KURE BEACH – We work on them, play on them and rely on them for everything from food to property value. They are North Carolina’s beloved coastal waters, and they will be the focal point on Saturday, July 10, when the Fort Fisher State Historic Site partners with local artists to host a program titled “Life on Fort Fisher’s Waterways.”
Scheduled for 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., this free event is part of 2nd Saturdays, a statewide summer initiative at the Department of Cultural Resources’ State Historic Sites and museums that combines arts, history, culture and fun for all ages. Local artists and crafts people — especially those whose work reflects coastal themes or influences — will be on hand to create, discuss and sell their work.
“We’ll have artist booths to browse and shop, and costumed interpreters on hand for a tour of Fort Fisher,” said Assistant Site Manager Amy Manor Thornton. “So many people love what our coastal waterways have to offer and love hearing stories of people and items they brought through the blockade during the Civil War.”
Small-arms demonstrations will happen throughout the day. Volunteers from the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher will be on hand with marine artifacts and stories of life on and under the water. A complete schedule with artist information is at www.ncculture.com.
Artists and craftspeople include: Patty Speights, clay http://handworksbypatty.com/ ; Kee Wilde-Ramsing, jewelry http://www.myspace.com/jaded108jewelry ; Elaine Klapproth, pottery http://mselaineouspottery.com/about_mselaineous ;
Ginny Wagner, watercolor, http://www.ginnywagnerart.com/gallery_watercolor.html ;
Brigitta Dewell, mixed media & collage http://www.caryvisualart.org/programs/cva-scholarships/2009-scholarship ; Garland Hilliard, woodworking; and Karen Dillard, bird houses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka0GFLI1Pdc .
Fort Fisher, the largest earthen fortification in the Confederacy, once protected the port of Wilmington and the vital blockade-running trade on the Cape Fear River. After two massive bombardments, the fort fell to a Union infantry assault on Jan. 15, 1865, and the port was closed to foreign trade.
The Fort Fisher State Historic Site is located at 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd S, Kure Beach, N.C. 28449. For more information on this program or the site, call (910) 458-5538 or visit www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/.
Partners in the 2nd Saturdays program include “Our State” magazine, the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Division of Tourism within the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Cooperative Extension, and the Tourism Extension Program in N.C. State University’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.