NC Cultural Resources Newsroom » In the News http://news.ncdcr.gov Cultural News from Around the State of North Carolina Wed, 14 May 2008 20:57:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 en ©NC Department of Cultural Resources info.marketingservices@ncmail.net (NC Department of Cultural Resources) info.marketingservices@ncmail.net(NC Department of Cultural Resources) 1440 A Podcast of Cultural News from Around the State of North Carolina Cultural News from Around the State of North Carolina NC Department of Cultural Resources NC Department of Cultural Resources info.marketingservices@ncmail.net No no http://news.ncdcr.gov/news/wp-content/uploads/dcrlogo_podcast2.gif NC Cultural Resources Newsroom http://news.ncdcr.gov 144 144 West Craven Middle School Wins N.C. History Bowl Championship http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/14/west-craven-middle-school-wins-nc-history-bowl-championship/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/14/west-craven-middle-school-wins-nc-history-bowl-championship/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 20:52:45 +0000 richardbarton http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/14/west-craven-middle-school-wins-nc-history-bowl-championship/

RALEIGH  - A hard-fought battle for the 2008 N.C. History Bowl championship came to a blazing finish late this afternoon with West Craven Middle School of New Bern winning the consistently tough competition against finalist McDougle Middle School of Chapel Hill.

Students from seven middle schools across the state (including two from the Craven County/New Bern area) competed today in the finals at the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh. The score of the championship game, which started at 1:30 p.m., was 155-85.

Four team members received coveted trophies to take back home and display proudly at their school.  David Latham, N.C. Historic Sites Museum and Visitor Services chief, presented the awards to the winning team along with Ruthann Bond, president of the N.C. Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), a longtime competition sponsor.  The N.C. Museum of History also sponsored this year’s N.C. History Bowl, along with the State Historic Sites division and the UDC.

The West Craven team members are Xavier Collins, Aspyn Fulcher, Sara Neilson and Sarah Richardson. The coach is David Rackley. The winning team received a $200 cash award.

The runner-up team received a $100 cash award. Team members are William Knapp, Chris Chiesa, Chris Rupert and Hugo Sowder; their coaches are Cissy O’Neal and Louise Peters.

Throughout the school year, teams of eighth graders have been feverishly studying North Carolina history and competing in regional history bowls sponsored by the Historic Sites division.  Schools competed against one another in paired matches featuring teams of four students with one alternate answering questions from a moderator. West Craven Middle School was sponsored in the tournament by the Aycock Birthplace and CSS Neuse State Historic Sites. McDougle Middle School’s sponsors were the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum and Alamance Battleground State Historic Sites.

On Tuesday, the teams arrived in Raleigh and attended a reception hosted by the UDC.  The students then toured the capitol area. 

Other teams competing this year were from Camden County Middle School, Kannapolis Middle School, Magellan Charter School (Raleigh), Grover C. Fields Middle School (New Bern) and Reid Ross Classical School (Fayetteville).

N.C. Historic Sites is a unit of the Office of Archives and History, 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.  The program of 27 state historic sites, stretching from the mountains to the coast, can be visited on-line at http://www.nchistoricsites.org.  For more information on the N.C. History Bowl, please contact N.C. History Bowl coordinator Jann Brown at 252-526-9600 or 252-526-7075. 

Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the N.C. History Bowl is one of many programs the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is sponsoring under its 2008 theme of “Telling Our Stories.”  For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/14/west-craven-middle-school-wins-nc-history-bowl-championship/feed/ Eighth Graders to Vie in 28th Annual N.C. History Bowl Finals http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/13/eighth-graders-to-vie-in-28th-annual-nc-history-bowl-finals/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/13/eighth-graders-to-vie-in-28th-annual-nc-history-bowl-finals/#comments Tue, 13 May 2008 17:45:23 +0000 richardbarton http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/13/eighth-graders-to-vie-in-28th-annual-nc-history-bowl-finals/ RALEIGH - “Who was North Carolina’s longest serving governor?”  “Name the two women pirates who served on the crew of Captain “Calico Jack” Rackham.”  “The bloodiest slave revolt in American history occurred along the Virginia-North Carolina border in 1831.  Who led this slave uprising?”   (Answers: Gabriel Johnston, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and Nat Turner.)   For months now, teams of state middle school students have been feverishly studying questions and answers like these to prepare for the annual N.C. History Bowl State Championship.  Finalist teams from the seven schools that have already bested all rivals in their region will square off for the coveted championship prize Wednesday, May 14, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the N.C. Museum of History auditorium in downtown Raleigh.

Sponsored by N.C. State Historic Sites, the program will feature competing teams from Camden County Middle School in Camden, Kannapolis Middle School in Kannapolis, Magellan Charter School in Raleigh, McDougle Middle School in Chapel Hill, Grover C. Fields Middle School in New Bern, Reid Ross Classical School in Fayetteville and West Craven Middle School in New Bern.

