Part of an ongoing series on coastal North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

Tensions began to brew between the colonists and Britain in the early 1760s after the Seven Years War, also called the French and Indian War, in North America. The British decided to impose new taxes on the colonies to recoup the funds that went to the war, but instead incited widespread protest.

Britain passed the Stamp Act March 22, 1765, and then in June 1767, the Townshend Act imposed duties on paint, paper, tea and other commodities. British troops attempted to enforce the Townshend duties in Boston October 1768, ultimately leading in March 1770 to the Boston Massacre that left five dead.

The British, to help the struggling United East India Co., passed the Tea Act in May 1773, allowing the company to import and sell tea to the colonies duty-free, undercutting the Dutch who had been smuggling tea in, and creating a monopoly.

Then, on Nov. 28, 1773, the Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor, and three more ships were expected to arrive, all carrying chests of tea.

Over the next few weeks, colonists met to figure out a way to fight back. On the night of Dec. 16, 1773, around four dozen men impersonating Native Americans boarded the ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

Almost a year later, 51 women in Edenton took a more peaceful approach to protesting the tea tax by drafting a document explaining their boycott. The women committed to no longer drinking tea or wearing British cloth because of taxation without representation and sent the final copy to England.

“This action forms one of the earliest-known political actions written and organized by women in the American colonies,”  the Edenton Historical Commission explains. “The events of the ‘Edenton Tea Party’ today form an iconic moment in our nation’s history, when a community of women used their own voices to stand by their loved ones and risk the wrath of the Crown by protesting injustice.”

The women of Wilmington responded to British taxation with a similar protest in the spring of 1775, though little is known about the gathering to publicly burn tea.

Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens Assistant Museum Director Hunter Ingram told Coastal Review that the Wilmington Tea Party is an oft-overlooked event in the final days before the start of the American Revolution.

In the port city of Wilmington, the import of tea had ground to a halt by the spring of 1775.

The Continental Congress had forbidden tea from coming through the colonies’ ports, so it had become a scarce commodity, he said. That is why events like the Boston Tea Party and the Edenton Tea Party were so crucial to the cause of resistance.

“Tea was hard to come by and sacrificing it sent a message to those who were already hurting from the disruption of its trade,” Ingram continued.

The Wilmington Tea Party happened in the spring of 1775 and is only documented in one place: the writings of Janet Schaw, a Scottish woman who was traveling through Wilmington to visit her brother.

“She wrote a single line about her observations of the tea resistance in Wilmington, which she did not support. ‘The Ladies have burnt their tea in a solemn procession, but they had delayed however ’til the sacrifice was not very considerable, as I do not think anyone offered above a quarter of a pound,’” Ingram said. 

While the simple description doesn’t give many specifics, Schaw was clear in what the protestors did, Ingram said. “Burning the tea was unique, and it meant the women of Wilmington, even in the eleventh hour before the outbreak of war, were willing to set a precious privilege blaze in the name of revolution.”

The Burgwin-Wright House is the oldest and largest historic site in Wilmington, comprised of four of the eight remaining colonial structures in town, Ingram said of the house’s importance during the Revolution.

“We have three buildings from the city’s first jail, circa 1744, and the mansion home built in 1770 on top of the main jail building after the prisoners were relocated. It has sat at the corner of Third and Market streets for 256 years, and it has watched Wilmington grow from small-but-mighty port city into a thriving town that was, for a time, the most populous area in the state,” Ingram explained.

“The colonial era in Wilmington doesn’t always get its due, but the surviving home built for merchant and politician John Burgwin can tell that story –– and has been for generations,” said Ingram.

Ingram explained that that the Burgwin-Wright House had partnered with the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk Chapter to commemorate the 251st anniversary of the protest with the “Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk.”

The Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk event begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 26, at 224 Market St. the program will include remarks from a few historic organizations and officials and samples of a brand-new tea blend by Cape Fear Spice Merchants.

“Guests can walk through the gardens, enjoy a presentation about Janet Schaw and then join members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution as they walk, in a solemn procession, to river to burn tea in commemoration of this act of resistance on the eve of revolution,” he said.

