Press Releases

The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation announced today that six division sites are celebrating their 50th anniversary as National Natural Landmarks (NNL) as designated by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. This unique designation signifies an area with rare biological and geological resources. The NNL program is administered by the National Park Service.On May 30, 1974, Mount Mitchell was designated as a National Natural Landmark. N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary D.

A new exhibit at the Mountain Gateway Museum, "A Place at the Polls," examines the history of voting rights in the United States and how it played out in Western North Carolina. The exhibit runs through February 2025.From the start of the nation, the question of who deserves the right to vote has been an ongoing debate. For generations, states primarily made those decisions, but wars, protests, and social changes caused the federal government to step in and create Constitutional Amendments to safeguard people’s access to their voting rights.

Endangered species are getting a new “leash” on life thanks to the four-legged stars of the Canine Champions for Conservation program at the North Carolina Zoo. This is the second season the Zoo has hosted the high-energy act, which features rescue dogs executing awe-inspiring stunts and agility challenges to support the Zoo’s global conservation efforts.

The Museum of the Albemarle will open the exhibit Who Can Vote: Brief History of Voting Rights in the United States on June 4, 2024. This traveling exhibit from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History “examines voting rights with an emphasis on the role of the US Constitution and the interplay between the states and federal government in determining who is allowed to vote. Beginning with the founding era and going up to the election of 2000, this exhibition explores the complex history of the right to vote that forms the core of our nation’s democracy.

WHAT: George H. White: Searching for Freedom Documentary ScreeningWHEN: Thursday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that 51 North Carolina students from 23 schools will be moving up to the 2024 National History Day© Competition, a global gathering of over 2,800 middle and high school students at the University of Maryland in College Park beginning June 9.

Celebrate Juneteenth with the State Archives and learn about a formerly enslaved North Carolina man who negotiated his way to freedom.

As part of its 100th year anniversary, The Duke Endowment has approved a $2.5 million grant to the Duke Homestead State Historic Site in Durham, the largest private monetary gift ever given to a state historic site from a single donor. This generous grant will be used to transform the Duke Homestead, preserving and protecting this important piece of North Carolina’s past. The announcement was made today at a centennial event honoring the Endowment’s grantees and partners from the region.

The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA) is completing two projects supported by Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) grant money appropriated by Congress in response to Hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018 and administered by the National Park Service. These projects sought to identify resources and communities impacted by the 2018 hurricanes that are at risk of damage from future storm events. The two OSA ESHPF research projects occurred on state-owned and managed lands along the coast including Hammocks Beach State Park.

The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA) is completing two projects supported by Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) grant, money appropriated by Congress in response to hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018 and administered by the National Park Service. These projects sought to identify resources and communities impacted by the 2018 hurricanes that are at risk of damage from future storm events. The two OSA ESHPF research projects occurred on state-owned and managed lands along the coast including Hammocks Beach State Park.