, Jerry McGee, Lenox Rawlings, Charlotte Smith, and Andrea Stinson.They will be enshrined during the 52nd annual induction banquet on the evening of Friday, May 15, at the Raleigh Convention Center. An afternoon news conference will be held on Thursday, May 14, at 4 p.m. at the N.C. Museum of History, located at 5 East Edenton Street in Raleigh.

North Carolina Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Sandi Macdonald, President and CEO of the North Carolina Symphony today announced programming for its 2015/16 season, the orchestra’s 83rd season and Llewellyn’s 12th season as Music Director.