The historic home is a good fit for the Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk because the site likely would have been “witness to that solemn procession into history, and the act of resistance that helped give Wilmington a reputation for rebellion even before the war.”

Schaw was also a Loyalist, as was Burgwin, and it’s “likely she would have visited the house during her time in Wilmington. This was a home built for a wealthy guest list, and Janet would have qualified,” he said.

Though the program is offered at no charge, registration is required. Call 910-762-0570 to register.

“If you can’t get in this year, we hope to make it a recurring event through multiyear A250 celebration,” Ingram said, referring to the state’s official celebration of 250 years of independence, America 250 NC, a program under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

To commemorate Women’s History Month in March, Somerset Place in Washington County is highlighting the contributions that enslaved and free women made to the development, maintenance, and infrastructure of the 18th century plantation with guided tours.

The fee is $10 for the tours being offered at 10 a.m. on March 14, March 18, March 21, March 25 and March 28. For 15 or more people, group reservations are required. The site is located at 2572 Lake Shore Road, Creswell.

Somerset Place was an active plantation from 1785-1865. Rice, corn, oats, wheat, beans, peas and flax were planted on hundreds of acres, and sawmills turned out thousands of feet of lumber. By 1865, Somerset Place was one of the upper South’s largest plantations.

Now an historic site, Somerset Place is a representative state historic site offering a comprehensive and realistic view of 19th-century life on a large North Carolina plantation.

During its 80 years as an active plantation under slavery from 1785-1865, “enslaved persons converted thousand of acres into high yielding fields of rice, corn, oats, wheat, beans, peas, and flax. Meanwhile, enslaved and free millwrights operated sophisticated sawmills that turned out thousands of feet of lumber. By 1860, Somerset Place was one of the Upper South’s largest plantations,” according to North Carolina Historic Sites.

Almost 200 Black and white, enslaved and free men, women, and children were assembled as a labor force by 1790. “Over the life of the plantation, three generations of owners, around 50 white employees, two free black employees, and more than 861 enslaved people lived and worked on the plantation,” , the sites website continues.

By the mid-19th century, there were more than 50 buildings on-site including barns, saw and gristmills, stables, a hospital, an Episcopal chapel, a kitchen complex, 26 houses for members of the enslaved community, and homes for overseers, tutors, ministers, and the owner’s family, along with a kitchen/laundry, dairy, storehouse, and smoke and salting houses.

Nearly all the emancipated Black families left the plantation by the end of 1865 after the Civil War. The owners eventually sold and left the property. The plantation remained functioning through 1945.

Somerset’s plantation house and six adjacent structures were incorporated into what was the newly formed Pettigrew State Park in 1939, and in 1969, became a state historic site under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Regular hours for the site are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

DUCK — Two women scientists, longtime remote co-workers, recently met on the Outer Banks to celebrate the new annex at the renowned U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility, better known as the Duck Pier.

But their roles and rank among the nation’s premier military and civilian scientists is a notable achievement in their own right.

“We are now 50-50 men and women,” Katherine “Kate” Brodie, senior technical manager and senior research oceanographer at the facility’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, said during a tour of the annex in January, referring to the pier’s science and engineering staff. “Which I think is a really great accomplishment for women.”

The $4.3-million annex consists of laboratory and research administrative spaces in support of the organization’s expanded military research mission.

Standing alongside Brodie in the annex’s secure room, Mihan McKenna Taylor, senior scientist at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, noted pointedly that the nearby lactation room illustrates progress women have made in the workforce. “The closets are no fun,” she said, recalling the only quiet spaces once available for staff to nurse babies. 

As fellow scientists employed by ERDC, Brodie and McKenna Taylor’s careers exemplify not only how women can excel as engineers, software technicians and physicists, but also the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, role models for girls.

Only about 11% of teen girls plan to pursue STEM careers, compared with 35% of boys, according to the American Association of University Women. Although women make up about 28% of the STEM workforce, the gender gap is widest in the fastest-growing and most highly paid fields: 16.5% in engineering and architects and 25.2% in computer and math, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project.

