Press Releases

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site in Southport is currently open to visitors, with regular events and programming scheduled to resume in the spring. The site’s visitors center, which sustained damage during Hurricane Florence, remains closed until repairs to the building can be completed.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2019 North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state, now through April 15. Created by the General Assembly in 1961 and administered by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the award recognizes “notable accomplishments by North Carolina citizens” in the fields of literature, science, fine arts and public service. 

N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susi Hamilton announces the appointment of Joshua Davis as the new Chief Financial Officer for the department.   A native of Davis, N.C., in Carteret County, he has worked at DNCR for over eight years and previously served as the department’s Strategy and Policy Advisor and the Director of Internal Audit. Prior to working at DNCR, Davis worked at the Office of the State Auditor for seven years as a Financial Auditor and Performance Audit Supervisor.

Governor Roy Cooper will induct North Carolina’s ninth poet laureate, Jaki Shelton Green, at a ceremony in the North Carolina State Capitol beginning at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18.

Programs celebrating women’s history will be offered at venues of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in March. This month is the launch of the department’s celebration of women’s fight for suffrage and equality, with the theme, “She Changed the World.” The commemoration from March 2019 to November 2020 will expand on contributions of North Carolina women to the state and nation.

A historic interpreter in period clothing can come to groups in the region during Black History Month to discuss the utensils used in the daily life of plantation residents in 1843. 

Most frequently seen images of African Americans from pre-Civil War times show them barefoot and poorly clothed. Collector Craig James has striking images of elegant and proud African Americans from that period. He will offer “A New Look at Early African American Images,” Thursday, Feb. 21 at 12:30 p.m., in the Archives & History/State Library Building,109 E. Jones St., Raleigh.

N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susi Hamilton announces the appointment of Timothy Owens as the new State Librarian of North Carolina.

African Americans were ready to fight for freedom when the Civil War started, and before it ended they were recruited to take up arms. The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center will explore that process in the program, “African American Troops in Eastern North Carolina,” followed by a Wyse Fork Battlefield tour Saturday, Feb. 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lunch and Learn program fee is $10.  

Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. Armstrong’s first step onto the lunar surface, and now-famous exclamation “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. Learn more about the history of human endeavors to reach the Moon, including the Apollo landings, present-day orbiters, and future projects that will help prepare for a possible lunar colony, when the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts Astronomy Days, Saturday, Jan. 26, 9 a.m.–5