Tag Archives: North Carolina

Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge

Chatham Community Library will host a program on Blackbeard’s famous ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, on Saturday, December 1, at 1:00 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.  The program will be facilitated by Chatham County resident and co-author of Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge, Linda Carnes-McNaughton.
In 1717, the notorious pirate Blackbeard captured a French slaving vessel off the coast of Martinique and made it his flagship, renaming it Queen Anne’s Revenge. Over the next six months, the heavily armed ship and its crew captured all manner of riches from merchant ships sailing the Caribbean to the Carolinas. But in June 1718, with British authorities closing in, Blackbeard reportedly ran Queen Anne’s Revenge aground just off the coast of what is now North Carolina’s Fort Macon State Park. What went down with the ship remained hidden for centuries.
Having played a vital role in the shipwreck’s recovery and interpretation, Carnes-McNaughton discusses the ship’s first use as a French privateer and slave ship, its capture and use by Blackbeard’s armada, the circumstances of its sinking, and more based on a wealth of artifacts now raised from the ocean floor. Carnes-McNaughton is the current Program Archaeologist and Curator at Fort Bragg’s Cultural Resources Management Program.
This program is free and open to the public. Funding is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Chatham Community Library.
Advertisements

Resource of the Month: NC Digital Collections

North Carolina Digital Collections

 

Are you trying to recall an article in the May, 1989 edition of Our State (that you rightly recycled in July 1991)? Are you just generally curious about North Carolina’s history? You can revisit old memories and satisfy your curiosity by visiting the North Carolina Digital Collections.

The North Carolina Digital Collections describe themselves this way:

The North Carolina Digital Collections contain over 90,000 historic and recent photographs, state government publications, manuscripts, and other resources on topics related to North Carolina. The Collections are free and full-text searchable, and bring together content from the State Archives of North Carolina and the State Library of North Carolina.

Multiple search options on the homepage allow you to search everything hosted on the site or to narrow your search to individual collections. For casual browsing or searching, the home page offers suggestions like Genealogy, Civil War, and Census Data for searching and Time Period or NC Places for browsing. If you are like me, you might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information on the site and unsure where to start. In that case, just hit the “Surprise Me” button and the site will take you to a random spot, and you can wade in from there.

Scroll down just a bit and you will see summaries of many of the collections offered by North Carolina Digital Collections. Many of the collections (the aforementioned Our State magazine, for example) feature full scans of every page, so visiting the collection is just like perusing actual copies of the material, minus the dust!

To access the collection, point your browser to http://digital.ncdcr.gov. No sign-in is required.

eBook Friday: Piedmont Phantoms: North Carolina’s Haunted Hundred, Volume 2

Piedmont Phantoms:
North Carolina’s Haunted Hundred, Volume 2, by Daniel W. Barefoor:

Daniel W. Barefoot’s colleagues in the North Carolina General Assembly call him their “resident historian.” Now, he’s their resident folklorist, too.

North Carolina’s Haunted Hundred, Barefoot’s three-volume series, is a sampler of the diverse supernatural history of the Tar Heel State. One story is drawn from each of the state’s hundred counties. You’ll find tales of ghosts, witches, demons, spook lights, unidentified flying objects, unexplained phenomena, and more. Many of the stories have never before been widely circulated in print.

Piedmont Phantoms offers 40 tales from the state’s populous midsection. “Capitol Haunts,” the Wake County story, tells of strange doings at the State Capitol—an unoccupied elevator moving from floor to floor, an unseen hand touching a security guard, the sounds of books falling off shelves and barrels rolling down stairs. “Ghostly Legacy of the Swamp Fox,” the Robeson County story, introduces the spirits of the traitor who betrayed Revolutionary War general Francis Marion and the Highland Scot girl who made him do it. “The Hunter at the Zoo,” the Randolph County story, describes the ghost of the Confederate recruiter who once hunted human prey at what is now North Carolina Zoological Park.

 

 

***

Every Friday, we highlight a title from our collection at
http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com
.  Let us know what you think of these selections, and tell us about eBooks you’ve enjoyed – we may feature them here!

eBook Friday: North Carolina Weekends

North Carolina Weekends, by Lynn Setzer:


During her 10 years as a North Carolina travel writer, Lynn Setzer has seen all the state’s places in all of their seasons. Some of her favorite things? Enjoying a mineral bath in a tub by the French Broad River as the paddlers go past. Watching the sapphire waves as she crosses the Bonner Bridge at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Cycling the Road to Nowhere and hiking the mountain balds near Bryson City.

North Carolina Weekends offers ideas for 49 mini-vacations from Corolla to Murphy. Each highly readable chapter covers everything from lodging and dining to outdoor adventures and “Kid Stuff” to historical tidbits. If you have a particular destination in mind, just use the book’s geographical groupings to find which chapters cover the region you want to visit. Or if you’re pursuing a passion—whether it’s hang gliding, Christmas-tree hunting, antiquing, gem mining, waterfall viewing, or numerous other possibilities—consult the “Planning Your Weekend Getaway” section to find which trips offer the activity you’re seeking.

All the state’s classic destinations—like historic Wilmington and arty Asheville—are covered here. But you’ll be surprised at the pleasures waiting in unexpected places—like the homey museums and thriving wineries around Mount Airy, the history and architecture of Salisbury, and the potteries and transportation museums in the Uwharries.