Brodie, who graduated from Dartmouth College before earning her doctorate from William and Mary School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, focused on geological or geophysical oceanography. In her role today as technical manager at the Duck Pier, she helps develop and manage ongoing and future research, as well as mentor early career researchers.

A National Science Foundation fellowship in the summer before her senior year at Dartmouth changed her interest from Earth science to marine science. One of the projects involved working on a model that used current data from radar antenna in Chesapeake Bay to forecast where a person who fell in the water would be located, based on the currents. That was when she learned to code and to see the relationship between math and the dynamics of physics.

“I left that internship feeling really excited and saying, ‘I want to go to graduate school and do oceanography.’” Ultimately, Brodie learned the coding skills that gave her a big leg up in the field of marine sciences, which don’t typically require strong math and computer science or programming skill sets. 

“And I think they 100% should be because in the job that I do today, that is all I am doing,” she said. “You need to understand the physics, you need to understand the oceanography, but to do anything with that data, you need to be able to code and you need to understand the math.”

Early on, Brodie, whose expertise is in using remote-sensing observation equipment to collect real-time data in the surf zone, said she was inspired by McKenna Taylor.

“When I started at the FRF (Field Research Facility) itself, I was one of two women on the science and engineering staff, and the only other woman at the facility was our administrative support at the time,” Brodie said in a recent interview, recalling when she began her job right out of graduate school in June 2010. “I was the youngest by probably about 10 years. And so, I think, at that time, there was not a lot of equality.”

Brodie’s collaborative work often required her to visit ERDC’s main laboratories in Vicksburg.

“I would walk into many rooms where I was the only woman and I think the exception to that was probably the first time I met Mihan,” she recalled. Even back then, before McKenna Taylor was a senior scientist, Brodie said, she was presenting her research with “such a presence and with such personality.”

“I just thought it was so cool that there was this really accomplished woman scientist who was commanding the room — it was definitely male-dominated,” Brodie said. “That really, really struck me as a young woman scientist … particularly in the field of coastal science and engineering.”

Still, over the years, Brodie said, the number of women coastal scientists has grown, and she has met numerous accomplished women researchers, engineers and academics at numerous conferences and events where she has attended.

In time, Brodie, too, was considered one of those very accomplished female scientists. Slender, with blond hair and a casual style, Brodie could be mistaken for a college student. Although she’s not flashy about her brain power, her ease and clarity in explaining the technology and science at the Duck Pier makes it clear why she has a senior position.

Young women graduate students started approaching her at conferences, which led to those young women doing internships at the Duck Pier, and later being hired there. So before long, the pier’s technical staff was half women.

“You know, I didn’t actively have the goal of creating a science staff here at the FRF that was 50-50 split, women and men,” Brodie said. “And so, I think in some ways that’s also impressive that we ended up there without actively selecting for it.”

The 176-acre Duck Pier, which opened in 1977, is ERDC’s only coastal field observation facility. With its 1,840-foot steel and concrete pier and 140-foot-high observation tower, it is ERDC’s only location that conducts continuous observations and collects extensive and detailed data on coastal processes.

In collaboration with the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence, the new 4,008-square-foot annex is focused on research in developing methods to protect and inform military forces, especially operations in the littoral, or nearshore, coastal areas.

As Brodie put it during the Duck Pier tour: “I want to digitalize a surfer’s brain.”

Surfers are experts at reading real-time beach conditions and figuring out how to navigate them safely to achieve their goal, which is wave riding. For the military, the goal is getting personnel and vessels through the surf zone without tipping or other mishaps.

One of Brodie’s first assignments at the Field Research Facility was a more military-funded project that studied how remote-sensing technology could be used to assess a coastline. In other words, how can technology replicate in real time the information a surfer collects and interprets when looking at the waves and currents?

It turns out that the years of civil works research at the Duck Pier as well as its unique instrumentation and techniques developed for its observations and models, Brodie said, were assets to the evolving needs of the military.

