Keeper Henry Long first illuminated Cape Fear Lighthouse on Dec. 23, 1794, historian Kevin Duffus writes, but briefly after his untimely death his widow unofficially assumed duty.
culture and history
When World War II Was On the Outer Banks
Once the United States entered World War II, the battles fought in the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast changed the way of life for those that called the Outer Banks home.
Lost History: Search For Village Abandoned
Archaeologists point to land on the west side of Bath Creek as the likely site of the Native American village Secotan, but despite evidence, study here abruptly ended.
Mapping Pamlico Sound: The Secotan Site
In our continuing series on the July 1585 circumnavigation of Pamlico Sound, historian Kevin Duffus shares his evidence pointing to the Native American village of Secotan’s location.
The 1585 Circumnavigation of Pamlico Sound
Historian Kevin Duffus writes in the first part of his Crossing The Threshold of History series about the 1585 circumnavigation of Pamlico Sound by the English to create a map of the estuary and a visual record of those who lived there.
Navy’s Ocracoke ‘Loop Shack’ Was Ineffective
During summer 1942, the Navy built a secret underwater magnetic loop station on Ocracoke Island to detect the presence of German U-boats off the North Carolina coast, but the station made no contribution to the war effort.
Effort On to Link Heritage Corridor, Greenway
Brunswick County commissioners have agreed to support a plan to connect the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor with the East Coast Greenway, which would showcase for hikers, cyclists and paddlers the history of enslaved Africans here.
History Rediscovered: NC’s First Lighthouse
What did the first lighthouse on the Cape Fear River look like and what really happened to it? Documents that maritime historian Kevin Duffus found in the National Archives shed some light.
The Story of Shad Boats
Historian David Cecelski introduces his 12-part series, “The Story of Shad Boats,” that explores the origins, construction and history of the workboats found on the North Carolina coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Piney Grove: Touring Brunswick County’s Past
Historian David Cecelski visits with Brunswick County’s Marion Evans, who leads him on a tour of the Piney Grove community, sharing rich, old stories and showing him the little-known sites where they took place.
Project On to Finally Allow Elizabeth II to Sail
The Elizabeth II, a 16th-century representative sailing ship moored at Roanoke Island Festival Park, has been unable to sail for years because of shoaling at the entrance to Manteo Harbor, but a long-delayed dredging project now appears likely.
Amid Jim Crow, Blacks Here Forged Legacy
The Wright brothers’ visits to the Outer Banks came as white supremacy was wrenching away racial progress in the state, but blacks on the banks persisted in their achievements.
Singing At The March on Washington
Historian David Cecelski writes about a photo of Jacquelyn Bond and Golden Frinks, both central to the Williamston Freedom Movement, at the March on Washington in 1963.
Our Coast’s History: Working in the Logwoods
North Carolina historian David Cecelski searched the Forest History Society’s archives for photographs of coastal North Carolina and came across images of logging and lumber mills taken between 1900 to 1950 along the coast.
Beaufort’s Scandinavian, Dutch Fishermen
David Cecelski writes about the “largely forgotten enclave of Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch fishermen” who, along with their families, left New Jersey to make their home in Beaufort beginning in the 1910s.
Our Coast’s History: Chloe’s Story
The only recorded passage about the life of Chloe, a woman enslaved in Currituck County in the first half of the 1800s, reveals a great deal about her and the lives of other enslaved women on the North Carolina coast.
