NC Cultural Resources Newsroom

BEAUFORT – The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources today announced an online questionnaire to provide additional input for a public meeting to be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 17, 2008, at the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort to obtain citizen input about expanded cultural facilities at Gallants Channel.  The questionnaire can be found at www.ncculture.com. Click on “Gallants Channel Public Meeting.”

The State of North Carolina accepted a gift of 36 acres of land on the waterfront on Gallants Channel in Beaufort, N.C., from the Friends of the Maritime Museum to expand facilities for educational and cultural programs of the N.C. Maritime Museum.

Citizens are invited to share their thoughts with members of the statewide review committee appointed by Cultural Resources Secretary Lisbeth C. “Libba” Evans to guide improvement of the property.

“As we review possibilities for this exceptional state property, we want to hear the community’s ideas. There are precious few state properties that are so well suited to serve the public,” said Committee Chair Ellen Newbold of Rose Hill, N.C.

The meeting location, the Duke Marine Lab, is located at 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC  28516.

The Gallants Channel location is home for some artifacts from the shipwreck presumed to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), flagship of the pirate Blackbeard.  Existing docks and facilities are used for the N.C. Maritime Museum’s junior sailing program, rowing programs and Cape Lookout Studies program.  The property was purchased by the Friends of the N.C. Maritime Museum in 1997 for future museum expansion.

Precise details for the expanded museum site on the Intracoastal Waterway are yet to be determined.  The Committee will provide a recommendation to the Department of Cultural Resources about development of the site as a natural and historic resource center to preserve and interpret the unique maritime heritage and coastal marine ecology of North Carolina.

The mission of The North Carolina Maritime Museum is to identify, document, preserve, and interpret all aspects of North Carolina’s rich maritime heritage — and its corollary natural history — through exhibits, educational programs, and field trips for our contemporary society, and passing intact its material culture to future generations.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. For more information about the Department of Cultural Resources visit www.ncculture.com