“We were well-poised to transition those to help the warfighter with their recent focus and shift toward littoral environments,” she said in the later interview.

Starting with imagery collected from unmanned aerial systems and using Duck Pier instruments, over time Brodie and the ERDC team developed integrated sensing. The technology incorporated relevant data collected from LiDAR scans of a beach, satellites, buoys and towers that recorded information about waves, currents, winds and other factors that influenced the nearshore. Now the software is being readied to make the leap from the research and development pipeline to production.

With the success of the “surfers’ brain” software, funding for the research grew, and the Department of Defense mission expanded to support not only the Army but also Navy and Marine operations. 

“So I would say that that initial project, we’ve been able to grow that and show the value of the technology that we were developing,” Brodie elaborated. “I think if you think about the current sort of climate that we are in, in the world right now, and thinking about where some of the next future conflicts may be, a lot of those locations may involve needing to cross through the littorals or through coasts in some capacity. And so I think there’s been a shift DoD-wide to focus back on the littorals, away from desert environments where the Army has really been focused for the last 20 years.”

Over at ERDC headquarters in Vicksburg, McKenna Taylor oversees a scientific discipline called “near service phenomenology,” or the study of the interface of air, land and sea with the human domain, and a specialty in terrain assessment and manipulation. If it’s a tunnel, a bridge, a building or other things that humans manipulate within the Army’s research domain in the water, the air and the land, it’s probably part of Taylor’s expertise. That would include sensing technologies, most geophysically based, such as infrasound, hydroacoustics and seismology. 

“We’re considered long-term strategic thinkers. It takes 15 to 17 years to field any technology that started from embryonic conception, all the way out to warfighter usage in the way our acquisition and fielding works in the Army now,” she said in a later interview. “I’ve taken a wild and crazy idea from basic research in 2005, and it was fielded with engineers or fighters in 2021.”

Like Brodie, McKenna Taylor started at ERDC right out of graduate school, except she began as a research geophysicist in 2005. With an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in Washington — a major in physics, a minor in chemistry and an unofficial minor in music — she earned her doctorate in geophysics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Her visit to the Duck Pier was her first in a professional capacity, but she had often come with her family to the Outer Banks from Greensboro, where she grew up. 

McKenna Taylor said she was always good at math, but a seventh grade National Science Foundation physics camp had a big impact on her future career choice. At Georgetown, she said, there were typically “two women and 12 dudes.” But the year she studied physics, it was the opposite. Turns out that other women had also attended summer physics camp.

After earning her doctorate, she resisted the siren song of the oil and gas industry, a job many with her education were offered.

“It was super not for me,” she said. “I wanted to make a difference, not make money. And the bottom line in oil and gas is the bottom line.”

The Corps’ research and development branch, which is funded by sponsors and not by Congress, offered her a flexibility to be creative and have a family life, while still being part of a team focused on the national good. 

“And that kind of combination really appealed to me,” she said. “It’s fun. You know, you can change what you do five times a week or every five years. Depending on what you are investing your time in. And if you’re the sort of researcher that loves the challenge and likes to create your own vision, it’s phenomenal.”

If there is a stereotype of a woman scientist, McKenna Taylor is not it. She acknowledges being opinionated and assertive: “There’s a lot of blowback to it. I fundamentally don’t care.” When she attended the event at the Duck Pier, she was dressed in a full-length purple, pink and lime-green Scottish kilt, a gift from her husband. She talks exceptionally quickly, barely pausing while explaining complex science and head-spinning levels of government within ERDC and the DoD. At the same time, she is open, self-depreciating and funny.

She also plays viola, violin and string bass.

“Right now, I play in a band, I play in an orchestra, I play in a wedding quartet,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I like to think of it this way: Physics is just the music the universe makes. The music the universe makes that we can write down in a different language is the mathematics of physics, or geophysics, specifically. So to me, they’re not different. They’re just a different expression of the same language and feeling and perspective on the world.”

