Press Releases

The warm glow of candlelight and festive greenery will welcome visitors to “O Blessed Season!” at House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site. The Alston House will be decorated for Christmas and opened to the public Saturday, Dec. 7. 

Experience Christmas Candlelight Tours at Aycock Birthplace Dec. 3 and Dec. 5 with costumed interpreters who explain rural Christmas traditions and demonstrate open-hearth cooking. Tours will be given from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Admission for ages 5 and older is $3; ages 4 and under are free. Music from the Harmony Boys of Mount Olive will add to the festive mood Tuesday, Dec. 3 as food is cooked at the hearth. The joy of cooking again will be highlighted Thursday, Dec. 5, with food prepared on the hearth over an open fire.

Six distinguished North Carolinians were presented the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest honor, by Governor Roy Cooper at a Nov. 16 ceremony at the Raleigh Convention Center. The award recognizes significant lifetime achievements in the areas of fine arts, literature, public service and science.

 North Carolina offers some special opportunities to veterans, active military, their families and the public over the Veterans Day weekend. Attractions within the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will welcome all. Most state historic sites are closed but all state parks are open, and of course are free. Free or discounted admission is available at most venues that normally charge an admission, and there will be family-friendly activities all across the state.

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting the right of women to vote. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources celebrates this milestone with “She Changed the World: North Carolina Women Breaking Barriers,” a series of public programs and activities to honor the achievements of women in our state. 

Friday, Nov. 22 from 6-7 p.m., join the Cherokee Chamber Singers at the N.C. State Capitol! For one hour, these middle and high school students will perform the program “Si Otsedoha,” which translates from the Cherokee language as “We’re Still Here.” 

The North Carolina Government and Heritage Library will host the last event in their fall #EverythingNC: Author Series Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. with a discussion and book signing with Dr. Lea E. Williams, author of “We Who Believe in Freedom: The Life and Times of Ella Baker.”

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which manages the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, requests the public’s help in locating a missing highway historical marker. The marker was related to Torhunta, a Tuscarora Indian community destroyed in 1712.

In the port city of Wilmington, the “Daily Record,” a black-owned newspaper, was burned by an angry white mob Nov. 10, 1898. Editor Alex Manley had written an editorial that incensed white men and led to the attack on the publication and violence that left an untold number of African Americans dead. The event marked the climax of a white supremacy campaign of 1898 and a turning point in the state’s history that led to Jim Crow segregation.

The secrets or celebrations of families are a thread running through the 2019 North Carolina Book Awards that will be presented to recipients Thursday, Nov. 7 at the DoubleTree Hotel Raleigh on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.