From an examination of torpedo warfare on the Cape Fear River in Winnabow to demonstrations of military training and camp life in Four Oaks, several historic sites and museums around North Carolina will offer programming related to the Civil War in the next week.
The fun starts Friday with a screening of the epic film Glory at the N.C. Museum of Art's outdoor theater in Raleigh. Tickets are free for members and $5 for all others.
On Saturday as part of our 2nd Saturdays series, eight of our sites will be offering programs on the Civil War.
On the coast, the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington will host displays on the USS North Carolina and CSS North Carolina during the Civil War. Topics as diverse as steam engineering, ironclad ship construction and navigation will be covered. In Winnabow at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson, a program will focus on torpedo warfare on the Cape Fear River. At Fort Fisher in Kure Beach, visitors will learn about how technology was used in communications during the Civil War, while the N.C. Maritime Museum in Southport will present a program on blockade running complete with living history demonstrations, live period music and visiting sutlers.
Farther inland, Bentonville Battlefield in Four Oaks will present cooking demonstrations, musket and artillery firing and more as part its Civil War camp life program. Bennett Place in Durham will offer similar demonstrations with a focus on authors and storytelling. The State Capitol in Raleigh will also display Civil War-era materials from the State Library and offer special tours of the old State Library there.
In the west, where the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace in Weaverville will host Michael Hardy for role of western North Carolina in the Civil War. The week of Civil War programs ends Monday with a lecture on the role of North Carolinians at the Battle of Gettysburg hosted by State Archives in Raleigh. The lecture is part of a series the Archives' hosts on the last second Monday of each month. For more on Civil War commemorative programming in North Carolina, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.