Press Releases

Get into the authentic feel of the holidays this year with a visit to a state historic site, museum, state park or aquarium. Enjoy colonial harpsichord music at Historic Bath, Jonkonnu dancing at Historic Stagville, or a hearty country meal at Horne Creek Historical Farm.

Bells will toll in unison across North Carolina and throughout the world at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day.

Join the State Capitol and Gov. Roy Cooper for the annual tree-lighting tradition on Thursday, Dec. 6. The festivities begin on Capitol Square at 5 p.m. with luminaries and holiday music by the Kaiser Middle School Eighth Grade Concert Band. At 5:30 p.m. the Raleigh Concert Band will perform.

Experience some of the great things about North Carolina this Veterans Day at attractions within the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Most state historic sites are closed but all state parks are open, and of course are free.

North Carolina’s Executive Mansion–the “people’s house”–will open its historic doors once again for the beloved annual Holiday Open House from Thursday, Dec. 6 through Sunday, Dec. 9. 

The Oxford American Magazine’s 20th annual Southern Music Issue celebrates the musical legacy of North Carolina and features an artistic portrait of North Carolina native Nina Simone, the High Priestess of Soul, on the cover. 

William Gould was a plasterer in Wilmington who escaped from slavery with seven other men via the Cape Fear River. They were picked up by the USS Cambridge and joined the Union Navy.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will join Kids in Parks, Edgecombe County and the Town of Tarboro Thursday, Nov. 1 to celebrate the opening of North Carolina’s 100th “Kids in Parks” TRACK Trail at Indian Lake in Tarboro. 

The North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped will celebrate 60 years of service to North Carolinians during a public Open House Celebration Thursday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1841 Capital Blvd., Raleigh.

The new date for the installation of North Carolina’s ninth Poet Laurate, Jaki Shelton Green, is Monday, Dec. 10 at the State Capitol.