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Topics Related to Highway Markers
He was appointed North Carolina’s “Ambassador of Goodwill” by Gov. R. Gregg Cherry in 1949 and was so recognized by seven governors. The Washington, N.C. native also was a preservationist and instrumental in establishing Historic Bath State Historic Site. Humorist and preservationist Edmund Harding will be recognized with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker to be dedicated Wednesday, July 10, 1 p.m., at West Main Street at South Washington Street in Washington.
In 1948 polio rapidly spread through North Carolina causing 147 deaths with 2,517 cases recorded. The Guilford County outbreak was the highest per capita both in the state and the nation. Citizens rallied and built a hospital there in just 95 days after fundraising began. After the epidemic subsided, the facility was used as a jail for civil rights protestors in 1963. The unique evolution and roles of the facility will be recognized with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker Saturday, June 15 at 3 p.m.
An example that the pen is mightier than the sword is journalist Louis Austin, who advocated for and advanced social justice and civil rights as publisher of the “Carolina Times” newspaper in Durham. The Halifax County native will be recognized with a N.C. Highway Historical marker to be dedicated Friday, June 14, 9 a.m. at 122 SE Railroad St., Enfield.
When most people think of the first landing of a man on the moon, they don’t think of a behind the scenes bureaucrat, but there was James E. Webb. Born in Tally Ho, in Granville County, raised and educated in Oxford, N.C., Webb was picked by President John Kennedy to take control of the fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration in early 1961. Four months later he charged Webb and NASA to land a man on the moon within a decade and safely return him. He did.
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. Gould kept a journal of his experiences for three years, producing the only known account by a sailor who was formerly a slave. He will be recognized with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker Nov. 13 at 10 a.m., dedication at the corner of 5th and Market Streets.
A king of the swing era of big band music, Kay Kyser, will be recognized with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker, Oct. 5, at 4 p.m. in his hometown. Kyser was born in Rocky Mount and went on to become perhaps the best-known bandleader in America. The marker dedication will be at First United Methodist Church Annex, 273 Sunset Ave., Rocky Mount, N.C. It will be. followed by a musical performance at the Imperial Centre at 270 Gay St. in Rocky Mount.
The Ku Klux Klan planned a rally near Hayes Pond in Maxon, N.C. Jan. 18, 1958, with the intent of intimidating the area’s Lumbee Indians. Locals learned of the plans and decided to confront the Klan. As part of the annual Lumbee homecoming celebration, a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated July 5 to commemorate that Robeson County encounter. The 3 p.m. marker dedication will be part of a commemorative program that starts at noon. The dedication will be at the intersection of NC Highway 130 and Hayes Pond Road.
Irish-born James Gillespie eventually settled in Duplin County and became active in the fight for freedom from British rule. During the Revolutionary War he was a militiaman, advancing to the rank of colonel. He also served in the Provincial Congress in Halifax in 1776 that drafted the state constitution. A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated in his memory Friday, July 6, 11 a.m., at 609 Routledge Rd, Highway 24 East, Kenansville.
He was the most feared of captains during the Golden Age of Piracy, and in June 1718, four vessels under his command sailed into what was then Topsail Inlet (now Beaufort). Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), became stranded in the inlet’s shallow water. To commemorate the effective end of a piratical career, a North Carolina Highway History Marker will be dedicated Thursday, June 7, 1 p.m., near the entrance on the drive into Fort Macon at Atlantic Beach.
A community of Jewish immigrants was recruited to settle in rural eastern North Carolina at one of six colonies envisioned and financed by Wilmington’s Hugh MacRae, beginning early in the 1900s. He hoped to recreate the close-knit rural communities of Europe.
One of them was Van Eeden, first settled by Dutch immigrants and then by Jews escaping Hitler’s Germany in 1939. A N.C. Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated to commemorate that settlement Wednesday, April 18, at 2 p.m., at Mount Holly Baptist Church in Burgaw.
One of them was Van Eeden, first settled by Dutch immigrants and then by Jews escaping Hitler’s Germany in 1939. A N.C. Highway Historical Marker will be dedicated to commemorate that settlement Wednesday, April 18, at 2 p.m., at Mount Holly Baptist Church in Burgaw.