Celebrate summer with Somerset Place at the 12th Annual “Days Gone By” living history event.
Join us on Saturday, June 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for a day filled with history, music, storytelling, and exploration.
A suggested donation of $5 for adults and $3 for children will be accepted. Guided tours will be available for a separate fee.
During the event, Braima Moiwai, a West African storyteller, will present the history and significance of Juneteenth. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on West African traditional drumming, sing-alongs using djembe, Djun djun drums, bells, kelens, and shakers, creating mesmerizing cross-rhythms (polyrhythm). The Possum Hollar Old Time String Band will provide an interactive music demonstration.
Living historians will demonstrate 19th-century life, including medicine, apple pressing, hearth cooking, cross-cut sawing, and shingle making. Delve into hands-on activities such as making sedge brooms, creating corn husk dolls, and learning about quill writing and wax sealing. Representatives from Pettigrew State Park will discuss the Native American heritage of the Lake Phelps region.
Presentations by The Newbold White House, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and the Washington Underground Waterfront Museum will include songs, stories, clothing, and exhibits about the Freedmen's Colony, slavery and Quakers, and the use of coded messages by enslaved individuals to seek freedom along the Underground Railroad. Enjoy good food, historic games, garden tours and horse-drawn carriage rides to make for a fun-filled, educational family outing.
About Somerset Place State Historic Site
Somerset Place State Historic Site is a renowned historical landmark dedicated to preserving and showcasing the heritage of Somerset and its surrounding regions. The plantation once encompassed more than 100,000 acres. Over its 80-year history, more than 861 enslaved African Americans lived and worked at Somerset. For additional information, please call (252) 379-6020. Somerset Place is located at 2572 Lake Shore Road, Creswell. It is administered by the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.
The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the North Carolina Symphony, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.ncdcr.gov.