Topics Related to Things to Do

The sounds of artillery and musket fire will once again ring out at Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site. The annual summer artillery living history program will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

It’s a medium that’s as old as dirt and lots of fun. “Play in the Clay Day” at Town Creek speaks to the inner child of every age. See how the Pee Dee culture took advantage of the area’s abundant supply of clay Saturday, Aug. 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at a free program.

The remnants of the Confederate ironclad CSS Neuse sit in a climate-controlled facility in downtown Kinston, a far cry from the bottom of the Neuse River. How it got there is explained in a new exhibit at the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center designed by East Carolina University graduate student Samantha Bernard. She is enrolled in the maritime studies program through the history department at ECU, and the exhibit explains the process and purpose of underwater archaeology.

Who needs TVs or tablets? Unplug at Duke Homestead’s “Family Day: Historic Games.” This free event takes place Saturday, July 28, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is perfect for kids aged two to 10. 

Morrow Mountain State Park added 45 acres of land south of Mountain Creek to its holdings this summer. The new property includes more than 3,000 linear feet of frontage on Mountain Creek, a pristine stream home to rare mussels.

Pilot Mountain State Park in Surry and Yadkin counties will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month with a day full of events at the park. The area near the big and little pinnacles in the Sauratown Mountains became a state park in 1968. The park now consists of more than 3,800 acres and includes a section along the Yadkin River.  

From Stede Bonnet to Blackbeard himself, people have long been fascinated with pirates, which are part of North Carolina history. Who were they? Where did they live? What did they wear? How did they become pirates? Discover pirates as the streets of the town of Bath will be filled with them for the “Pirates in the Port” program July 21, 10 a.m.

In recent decades hundreds of movies have been made in North Carolina, and N.C. Museum of Art Curator Laura Boyes will review “Filmmaking in North Carolina” Thursday, July 12, 12:30 p.m. at the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Building, 109 E. Jones St., Raleigh.

A War for Empire that crossed five continents and lasted seven years is remembered at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site, the state’s only link to the French and Indian War. What can be learned about the 1756 construction, and the 50 men garrisoned at the fort? These are the lessons often left to archaeology and the recovery of materials inhabitants left behind. 

There are many ways to celebrate the Fourth of July, but none more authentic than at a state historic site that played a role in the march to independence for the American colony.