NC Cultural Resources Newsroom

(FREMONT) —A festive Christmas feast of chicken, collards, biscuits, and plum pudding like that served on the Aycock farm in the late 19th century will blanket the dining room table at Aycock Birthplace State Historic Site during the site’s annual Christmas tours scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 4 and Thursday, Dec. 6. The tours will be held from 6:30-9 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Other program highlights will include gospel music singers, a Christmas shadow play for the kids, costumed guides who will explain common Christmas traditions of the post-Civil War era in North Carolina and demonstrations of open hearth cooking, which is how most folks in the Fremont community made hot meals back when Gov. Aycock was growing up here.

On Tuesday, the Primitive Baptist Singers will perform old-fashioned gospel music and Christmas songs in a capella style (no musical accompaniment) at 6:45, 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. in the site’s auditorium. Meanwhile, an 1893 one-room schoolhouse, children will be able to help put on an old-fashioned shadow play. A costumed volunteer will read a Christmas story while the kids dramatize the action through manipulating animal cardboard cut-outs and making animal sounds.

In the master bedroom of the historic house, an interpreter dressed in late 19th century clothing will explain how men prepared their families for Christmas, while a costumed interpreter in the parlor explains seasonal traditions such as hanging stockings by the fireplace and homemade decorations for the holiday tree. In the kitchen, a costumed interpreter will demonstrate open hearth cooking through making sausage and homemade biscuits. At the end of their tour, visitors can warm up by sampling tasty hot apple cider.

In 1859, Charles B. Aycock was born in this simple, rural home that is now the state historic site. After being elected governor in 1900, he dedicated his life to improving public education in North Carolina. An 1893 one-room schoolhouse, moved to the site, underscores Aycock’s commitment to education. This typical nineteenth-century family farm includes the main house, separate open-hearth kitchen, corn crib and smokehouses.

The state historic site’s mission is to preserve and interpret the birthplace and history of Charles B. Aycock, with an emphasis on his contributions to public education in North Carolina. It is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

To reach the site, take U.S. 117 north nine miles from Goldsboro or U.S. 117 south 14 miles from Wilson. Turn right (from Goldsboro) or left (from Wilson) on Gov. Aycock Road. The site is 1-1/2 miles on the right. From Interstate 95 take the U.S. 301 exit at Kenly. Take N.C. 222 east for ten miles to Fremont and turn right (south) on U.S. 117. Go two miles and turn left on Governor Aycock Road.

For further information on the holiday program, call (919) 242-5581, e-mail aycock@ncmail.net or go to http://www.nchistorisites.org/aycock/aycock.htm.

Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, Aycock Birthplace 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 through such programs as “History Happens Here”. For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.

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Photo Cutline: “Period costumed guide standing in Aycock Birthplace parlor, decorated as it would have been in the 1870s when future Governor Charles B. Aycock lived here in the family home.”