Press Releases

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that four historic districts and four individual properties across the state have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, one previously listed historic district received additional historical documentation as well as a boundary adjustment through both an increase and a decrease.

North Carolina state parks experienced a record number of visitors in 2020.  State parks and recreation areas welcomed 19.8 million visitors last year — 400,000 more than any other year on record and 1.2 million more visitors than in 2019. The previous record for visitation was set in 2017 when the parks welcomed 19.4 million visitors. 

Celebrate literature and hear from North Carolina authors with the Fourth-Annual Black History Month Read-In! The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, in partnership with the North Carolina State Capitol, the State Library of North Carolina, the Richard B. Harrison Community Library, Liberation Station Bookstore, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, is presenting the Read-In virtually for 2021. Throughout Black History Month in February, the Commission will highlight individual Black North Carolina children’s book authors. 

The North Carolina state parks system now includes 250,000 acres of land and water, according to the Division of Parks and Recreation. Recent acquisitions, including 230 acres for Deep River State Trail and 300 acres for Salmon Creek State Natural Area, brought the system’s acreage up to the new total.

Yesterday, the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion joined a nationwide effort to memorialize and honor American lives lost to COVID-19. 

Dwayne Patterson will return to the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources as director of the state Division of Parks and Recreation beginning Feb. 1.

The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office is pleased to announce $9,172,500 in federal grant funding to 22 historic preservation projects in 18 counties to provide recovery assistance for historic properties (including archaeological sites) damaged by hurricanes Florence and/or Michael that are listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Kathy Capps, a 20-year employee of city of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department, is the new state parks deputy director for operations, according to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation. She succeeds Adrian O’Neal, who retired as a 30-year state employee in late 2019. Capps assumed her new role with the division Dec. 23.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that five individual properties 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 nominated by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer and forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register for consideration for listing in the National Register.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is leveraging resources at state parks, historic sites and other community hubs to expand internet access and bolster remote learning opportunities for students across North Carolina.  The “Park and Learn” project, part of a broader effort called NC Student Connect, aims to provide free high-speed WiFi access to students in rural communities.