Port-O-Plymouth Museum
Plymouth
History museum featuring Civil War Battle of Plymouth, April 17-20, 1864. NC's second largest battle and last major southern victory of the war. Bullet shell and artifact collections. Considered one of the top 10 Civil War tour sites in the Carolinas. Artifacts on CSS Ram Albemarle (ironclad) sunk at Plymouth in October 1864. Displays and information on Union Occupation from 1862 -1864. ## Civil War: Tells the story of Plymouth during the Civil War including the Union occupation and the battle in April 1864. Special attention is paid to the famous Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle, its successful exploits against the Union fleet and its sinking Oct. 27, 1864. Scale model of the Albemarle is anchored nearby. ## The Port-O-Plymouth Museum has a growing collection of Civil War artifacts as well as other items related to the history of Washington County in other eras. This institution has an active research component and has compiled several databases of information on Washington County's Civil War servicemen both Union and Confederate as well as on other topics. livinghistoryweekend.com/port_o.htm
Roanoke River Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
Plymouth
Replicated on the waterfront in Historic Plymouth, the lighthouse allows one to experience life as a lighthouse keeper. It has been built to look as it did from 1866-1885. Climb to the top and experience a most beautiful view of the Roanoke River. Roanoke River Lighthouse
Roanoke Canal Museum
Roanoke Rapids, Halifax County
The Roanoke Canal, completed in 1823, was built as the North Carolina segment of the Roanoke Navigation System. It was designed to connect the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and Norfolk over a distance of 400 miles. The Roanoke Canal Museum, opening in early summer 2005, will explore the history of the Canal and the Roanoke Valley. The museum will be housed in a brick generator house built by the Roanoke Navigation and Water Power Company in the early 1900s. Locks used to lower loaded bateaux can be seen on the grounds of the museum. roanokeriver.com
Somerset Place State Historic Site
Creswell
Somerset Place is a representative antebellum plantation dating from 1785. Beginning in 1829, this was home to two generations of the Collins family-Josiah Collins III, his wife Mary, and their six sons. It was also home to more than three hundred enslaved men, women, and children of African decent whose lives and work are interpreted here as well. Somerset Place offers an insightful view of plantation life during the antebellum period. ## Somerset Place is an antebellum plantation offering an insightful view of life before the Civil War. It is one of North Carolina's most significant African American (African-American) heritage sites. During its existence (1785-1865) it encompassed 100,000 acres and became one of North Carolina's most prosperous rice, corn and wheat plantations and home to more than three hundred slaves and the Collins Family, the wealthy planters. Eighty of the slaves were brought to Somerset directly from thier West African homeland in 1786 due to their firsthand knowledge of rice cultivation Guided tours are available of the site including the Collins mansion and a reconstructed slave cabin. ## Civil War: Once one of the most prosperous plantations in the state, Somerset Place extended to more than 100,00 acres and maintained 300 slaves during its 1785-1865 lifespan. The house has been preserved, offering information about both planter and slave cultures before the war. NCDCR
St. Martin's Episcopal Church
Hamilton, Martin County
Circa 1881, the church is one of the most outstanding examples of frame Victorian Gothic architecture in eastern North Carolina. While the congregation has been inactive since the 1960s, the building remains consecrated and its preservation remains guided by the Historic Hamilton Commission Inc. Martin County Tourism
War on the Chowan
Edenton
Civil War: The Chowan River became the border between Union-occupied territory to the west and Confederate-held to the east. Union forces seized the area near here in 1862 and built a fort on the river just south. An unsavory collection of Union troops and deserters (The Buffaloes) raided and plundered the area until they left in April 1863. historicnenc.com
Historic Windsor
Windsor
Created by the Colonial Assembly in 1768, New Windsor was established on the site known as Gray's Lading where William Gray had offered 100 acres for a town. Today, the National Register Historic District encompasses that same area. A scenic boardwalk from the Cashie-Roanoke River Interpretive Center to the Cashie River Bridge borders the waterfront that was once a busy port with a customs house and a branch of the State Bank serving West Indian and coastal water trade. Artifacts from the archaeological dig authorized by the NC Deparment of Transportation in 1996 at the site of the Chowan River Bridge on US 17 North are displayed in a small museum at the Interpretive Center where artifacts confirm once speculative evidence that earlier permanent settlement in North Carolina was in what is today known as Bertie County on a point between the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers and the Albemarle Sound. Bricks from the cellar of a home that once stood on that site have been removed and reassembled at the center. A self-guided walking tour through the Historic District encompasses the area of the town as it was first laid out in 1768 and includes the traditional commercial district and the oldest residential section of the town where some of the houses date to the 18th century. Two early churches, Cashie Baptist and Windsor United Methodist Church which have been modernized stand on the original sites. Grave markers in the church yard cemeteries attract genealogists regularly. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, built in 1839, retains most of its original architecture. Sandy Point Baptist Church just acress the Cashie River on US 17 North was formed in 1835, but the original structure is much older. The framework of the church was constructed in 1776 as a house of worship for the congregation of Cashie Baptist which included both blacks and whites. The building and grounds were purchased by members of the black congregation who had founded Sandy Point Missionary Baptist Chruch when the white congregation moved to Windsor. Other points of interest in the town include the Livermon Park and Mini-Zoo, the Cashie Wetlands Walk, and the Tuscarora Indian Musuem and the 19th century Freeman Hotel which houses the office of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce. Historic Windsor is on the Historic Albemarle Tour. windsor-bertie.com
Winton Century Post Office Museum
Winton
The Winton Century Post Office Mueum seeks to preserve the original Winton Post office building and artifacts original to the building as well as to interpret postal service history and local history of the Winton area for the education and enjoyment of the public. wintonnc.com
Historic Winton
Winton
Inhabited by Meherrin Indians long before it was chartered as Hertford County's oldest town, Winton is situated on the banks of the Chowan River. Winton was the one of the first towns in the Confederacy sacked by Union troops during the Civil War. It was burnt to the ground in February, 1862. Winton enjoyed a revival in the latter part of the 19th century. Historic and cultural attractions include the Century Post Office Museum, the Old Church Cemetery, C.S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum and the Colonial Kitchen Museum. wintonnc.com
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