The names of all team members, coaches and sponsoring state historic sites, follow under the respective competing schools:

Camden County Middle School (Camden County-Camden)
Historic Edenton State Historic Site
Sarah Boolba
Austin Bray
Zack Best
Daniel Kight
Adam Lannon
Cody Hogge, assistant
John Hill, coach

Kannapolis Middle School (Kannapolis City Schools/Cabarrus County-Kannapolis)
James K. Polk/Reed Gold Mine State Historic Sites
Fernando Guerrero
Chris Abba
Beth Eudy
Arturo Fuente
Houa Yang
Doug Byrnes and Porsche Sims, coaches

Magellan Charter School (Wake County-Raleigh)
Duke Homestead/Bennett Place State Historic Sites
Carson Rouse
Randy Cain
Cameron Tilley
Dylan Goodman
Jacob Frey
Patrick Winters, coach

McDougle Middle School (Chapel Hill Carrboro/Orange County-Chapel Hill)
Charlotte Hawkins Brown/Alamance Battleground State Historic Site
William Knapp
Chris Chiesa
Chris Rupert
Hugo Sowder 
Cissy O’Neal and Louise Peters, coaches

Grover C. Fields Middle School (Craven County-New Bern)
Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens
Emily Price
Caity Bodo
Katie Domke
Da Htoo
Cameron Kirby
Marisa Forrest, coach

Reid Ross Classical School (Cumberland Count-Fayetteville)
Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site
Brenna Muldrow
Samantha Swanson
Vinston Mendez
Xavier McLallen
Jeffrey Holmes
Ronald Bryant, coach

West Craven Middle School (Craven County-New Bern)
Aycock/Neuse State Historic Sites
Xavier Collins
Aspyn Fulcher
Sara Neilson
Sarah Richardson
David Rackley, coach

Tuesday, May 13, the teams will arrive in Raleigh to tour the capitol area. Afterwards, they will attend a reception hosted by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  This competition is sponsored by N.C. Historic Sites, the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the N.C. Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the State Capitol Foundation and the N.C. Museum of History.

N.C. Historic Sites is a division of the Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture.  A program of 27 state historic sites from the mountains to the coast, N.C. Historic Sites can be visited on-line at http://www.nchistoricsites.org.  For more information on the N.C. History Bowl, please contact N.C. History Bowl coordinator Andrew Duppstadt at 252-526-9600. 

Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the N.C. History Bowl is a program 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.

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/13/eighth-graders-to-vie-in-28th-annual-nc-history-bowl-finals/feed/ Literary Pen-Pals http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/01/literary-pen-pals/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/01/literary-pen-pals/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 20:24:14 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/01/literary-pen-pals/ RALEIGH  — North Carolina students are talking back to authors.  As participants in the 2008 “Letters About Literature” contest, 1,483 middle and high school students communicated with an author about how reading the writer’s book has made a significant difference in the student’s life.  In an age of iPods and wii, these students find that reading and books still matter.

“Letters About Literature,” a project of The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation the North Carolina Center for the Book, and other state centers, has selected its 2008 national winners chosen from this year’s 59,000 entries. Information on winners will be posted in mid-May here. 

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]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/05/01/literary-pen-pals/feed/ History Day April 26 http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/23/history-day-april-26/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/23/history-day-april-26/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:00:23 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/23/history-day-april-26/ histdyperformance-for-web.jpg

Students perform for History Day

RALEIGH – More than 250 middle and high school students will bring alive lessons from the past during a statewide history competition on Saturday, April 26, at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Competitors were identified in regional contests throughout the state. (more…)

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/23/history-day-april-26/feed/ New Web Site Tells Raleigh’s Early Story http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/17/new-web-site-tells-raleighs-early-story/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/17/new-web-site-tells-raleighs-early-story/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:13:01 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/17/new-web-site-tells-raleighs-early-story/ The State Library of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Archives have unveiled the Web site, “From Crossroads to Capital: The Founding and Early History of Raleigh, NC.”  Through books, maps, manuscripts, and illustrations, the collection documents Raleigh’s founding in 1792 and takes viewers through the capital’s first 50 years. (more…)

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/17/new-web-site-tells-raleighs-early-story/feed/ N.C. Transportation Museum “Stars” in “Leatherheads” Flick http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/04/nc-transportation-museum-%e2%80%9cstars%e2%80%9d-in-%e2%80%9cleatherheads%e2%80%9d-flick/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/04/nc-transportation-museum-%e2%80%9cstars%e2%80%9d-in-%e2%80%9cleatherheads%e2%80%9d-flick/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:02:57 +0000 richardbarton http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/04/nc-transportation-museum-%e2%80%9cstars%e2%80%9d-in-%e2%80%9cleatherheads%e2%80%9d-flick/ SPENCER - When rail fans and residents of Spencer and Salisbury flock to see the George Clooney movie “Leatherheads” opening today, they might keep their eyes peeled for glimpses of the N.C. Transportation Museum.  Known for evoking America’s bygone romance with trains, the site was used by Universal Pictures for the film.  Leatherheads’” final scene even features megastars Clooney and Renee Zellweger silhouetted against the museum’s historic backshop and its “Be Careful” sign, as the characters ride away together on a vintage motorcycle.