As a mother of two boys, McKenna Taylor has had to navigate the same stressors as other women around childcare and the demands of parenting, especially prior to when federal parental leave was provided. But as a team leader at ERDC, with her supervisors’ support, she deliberately approached work with the belief that fathers and mothers deserve a “whole life balance” that supports family life as well as work.

“It’s important to have a whole life,” she said. “And what that means to each person is very different. But if you have someone who feels satisfied with their whole life balance, they work their tails off. They feel invested.

“I firmly do not believe you can have it all,” she continued. “But you can make choices to have the parts of you that need to be satisfied to exist as a human. Those choices should be yours to make and they should be options.”

But there’s a lot more than that balance that will bring more women physicists and engineers into the workforce,” McKenna Taylor said. The education system needs to be more hands-on. It needs to allow girls to experience the adventure in research. It needs to empower students to have the freedom to fail — “It’s how we learn,” she said — and it needs to let students blow things up.

“I think we need a revitalization of the importance of good, solid, critical thinking and scientific education, from starting people in prekindergarten all the way up through advanced degrees, the respect that science needs to regain,” she said. “You get talking heads that denigrate expertise, and that handicaps us as a country, because if you can’t strive for excellence, what do you become?”

Dr. Carresse Gerald knew before she was in kindergarten that she wanted to be a veterinarian. 

“I love animals and loved to learn about them. I watched National Geographic and Animal Planet often,” the Winston-Salem native told Coastal Review. “I especially enjoyed learning about exotic animals like Komodo dragons. So, it made sense for me to want to become a vet. My grandfather also had horses and I figured I could come home and take care of them.”

Her love of animals led her to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, and she is now an assistant professor in North Carolina Central University’s Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences.

Her love of STEM also led her to connect with an educator at North Carolina Coastal Federation to help her students learn more about their coastal environment. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Gerald is one of the growing number of females in STEM careers. 

Though women make up nearly half of U.S. workers, they are still “vastly underrepresented” in the STEM workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

In 1970, 38% of U.S. workers were women, of those 8% were in STEM. By 2019, women made up 48% of all workers, of those, 27% were in STEM, “but men still dominated the field. Men made up 52% of all U.S. workers but 73% of all STEM workers,” the Census notes. 

In 2019, there were nearly 10.8 million workers in STEM occupations, which account for nearly 7% of all U.S. occupations, according to Census Bureau estimates.

Gerald earned her bachelor’s in animal science, when she studied large animals such as livestock and poultry, followed by her master’s, which built upon her undergraduate work focused on animal health, both at N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University.

“The research I conducted was to analyze hog barn dust effects on Porcine epithelium,” she said, or pig tissue. “My Ph.D. is in Energy and Environmental Systems and my dissertation included research characterizing hog barn dust and the effects of the dust human airway cells.” She earned her doctorate from N.C. A&T, as well. 

After a few years as a postdoctoral research associate at University of Nebraska Medical Center, in 2016 she joined N.C. Central. She and her husband reside in Graham with their four kids aged 16, 10, 2 and 9 months. 

As a female in STEM, Gerald said it can be challenging to balance work, personal and family responsibilities.

“I also try to make it a point to advocate for myself as much as possible,” she said. “One positive about being a female in STEM is encouraging other young females in STEM. I love working with students and increasing motivation of young students to pursue graduate degrees, internships and community service in STEM.”

Gerald said that she is using her role in front of the classroom to encourage other women to become leaders in STEM. 

“It is easy to reach the students in my classroom. I even have had students ask if their friends could attend field trips or listen to a lecture,” Gerald explained. “I also work with student organizations, and it helps me to motivate females to engage in STEM. Our student organizations are open to non-STEM majors, so it is always awesome to see history and criminal justice majors engaging in STEM activities.”

She said her research team is currently analyzing fecal coliform, bacteria that originates in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, and pharmaceutical compounds in surface water from an urban watershed, Third Fork Creek. She uses a nematode worm model, Caenorhabditis elegans, to determine if the collected water affects their growth and chemotaxis, or ability to find a food source. This type of worm is often used in research to study human diseases. 

