Press Releases

Join the fun in downtown Kinston at the Eastern North Carolina Brew & Que Fest with special events, food and history. The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center will host a free Shipbuilding Saturday program Oct. 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Experience history, paint a model ironclad for $2, and make a memory and keepsake.

North Carolina State Parks challenges all residents and visitors to join the 100-Mile Challenge, a health and wellness program that encourages citizens to complete 100 miles of hiking, biking, walking, running, paddling, skating, rolling their wheelchairs or riding their horses within the state.

From morning to night, Town Creek Indian Mound will pay homage to the harvest and respect to American Indian traditions at “Pumpkin Fest” Oct. 28. The celebration of early foods and pumpkins by day, and Jack-o-lanterns by night, will delight visitors with old-fashioned fun.

Ella Baker was an often overlooked, amazing organizer and pioneer in the struggle for racial justice. She grew up in Littleton, N.C., and has been called “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” A new title for young adult readers, “We Who Believe in Freedom,” published by the Historical Research Office of the N.C. Office of Archives and History, is now available.

Pirates are taking over the north lobby of Dorton Arena during this year’s N.C. State Fair as the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources kicks off a celebration of North Carolina’s most notorious pirate, Blackbeard, for the 300th anniversary of his exploits along the N.C. coast. Check out a replica of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and join in on all the swashbuckling fun at our new exhibit. Just be careful not to lose your head!

Explore the crafts and harvest traditions of one of North Carolina’s largest plantations at the free Historic Stagville Harvest Festival, Oct. 21, noon to 6 p.m. Daytime demonstrations, vendors and crafts will give way to an African drum circle around an evening campfire with a master musician.

It’s 1916 and boarders at Julia Wolfe’s “Old Kentucky Home” boardinghouse are visiting for health, business and leisure. You may see one of them snapping pictures with her 1916 Kodak camera. Hot topics include World War I or the upcoming World Series and a newsie will hawk the Oct. 7, 1916 newspaper on Market Street.

Immerse yourself in the Victorian era and experience a Halloween unlike any other at Duke Homestead’s “Halloween Phantasmagoria” Oct. 27, 6:30-9 p.m. Discover a thrilling adventure at Duke Homestead State Historic Site after dark. Adult tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door; $5 for children ages 12 and under.

Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed Oct. 2017 as North Carolina Archives Month and the State Archives of North Carolina presents two programs exploring the relevance of historical records in our lives today.  

State officials today announced the award of $2.1 million in grants through the federal Recreational Trails Program for 25 trails projects across the state. For fiscal year 2018, the program received 53 grant applications totaling $4.4 million in requests.