Topics Related to Historic Preservation

A free online program hosted by the Western Office of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will examine the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Historian Steven Nash will present an in-depth look at the rise of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction and its terroristic campaign against the biracial Republican political coalition that emerged in the late 1860s.

Tickets are now available for Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site’s illumination event, which will take place on the evening of March 19.



The program will commemorate the 157th anniversary of the battle with luminaries for all 4,133 of those killed, wounded, or missing from the battle. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m., with the last admission at 9 p.m.

Montgomery County has been chosen as the subject of a comprehensive survey of historic buildings and landscapes planned from 2022-23. Funding for this architectural survey comes from the Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF), administered by the National Park Service, for hurricanes Florence and Michael.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the State Historic Preservation Office (HPO) seek to conduct oral history interviews with persons active in the Civil Rights Movement between the years 1941 to 1976 in northeastern North Carolina.

The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and the State Archives of North Carolina are partnering with the WeGOJA Foundation on a new initiative, Black Carolinians Speak: Portraits of a Pandemic, to capture the experiences of African Americans in the Carolinas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will gather first-person testimonies, letters, music, images, art and other documents that will be part of a physical and virtual exhibit.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced that the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) Authority has approved $28.6 million in capital improvement projects and land acquisitions for state parks and an additional $13.6 million in grants to fund 41 local parks and recreation projects across the state.

 By December of 1756, Fort Dobbs was complete. Its garrison of 50 North Carolina soldiers prepared to spend the first of many winters in the building as they guarded the western edge of settlement in the British colony during the French and Indian War. 

 ‘Tis the season! The holidays are fast approaching, and we invite you to begin your season festivities with us at Somerset Place State Historic Site during our 31st Annual Christmas Open House Sunday, Dec. 5, from 1-4 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. 

North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary D. Reid Wilson and Department of Administration Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell will visit Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site Tuesday in Honor of American Indian Heritage Month, which is celebrated in November. The site, a significant Native American archaeological location, is located in Montgomery County near Mt. Gilead. 

The Department of Administration acts as the business manager for North Carolina state government.

We are very excited to announce that on Nov. 5, Somerset Place will open a new traveling exhibit, "Navigating Jim Crow: The Green Book and Oasis Spaces in North Carolina.”