Press Releases

Secretary Susan Kluttz, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR), today announced that Kelly Alexander has been selected as the new executive director of the N.C. Transportation Museum. Kelly has been on staff at the Transportation Museum for more than 25 years and is well equipped to lead the museum into the future.

Outer Banks historian, author and public speaker James Charlet will give a free lecture about the forgotten heroes of the United States Life-Saving Service at Tryon Palace’s North Carolina History Center from 1-2 p.m., Saturday, July 18.

On Saturday, August 1, at 2 p.m. the Museum of the Cape Fear will host four authors who collaborated on the book, The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology. They will hold a panel discussion about the observance of Juneteenth. Juneteenth has been celebrated as the final emancipation for all slaves after the Civil War.

Francisco de Miranda, the Spanish explorer and father of Venezuelan independence, will be the subject of Tryon Palace’s July Lunch and Learn lecture held at noon Friday, July 17, at the North Carolina History Center. 

The N.C. Museum of History announces that travel grants will be available for North Carolina public schools this fall to help cover a portion of transportation costs to the museum in Raleigh. Your North Carolina school may qualify.

Get a look at some of the wildlife species encountered by explorers in western North Carolina at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site Aug. 8, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The unique family friendly program will also examine the role of animals and trade in the lives of 18th century settlers.

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke's Summer Theatre Workshop returns July 15,16,17 to Roanoke Island Festival Park’s Indoor Theatre with Mark Twain's classic “Huck Finn's Story”. The production will be held at 10:30 a.m. and is an adventure tale of excitement and suspense, delightfully sprinkled with home-spun humor, alive with colorful characters and sparkling dialog in rural dialect.

Langston Hughes’ iconic character Jesse B. Semple will come to life on stage at the North Carolina History Center Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m. for “The Best of Semple.” Actor and journalist Thomasi McDonald will become Jesse B. Semple, a character who focuses on topics like race, love and politics to create a portrait of what Hughes called the "everyman,” and gave African Americans a sense of hope. A graduate of North Carolina Century University where he studied theatre, performance art, and journalism, McDonald has appeared in numerous productions including August Wilson’s “Fences” and “Gem of the Ocean.” 

Special guests ranging from Earl Owensby, a Tar Heel film legend, to Tyrone Jefferson, who served several stints as music director for entertainer James Brown, will present August programs at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh.