Topics Related to Things to Do

Fort Dobbs State Historic Site will hold a living history event on Sept. 28. Visitors can interact with reenactors dressed as 1750’s era soldiers and settlers and learn about life at a frontier fort during the French and Indian War.

On-going activities include cooking and blacksmithing. Historic weapons demonstrations are scheduled for 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.

Event hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28. The event is free, but donations are welcome.

 Fall is here, a time of changing leaves, cooler weather, and harvests. But what did fall mean for the people of the past? What does it mean for the natural world today? On Saturday, Oct.

The 160th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Bentonville will take place March 15-16, 2025. Tickets for the event, “A Terrible Storm,” are now on sale.

The Museum of the Albemarle will host History for Lunch on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at noon in the Gaither Auditorium. Chris Meekins, born and raised in Elizabeth City, has been a public historian in the state of N.C. for over 30 years. For most of his career, Chris was an archivist, but in March 2020, he switched hats to become an editor for the Civil War Roster project. Tasked with packing up the old Roster office, Chris also decided to track the project's history. Since the Civil War, there have been several attempts to document the service of N.C. men in the war.

Gorges State Park in Transylvania County will host its third annual Mountain Monarch Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the park’s visitor center. The festival celebrates the monarch butterfly during its migration and bring attention to the species’ declining numbers.

The park lies along the monarchs’ migratory route. The butterflies can be seen in late September each year flying over the park, heading south to the high-elevation fir forests in central-southern Mexico’s Volcanic Belt, where they overwinter until early spring.

The Museum of the Albemarle will host History for Lunch on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at noon in the Gaither Auditorium. David Moore, Ph.D., executive archaeologist of Exploring Joara Foundation, Inc., and a professor at Warren Wilson College, will discuss the work and history of the Berry site that he has led for 25 years and where he currently directs a summer field school. The Berry Site is an active archaeological site of a Native American town and a Spanish fort dating back to the 16th century.

Get buggy with it when the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts BugFest on Saturday, Sept. 14, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Come satisfy all your web weaving, wing flapping, dungball rolling, creepy crawling and (of course) bug munching pursuits in one day!

This year, BugFest spotlights butterflies and moths. Did you know that our state butterfly is the Eastern tiger swallowtail? And in 1587, colonist and artist John White depicted the Eastern tiger swallowtail while accompanying Sir Walter Raleigh’s third expedition to the New World.

The Roanoke River State Trail (RRST) is the first North Carolina state trail to be fully designated, the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation announced. Authorized by the General Assembly in 2021, the paddle trail begins in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and follows the river to the Albemarle Sound, extending northward to additional accesses in Chowan County. There are 15 designated access points along the approximately 215-mile scenic wilderness trail.

The North Carolina Zoo and its original elephant, C’sar, have officially marked 50 WILD Years together. C’sar’s journey from the wild plains of Kenya to his home in Asheboro is a story of survival, adaptation, and the enduring spirit of one of nature's most magnificent creatures.

The transformative impact of naval advancements and technologies significantly influenced the outcome of the American Civil War despite receiving lesser attention than the land battles.

The CSS Neuse Museum will present the upcoming program “Sailors in the Summer: Ironclads and Naval Living History,” scheduled for Saturday, July 13 that will highlight some of these advances.