Press Releases

North Carolina State Parks will begin a major campground improvement project at Kerr Lake State Recreation Area later this year, bringing significant upgrades to campground facilities, electrical infrastructure, accessibility features, and park operations facilities.
The N.C. African American Heritage Commission (NCAAHC), Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, and the Z.
While most people think of dusty battlefields when they picture the Civil War, the real game-changing technology was happening on the water. On Saturday, July 11, the CSS Neuse Museum will pull back the curtain on this high-seas drama with its immersive summer program, “Sailors in the Summer: Ironclads and Naval Living History.” From 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., regional history will come alive through interactive exhibits, expert-led demonstrations, and hands-on family activities designed to show exactly what it took to survive as a sailor in the 1860s.
The State Archives, a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR), will showcase original state constitutional documents with a July 4 exhibition, “To Preserve the Blessings of Liberty,” at the State Capitol.
Summer is in full swing at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island as the aquarium launches a refreshed lineup of hands-on, imagination-fueled camps for children ages 6 to 13. The aquarium is part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is one of four facilities within the N.C. Aquariums system.
The North Carolina Zoo and Botanical Gardens, a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, recently surpassed a million hours of donated service since the volunteer program was established in the late 1970s.
A book offered by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, in partnership with America 250 NC, has been selected to represent North Carolina at the annual Library of Congress National Book Festival.The National Book Festival will be held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday Aug. 22. A selection of programs will be livestreamed online, and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the festival concludes.
The State Archives of North Carolina, a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, invites the public to attend an upcoming webinar, “From Enslavement to Reconstruction: Lives of the Greene County USCT,” to commemorate Juneteenth.
Bennett Place State Historic Site will host “OUT & FREE: African Dance” on Saturday, June 20, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The free event in collaboration with the LGBTQ Center of Durham will celebrate the Juneteenth holiday and Pride Month and will feature the Harambee Collective, a professional African Drum and Dance company directed by McDaniel Roberts, a founding member of Chuck Davis’s African American Dance Ensemble. Visitors can enjoy a community dance class and “bantaba” celebration, as well as a complimentary popsicle from LocoPops while supplies last.
Fort Dobbs State Historic site will host Historic Trades Day on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. The site will come to life with the strike of a blacksmith’s hammer, the rasp of a saw, and snip of a tailor’s shears as it did when Fort Dobbs operated between 1755-65. Rather than a military garrison, the fort will bustle with costumed interpreters and professional historic tradespeople demonstrating the many ways people of colonial America made a living. The event is free and open to the public. Fort Dobbs is administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, within the N.C.