One of her graduate students is analyzing air quality for volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and particulate matter, PM, inside a nail salon and “we are collecting nail salon dust to expose to airway cells to see if the dusts will induce inflammation.”

She connected with the Coastal Federation a few summers ago through another nonprofit organization for which she volunteers.

“I am a board member for the nonprofit, The Institute of Landscape, Art and Sustainable Spaces,” she said. Each summer, the organization sponsors a free summer program called EnviroKIDs, and one of the stops happens to be sponsored by the Coastal Federation at Hammocks Beach State Park.

“The first time I went, I brought my two oldest kids and we had so much fun,” Gerald explained. “I also met the sweetest, extremely knowledgeable environmental educator, Rachel Bisesi. From then on, Rachel has been integral in making sure we increase students in STEM from speaking to my classes and planning trips, she is gem.”

Bisesi explained to Coastal Review that she was leading a teacher workshop session with another group the day she met Gerald.

She was explaining to the teachers that most of the state’s big universities have marine labs on the coast but after noticing one of the teacher’s bags had an N.C. Central logo on it, Bisesi said she realized that really wasn’t true, as not many of the historically Black colleges and universities have marine labs, although Elizabeth City State is on the coast. 

“Then I finally connected that Dr. Gerald teaches at Central, and reached out to see if she’d be interested in a partnership. It grew from there, and I’m so glad because she is such a joy to work with, and is doing really great work,” Bisesi said.

Gerald said that she brought her first group of N.C. Central students to Hammocks Beach State Park in April 2022. 

“It was a great time and the students enjoyed collecting organisms along the estuary.  We identified a few crabs, fish, snail and oyster species,” she said. “When I took the second group in fall 2022, I had several students tag along again because they enjoyed the first time so much! In the fall, we had a chance to see dolphins and jellyfish! I still have students talking about the previous trips and ready for another one.” 

When Gerald isn’t in the classroom, she said she enjoys working with her church congregation, Piedmont Church of Christ, spending time with her kids and exercising.  

“I also love reading books and listening to audiobooks. I am also a huge ‘Star Wars’ and Marvel fan and love watching the movies and the various series,” she added.

As part of its celebration of Women’s History Month, the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will highlight women’s achievements through programs and exhibits.

“Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence!” through September at Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. The poster exhibition from the Smithsonian, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and explores the complexity of the women’s suffrage movement and the relevance of this history to Americans’ lives today. More information about the initiative is at womenshistory.si.edu.

“By Hook or By Crook“ program on female pirates at 11 a.m. March 16, N.C. Maritime Museum, Beaufort. The free, in-person program examines the lives of two female pirates whose lives are well-documented because of their exploits. Hear the scandalous stories of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, ranked among the fiercest pirates who sailed during the Golden Age. Their well-documented histories reflect the double standard women of their time faced and their limited options. The program will also be livestreamed via Zoom. Sign up at ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com for the Zoom link.

“African American women in the New Bern community from the 1700s through the 1900s” at 7 p.m. March 16, free program at Cullman Performance Hall, N.C. History Center at Tryon Palace, New Bern. Dr. Erroll L. Royal, a graduate of New Bern Senior High School, is a retired educator with 40 years of professional experience as a school administrator in the elementary, middle and high school levels. He is the author of “Pembroke: The Road Less Traveled” and “Traces of Places and Faces of African Americans from the New Bern Community.”

Reading from new book “Drought, Drought, Torrential” by Dr. Susan Schmidt at 2 p.m. March 18, N.C. Maritime Museum at Beaufort. The program will feature Schmidt, an educator, novelist and editor, reading some of the poems from her latest work, as well as a discussion of the poetry from this publication and her previous works. Following the presentation, attendees will have the chance to meet with the author and have their books signed. Book will be available for purchase at the program.

“Deep Dives into History: The Women Airforce Service Pilots” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 18 at the N.C. Maritime Museum at Southport. The program will focus on the first female Army pilots who served at Camp Davis in Holly Ridge. The free drop-in program, which is designed for all ages, combines live interpretation, material culture displays and hands-on activities to help visitors understand the role of these women pilots in the U.S. Army. Registration is not required.

