Tag: history

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Historic Sites in North Carolina

How many of these listed historic sites in North Carolina have you been to? 

https://historicsites.nc.gov/

Honestly, before I looked at the list I thought there’d be more. I used to live down near Harnett County and never did make it to the Bentonville Battlefield – in my defense, I’m not really big on history. The beauty is that most of these sites are free and quite accessible and even when there is an admission fee it’s usually $2-$5. 

I’ve been to:

  • Fort Fisher near Wilmington – the NC Aquarium is near there as well
    • Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina’s port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. When Ft. Fisher fell after a massive Federal amphibious assault on January 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.
  • NC State Capitol building several times, it’s actually super cool and in downtown Raleigh. Free entry and has public bathrooms. 
  • Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson I went with my Mom and my  youngest daughter several years ago. Orton Plantation is nearby and so is Beaufort and those are definitely worth a visit.  
    • A major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina’s Cape Fear River, Brunswick was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the Confederacy. Colonial foundations dot the present-day tour trail, which crosses the earthworks of the Confederate fort.