***

Every Friday, we highlight a title from our collection at
http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com
.  Let us know what you think of these selections, and tell us about eBooks you’ve enjoyed – we may feature them here!

Resource of the Month: NCpedia

Have you ever wondered just which frog/dog/tree/bird/reptile, exactly, is one of the official North Carolina symbols or been cornered to explain the term “Tar Heel”?  Newcomers to the state and natives alike will find that NCpedia is a direct line to easy-to-access information for research, travel, or fun.

This is an award-winning searchable and browseable collection of all things North Carolina from trustworthy sources.  Articles are drawn from an array of resources so you don’t have to go poking about, and you’ll find images and audio, a trivia quiz, and an ever-changing “This Day in North Carolina History” box.

A search for “Chatham County” brings up a map, census info, a brief history, and economic facts.  That page also links to the official county site, the Chamber of Commerce, and events and places such as the Silk Hope Old Fashioned Farmer’s Day and the Devil’s Tramping Ground near Siler City.

NCpedia can help you learn something new about where you live and make you the tour guide of your visitors’ dreams!

Resource of the Month: Home Grown eBooks

Home_Grown_eBooks

 

 

 

 

NC LIVE is experimenting with a new eBook project that gives North Carolina library patrons unlimited access to more than 1,200 eBook titles from North Carolina-based publishers. This collection offers a wide range of content, including novels by popular North Carolina authors, poetry, short stories, and non-fiction and features titles like Guests on Earth by Lee Smith and North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery by Beth Tartan, among many others.

NC LIVE partnered with eight local publishing houses to purchase the eBooks, including Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Crossroad Press, Gryphon House, Ingalls Publishing Group, John F. Blair Publishing, McFarland, Press 53, and UNC Press.

The Home Grown eBook collection is available at http://nclive.org/ebooks.  (You will be prompted to log in with your library card.) Unlike traditional library eBooks, this collection features always available, unlimited simultaneous user access during the life of the pilot, meaning patrons will not have to place a hold or wait for an eBook to become available. Users may view the eBooks in a web browser or download them to their tablet devices via the BiblioBoard Library app.

Free eBook Friday: Travel North Carolina

Travel North Carolina, by Carolyn Sakowski:

This is the fourth edition of this comprehensive guide to the entire Tar Heel State. In this volume, you will find information about historic places, gardens, tours, museums, science centers, cultural offerings, special shopping, recreation, and seasonal events.

The guide also includes annotated entries about unique places to eat and stay. Since the authors accepted no advertising fees when selecting what to include in the book, you can be assured their suggestions are solid recommendations from longtime residents.

***

Every Friday, we highlight an eBook from our collection at
http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com
.  Let us know what you think of these selections, and tell us about eBooks you’ve enjoyed – we may feature them here!

Free eBook Friday: Ghosthunting North Carolina

Ghosthunting North Carolina, by Kala Ambrose:

Journey with author Kala Ambrose as she explores the most terrifying paranormal spots in the state of North Carolina. She begins in the coastal wetlands of East Carolina where she explores haunted lighthouses, battleships, forts, and the shipwrecked beaches where Blackbeard and his pirates still roam. She tours the Piedmont area of NC, visits the most actively haunted capitol in the US, and interacts with the ghost of a former NC State Governor. Her journey continues west into the Blue Ridge Mountains where the ghost known as the pink lady and her friends await your presence at the historic Grove Park Inn, where many presidents, celebrities, and ghosts have stayed over the decades.

Travel information is provided to each haunted location for those brave enough to explore on their own!

***

Every Friday, we highlight an eBook from our collection at
http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com
.  Let us know what you think of these selections, and tell us about eBooks you’ve enjoyed – we may feature them here!

Free eBook Friday: Backroads of North Carolina

Backroads of North Carolina: Your Guide to Great Day Trips & Weekend Getaways, by Kevin Adams:

North Carolina is a traveler’s dream, from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks’ historic lighthouses, wild horses, and charming fishing villages; from battlegrounds of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars to the “heart of motorsports;” from rolling wine country and golf courses to stately plantations and rustic settlements. Whether you travel North Carolina for its historic treasures or natural beauty, this handy guide will help you find the Old North State’s most spectacular sites and secret treasures. The book charts weekend adventures and day trips along back roads and scenic routes, into the state’s many mist-shrouded mountains–the Black, the Blue Ridge, and the Great Smokies–and down to its ever-changing shores. Sumptuously illustrated, with maps and all manner of interesting detail, Backroads of North Carolina is a page-by-page pleasure, as well as a passport to the more off-beat delights of the Tar Heel State.  (From the book description)

***

Every Friday, we’ll highlight an eBook from our collection at http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com.  Let us know what you think of these selections, and tell us about eBooks you’ve enjoyed – we may feature them here!

The Historical Chatham Record

ChathamRecord_BannerLongtime readers of the library blog know that we often featured excerpts from historical editions of the Chatham Record.  But did you know that you can now peruse many of these editions from the comfort of your own computer?  Digital NC, a joint effort of many North Carolina libraries, colleges, museums, and historical associations, has published a number of issues online; you may find them by clicking here.  Do let us know what you find, so we can share it with our blog audience!