August: Summer Seasonal Living History Program and Artillery Demonstrations

AUGUST 23, 2008. Four Oaks, NC. Interpreters dressed in period costumes will demonstrate the activities of the common North Carolina soldier--small arms firing, close order drill, and the provisions issued to Civil War soldiers.
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August: Autographs by Dennis Anderson

AUGUST 16, 2008. Poplar Branch, NC. Spend a Saturday afternoon touring the Diggers Dungeon and checking out the most popular monster truck in racing history. The Grave Digger with it awesome black and green paint job is a must visit for any monster truck fan. Add in the opportunity to get Dennis Anderson?s autograph and you have a day that you will not soon forget.
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“Pickin’ on the Porch” Continues In September at Wolfe Memorial

Passing an afternoon on a front porch has long been one of the pleasures of the South. That tradition continues on Friday, Sept. 5, from 2-4 p.m., with a free performance at one of the most famous porches in Asheville, the “Old Kentucky Home.” Join Buddy Davis, Carol Rifkin and Jamie Soesbee as they present an eclectic mix of early country, bluegrass, folk, old-time and traditional mountain music as a part of the “Pickin’ on the Porch” series at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial.

A Madison County, N.C., native and seventh generation singer, Buddy Davis is a Grammy Award-nominated multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded with Doc Watson, Sam Bush and others and co-produced the Nashville Network television series “Fire on the Mountain.”

Carol Rifkin’s distinctive vocals and guitar playing are integral to the trio’s sound. She has performed at the Smithsonian Institution, MerleFest, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival and can be heard in the film “Songcatcher.”

Rounding out the trio’s three-part harmonies, upright bass player Jamie Soesbee, a Buncombe County native, has played in a variety of jazz and dance bands and worked as a session musician.

Visitors are invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets to the performance. This is the second performance in a series at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. For more information about this series, please contact the Thomas Wolfe Memorial at (828) 253-8304.

The goal of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historical Site is to preserve and interpret the history of author Thomas Wolfe and his mother’s boardinghouse as depicted in his novel “Look Homeward Angel.” It is located at 52 N. Market Street in downtown Asheville. For more information about this program, contact the Thomas Wolfe Memorial at 828-253-8304, or email contactus@wolfememorial.com.

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is an agency of the Division of State Historic sites, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture through such programs as “Telling Our Stories,” a yearlong celebration of North Carolina’s stories of struggle and freedom, memorable characters and colorful daily life. For more information, visit www.ncculture.com or call (919) 807-7385.

Civil War Recruitment, Training Camp Recalled at Bennett Place

DURHAM—Come visit a typical Confederate recruiting and training camp at Bennett Place State Historic Site in Durham, when Confederate soldiers of the “Old North State” encamp around the historic Bennett Farm on Saturday, Aug. 23, and Sunday, Aug. 24. Some 50 to 75 period-costumed “soldiers” of the 26th and 6th N.C. Infantry reenactment groups will portray soldiers preparing to go to the front.

Demonstrations will include various drills, musket firings, camp life, cooking and educational talks. The activities will be ongoing throughout the day from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and are free.

In addition to this living history encampment, writer Jeff Toalson will be on hand to introduce his newest book, “No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery, and Desertion.” A diary featuring accounts and personal stories of the last 16 months of the Civil War, the book focuses primarily on Confederate troops. Toalson will speak Friday at 8 p.m. in the site’s visitor center theater. On Saturday, Toalson will speak in the theater at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and he will autograph his book, which is for sale in the museum gift shop.

Throughout the Civil War, recruiting and training camps were set up all over the country for both Union and Confederate soldiers. All across North Carolina, including in such communities as Raleigh and Hillsborough, civilians joined the cause and were trained to provide reinforcements and relief to soldiers already battling in Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.

The visitor center will be open throughout this two-day program. There, visitors can peruse the museum gallery showcasing artifacts and exhibits interpreting the life of the Bennett family and the soldiers and events pertaining to the surrender of Confederate forces held at the farm. The theater presentation “Dawn of Peace” will be shown throughout the day and folks can pick up a variety of Civil War and Bennett Place-related souvenirs and collectibles at the museum gift shop.

Once the home of typical yeoman farmers, the James Bennitt (or Bennett) family, Bennett Place became the site of the largest troop surrender of the Civil War. On April 26, 1865, General Joseph E. Johnston and General William T. Sherman met at the Bennett family farmhouse to negotiate a peaceful solution to America’s most tragic war. The surrender of Johnston’s army ended the fighting in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, allowing nearly 90,000 battered and weary soldiers to return home.

Two more surrenders soon followed. These surrenders, together with General Robert E. Lee’s submission to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, effectively disbanded the Confederate forces. The Bennett Place surrender helped spare North Carolina the kind of destruction experienced by neighboring southern states.

The mission of Bennett Place State Historic Site is to preserve and interpret the history of the largest surrender of the Civil War and the lives of 19th century yeoman farmers such as the Bennetts.

Bennett Place is located in the western part of Durham and can be reached by taking Hwy. 15-501 North, the Durham Freeway (147), or I-85; follow the brown historic site signs. For more information on this program or Bennett Place, please call 919-383-4345, e-mail bennett@ncmail.net  or go to www.bennettplace.nchistoricsites.org.

Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Bennett Place State Historic Site is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2008 theme observance of “Telling Our Stories.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.