“Women of Somerset Place” tour at 10 a.m. March 4 and March 18. Somerset Place State Historic Site, Creswell. Learn about some of the remarkable women who lived and worked at Somerset Place. This 60-minute guided tour will focus on the contributions that enslaved and free women made to the development, maintenance, and infrastructure of the plantation. There is a tour fee of $3 per person, and you can register and pay at the visitor center. Reservations are required for groups of 15 or more.

In Raleigh

Program highlighting the work of Dr. Helen G. Edmonds, the first scholar to challenge the narrative of the Wilmington Coup of November 1898 is set for 11 a.m.-noon March 8 at the State Library of North Carolina. Edmonds is the first African American woman to earn a doctorate at The Ohio State University and to become a graduate school dean in the country at North Carolina Central University. Through her research, she put forth an accurate accounting of the efforts in the late 19th century to undermine and limit African American political power. The program will be led by one of her former students, Dr. Freddie Parker, professor of history at North Carolina Central University. This virtual program will be recorded and live-captioned.

Live from the Studio: Becky Joye from 1:30 to 3 p.m. March 11, N.C. Museum of Art. Join Joye virtually in her studio as she demonstrates how to create a quilted architectural collage using the interaction of color and pattern. Drawing from her architectural training, Joye uses tape, rulers, and templates to create clean lines and meticulous details in her mixed-media paintings and collages. Free with registration online.

“History @ High Noon: NC and First Ladies” noon March 15, N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. Take a walk through North Carolina history with the nation’s first ladies with author and historian Annette B. Dunlap. Our country has had 43 official first ladies, and at least 10 of them have some tie to our state. Register online for the virtual program. An email containing the Zoom link will be sent to all registrants an hour and a half before the program begins.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources oversees 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, three science museums, three aquariums and Jennette’s Pier, 41 state parks and recreation areas, the state’s zoo, Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, and the Division of Land and Water Stewardship.

Kathy Rawls will discuss her work as director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries during the second History for Lunch program in March at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City.

She is the first woman to head the agency since the Fisheries Commission Board became the Division of Commercial Fisheries in the late 1920s.

The virtual program starts at noon March 16 and will be offered in-person at the museum, 501 Water St., Elizabeth City, and via Zoom. Register in advance through the museum’s Facebook page or the website for the link to attend the talk virtually.  The program is supported by Southern Bank and Biggs Cadillac Buick GMC of Elizabeth City.

Rawls has been with the division for more than 25 years. Before taking on the role of director May 1, 2021, she served for seven years as the fisheries management section chief.

“There are already a number of women in pivotal roles at the division, and I do feel a responsibility to represent them and other female colleagues, but I also know that gender is not part of the job description,” Rawls said in statement when the division announced her taking on the role in April 2021. “The best way for me to represent women in the science field is to be a darned good director of the Division of Marine Fisheries and being a good director will involve doing the best I can for the division, the marine fisheries resource, and the people of North Carolina.”

Rawls, 53, was born and raised in Windsor and graduated from Lawrence Academy in Merry Hill. She earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 1989, , according to the division.

She began with the division is 1990 as a river herring technician, which she held for three years. She left then to work on her family’s farm but returned in 1999 to be a technician on a striped bass project. She then held the position of biologist supervisor for eight years until May 2011, when she was promoted to manager of the division’s Northern District, based in Elizabeth City. She became fisheries management section chief in April 2014.

This History for Lunch complements the exhibit in the museum “Women Breaking Barriers in Northeastern North Carolina,” that focuses on women of northeastern North Carolina and how their experiences, stories, and challenges have factored in history. The exhibit that commemorates the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in
America in 2020 opened in November 2020 and tells how women broke barriers in areas such as women’s suffrage, public service, literature, journalism, activism, religion and entertainment. The exhibit is expected to close at the end of 2022.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed Sundays and state holidays.

The northeast regional history museum serves Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington counties. The museum is under the North Carolina Division of State History Museums within the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.