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]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/04/04/nc-transportation-museum-%e2%80%9cstars%e2%80%9d-in-%e2%80%9cleatherheads%e2%80%9d-flick/feed/ BOR Case Resolved http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/03/25/bor-case-resolved/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/03/25/bor-case-resolved/#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:11:03 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/03/25/bor-case-resolved/ RALEIGH - An original copy of the U.S. Bill of Rights stolen by union soldiers in 1865 now officially belongs to the people of North Carolina and to no one else, Attorney General Roy Cooper said Monday.

“The Bill of Rights is more than words on a piece of paper. It’s a powerful part of our history and a symbol of our liberty,” said Cooper. “It belongs to the people and it belongs here in North Carolina, for good.”

An order issued March 24 by Wake County Superior Court Judge Henry W. Hight, Jr. ends all remaining claims to the document and declares that North Carolina owns its original copy of the Bill of Rights to the exclusion of all others.

Connecticut antiques dealer Wayne E. Pratt purchased the stolen document in 2000. Pratt relinquished his claims to the document in federal court in September of 2003 and North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights returned to the state in August of 2005.

The judgment ends a lengthy legal battle through state and federal courts that began shortly after North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights resurfaced in 2003, when Pratt offered it for sale to the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania officials contacted the state about the document, which experts had determined to be North Carolina’s original copy. Cooper assembled a team of attorneys who worked closely with Governor Mike Easley’s office, the F.B.I. and U.S. Attorneys in Raleigh and Philadelphia to recover the document, missing from the state since 1865, and return it to the people of North Carolina.

The document dates back to 1789, when Congress requested President George Washington to send 13 handwritten copies of the proposed U.S. Bill of Rights to the original states for ratification. After North Carolina ratified the Bill of Rights, the document was preserved with the state’s other archival papers in the Capitol. During the occupation of Raleigh by U.S. General William Sherman’s army in April-May 1865, many of the state’s archival records—including the Bill of Rights—were unlawfully taken by Union troops as souvenirs.

State officials attempted to recover North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights several times since 1865. Reports from 1897 indicate that the document hung in the Indianapolis office of Charles Shotwell, who had bought it for $5 from an Ohio soldier in 1865 but declined to return it to North Carolina. In 1925, an agent for Shotwell contacted the state about purchasing the document. The North Carolina Historical Commission responded that it has been stolen and was the property of North Carolina. The location of the document was unknown for 70 years until a Washington, DC attorney representing an unnamed person, later determined to be Pratt, offered to sell it to the state in 1995.  North Carolina again asserted that it would not pay for property stolen from the state.

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/03/25/bor-case-resolved/feed/ Preservation Grant Eyes Past… And Future http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/28/historic-preservation-grant-eyes-past-and-future/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/28/historic-preservation-grant-eyes-past-and-future/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:15:52 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/28/historic-preservation-grant-eyes-past-and-future/ RALEIGH – Tobacco barns, smoke houses and grape arbors tell the story of a place and people now almost gone.  Northeastern North Carolina is seeking a brighter economy, and help may come from the past.  Other areas have captured and packaged their heritage and seen great turn-arounds, such as Natchitoches, La. or Jonesborough, Tenn.  A boost for cultural and heritage tourism for northeastern North Carolina could be designed using information provided by the N. C. State Historic Preservation Office.

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]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/28/historic-preservation-grant-eyes-past-and-future/feed/ N.C. Award Nominations http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/12/nc-award-nominations/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/12/nc-award-nominations/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:17:22 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/12/nc-award-nominations/ the-nc-award.jpg 

RALEIGH – Nominations for the 2008 North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state, are now being accepted.  Created by the General Assembly in 1961, the award recognizes significant contributions over time of individuals in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science. (more…)

]]> http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/12/nc-award-nominations/feed/ Aycock Birthplace Reopens After Fire http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/04/aycock-birthplace-to-reopen-after-fire/ http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/04/aycock-birthplace-to-reopen-after-fire/#comments Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:23:03 +0000 admin http://news.ncdcr.gov/2008/02/04/aycock-birthplace-to-reopen-after-fire/ Aycock Fire Damage

FREMONT —Charles B. Aycock Birthplace State Historic Site in Fremont reopened Tuesday, Feb. 5 following a Jan. 24 fire in the main house of the 19th century family farm.  The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department has since confirmed that it is investigating this blaze as a case of arson.  Anyone wanting to assist in the home’s restoration may do so by contributing to the newly established Gov. Charles B. Aycock Birthplace Recovery and Restoration Fund.

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