Rural Washington County is home to a restored 170-year-old house of worship on the National Register, and the nonprofit group formed to restore the structure likely built by enslaved people says it offers revealing glimpses into our past.
Culture & History
A Forgotten People: Bohemian oyster shuckers on NC coast
“By drawing especially on coastal newspapers, and with help from some wonderful librarians, archivists, and museum curators, I will try to sketch the best portrait I can of the Bohemian oyster shuckers and their lives on the North Carolina coast between 1890 and 1914,” historian David Cecelski writes.
Lost riverfront destination, Bayview Hotel nearly forgotten
Bayview on the Pamlico River is best known these days for its ferry terminal used by phosphate mine employees, but nearly a century ago, it was starting to gain attention for its grand hotel.
Museum to mark 125th anniversary of Ca’e Bankers’ exodus
The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center is host for the Diamond City Homecoming, a celebration of the hearty Cape Banks residents forced inland by storms 125 years ago.
Murfreesboro poised for growth balanced with preservation
This perhaps lesser-known older coastal town’s embrace of its history, scenery, significant architecture and long tradition of educational excellence is driving both its economy and its push for preservation.
Behind NC coast’s range lights, buoy depots, gas works
This collection of photographs captures what historian David Cecelski calls “a rare view of the behind-the-scenes work that was necessary to maintain a functional system of navigational aids on the North Carolina coast.”
Researchers shed light on Native Tribes’ English encounter
A two-day program in Manteo last week brought together researchers who study the Indigenous people of the late 16th century in what is now northeastern North Carolina and their short-lived relationship with colonists.
‘As Long as a Star Can Be Seen’: 1864 Plymouth Massacre
Historian David Cecelski, who recently gave the keynote address at an event commemorating the Plymouth Massacre of April 1864, shares his remarks from that day.
‘People’s museum’: Hatteras Islanders welcome reopening
After decades of work to establish a maritime museum in Hatteras, villagers were there to celebrate the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum reopening Monday with a new exhibit gallery awash in centuries of dramatic maritime history.
New nonprofit, inaugural event to celebrate Chief Wingina
Gray Parsons of Frisco formed an organization and planned a May 30-31 event in Manteo to celebrate Chief Wingina, the first indigenous leader on the continent to be murdered by English colonists.
Southern Shores’ Flat Tops attract peak attendance for tour
Record numbers came out Saturday to tour the remaining few modest, single-story block homes that are a reminder of simpler times on the Outer Banks.
Hatteras museum to reopen, Beaufort boat show ahead
N.C. Maritime Museums system is readying for the reopening of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras and the annual Wooden Boat Show in Beaufort this weekend.
Ocracoke festival aims to keep alive carving traditions
Organizers are putting the final touches on the sixth annual Ocracoke Island Waterfowl Festival scheduled for the third weekend of April in the Ocracoke School gymnasium.
Author documents investment fraud involving Buffalo City
Buffalo City, a now-abandoned Dare County logging town notorious for moonshine production during Prohibition, also featured in a huge life insurance company fraud case in the 1910s, author and retired forester Bill Barber has revealed.
Homecoming: Portsmouth Island descendants set to gather
The Friends of Portsmouth Island and Cape Lookout National Seashore are expecting hundreds for the event that happens every two years and this year includes a celebration of the 1894 U.S. Life-Saving Station here.
As timber declined, Buffalo City loggers made ’shine
Recently detailed by “When Ghosts Made Moonshine” author Chris Barber, loggers in the remote, deeply forested northeastern region of North Carolina supplied highly regarded whiskey to speakeasies up the East Coast during Prohibition.
