In 1917, the town of Hot Springs, North Carolina, transformed into a shared landscape of craftsmanship and culture after 2,000 German officers, sailors, and civilians carved out a community along the banks of the French Broad River.
Artist Selma Burke’s 1943 Presidential Portrait Might’ve Inspired Dime Design
In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt sat for a portrait by a young African-American artist from Mooresville. Decades later, historians still want to know whether Selma Burke’s sculpture inspired the image on the dime.
Wilson, 1952: Happy Feet
The 1950s hit song “Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy” by Red Foley inspired Wilson’s shoeshining competition and Curtis Phillips’s smooth moves.
The 1960s: A Dynamic Decade
Momentum has been building, and by the early 1960s, the payoff is clear: Now in the national spotlight, North Carolina enters an era of action and activism.
If You Give a Kid a Goat Cart
A discovery of archival photographs begged the question: Did everyone have a goat cart in the 1930s?
The 1950s: The Squire of Haw River
How a dairy farmer from Alamance County ascended the political ladder to become governor, then senator — never forgetting his rural roots along the way.
The Outer Banks Society That Believes the Wright Brothers Never Flew
The Man Will Never Fly Memorial Society was created in 1959 because, in the words of its founders, they were bored.
