Press Releases

Ring in spring with the new "Music, Dance and 'Que Fest" at President James K. Polk State Historic Site, Sat., May 14, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Music will fill the air all day, as performers sing, dance and play their way through 19th century tunes. The day of free family fun will recall festive times at the Polk family home. Guests should bring blankets, chairs or even a bale of hay for seating.

More than 400 middle and high school students will demonstrate "Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History," the theme for the History Day competition April 30 at the N.C. Museum of History.

The North Carolina Symphony will perform in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Southern Pines and Wilmington on the last tour of the 2015-2016 Statewide Classical season on a program featuring Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

A livestream webcast Friday, May 13, at 10 a.m. before the re-enactment will feature re-enactors, demonstrations of domestic life and put you in that time and place.

Babies were torn from mothers' arms. Landslides wiped out families and homes. At least 50 people died. This was the impact of the flood of 1916 when two hurricanes collided over western North Carolina.Mountain Gateway Museum will recall the catastrophe with the "So Great the Devastation: The 1916 Flood" exhibit, opening May 1. The free traveling exhibit consists of four interpretive panels and an interactive touch screen. It will run through May 31 before moving to Asheville.

Fireworks, cannon blasts, Civil War re-enactments, a U.S. Marine Corps Band concert and a series of family friendly events will be among the many activities offered April 22-24 at Fort Macon State Park.

Stagville Plantation will celebrate the efforts of enslaved people to build some of the site's great structures May 14.

It's not too late to plan to dance the night away in Civil War or formal attire at the Grand Blue and Gray Ball April 23 for Bennett Place.

The National Geographic Society has awarded the North Carolina Zoo's Dr. Corinne Kendall a $20,000 grant in support of her project on vultures.

The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center will host a program that examines medicine during the Civil War May 7.