All eyes will be on the skies Friday, Feb. 14, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. as the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (NCAFF) hosts the Great Backyard Bird Count. NCAFF environmental educators will inspire the community to join the count and launch newly minted bird counters on an exciting journey to earn an NC Bird Count badge. Special activities throughout the day offer an exciting time for anyone and everyone to help scientists gather information on birds in the state to support their conservation.
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On Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m., Bennett Place State Historic Site will host a free lecture with local historian Ernest Dollar entitled “Jublio: Moments of Freedom, 1865.”
Dollar, who serves as director of the Museums Section for the City of Raleigh, will highlight how enslaved people found and claimed freedom for themselves in the final days of the Civil War in North Carolina. This program will explore perspectives of African American men and women’s first moments of freedom as part of the site’s Black History Month programming.
The North Carolina Museum of History is seeking actors for
Learn about Marquis de Lafayette’s final journey through North Carolina.
A Zoom teleconference scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 1-2: p.m., will cover Lafayette’s farewell tour in North Carolina.
2025 marks the bicentennial of the southern leg of Lafayette's farewell tour of the United States.
The commemorative festivities have begun and will continue into March.
Historic Halifax State Historic Site will mark the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s historic visit to the town with special programming on Thursday, Feb. 27.
The Museum of the Albemarle will host our monthly History for Lunch on Wednesday, March 5 at noon in the Gaither Auditorium. Who would have known that the sport of surfing has been taking place in North Carolina for more than 100 years? Join Benjamin Wunderly, education curator at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, for a look at North Carolina surfing as we cover the state’s role in the sport’s history and learn about some of the people and places involved.
On Saturday, Feb. 15, Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site will commemorate the 160th anniversary of Fort Anderson's capture by U.S. forces in 1865. The site will host two public events, starting with a free day of living history. This will be followed by a ticketed nighttime reenactment of the bombardment and evacuation of the fort.
The Museum of the Albemarle will host our monthly History for Lunch on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at noon in the Gaither Auditorium. Dr. Glen Bowman, a professor at Elizabeth City State University, will discuss the history of efforts in the region to restrict voting rights, as well as other efforts to expand suffrage, from the beginning of Jim Crow to the election of W. Kerr Scott as governor.
The State Capitol will bring back a popular walking tour series centered on protest and civil rights in downtown Raleigh to commemorate Black History Month. The "We've Always Been Out There" tour will be a short (0.5 mile) walking tour that discusses the lengthy history of protest and civil rights demonstrations in Raleigh. The tour covers events from the early 19th century to the 1980s, and includes the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, women's suffrage, Prohibition, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and the city’s first ever Pride parade.
The Museum of the Albemarle will host our monthly History for Lunch on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at noon in the Gaither Auditorium. As the 250th anniversary of the United States approaches, Dr. Kathleen DuVal, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will discuss how North Carolina’s men and women responded to and contributed to the American Revolution. From the Edenton Tea Party to the Halifax Resolves to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina played a central role in the war.