1). Great Smoky Mountains Railroad: “Railfest 2008,” a Great Smoky Mountains Railroad festival, will return to the Bryson City Depot, September 19th through 21st. This three day festival gathering for railroad enthusiasts and history buffs provide an opportunity to ride special excursions, see railroad memorabilia and experience music of the rails. Thousands return each year, along with first time visitors, to enjoy a taste of railroad food, storytelling, dancing, live music, and special excursions.

2). Asheville Art Museum: “Ashcans, Trains and Factories: Students and Followers of The Eight” opens Friday, September 19, 2008 in the Asheville Art Museum’s Holden Community Gallery which is free to the public. The Asheville Art Museum invites you to enjoy this exciting exhibit drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection.

3). Reynolda House Museum of American Art invites young professionals to an open house on Thursday, September 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event, sponsored by Reynolda After Hours, is free and open to the public. Visitors are invited to come after work for guided tours of the historic house from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. They will view such “behind-the-scenes” areas as the squash court and take in panoramic views from the rooftop while the Aeolian organ will entertain visitors with period music. Happy hour will follow at 6:30 p.m. on the lake porch patio with a cash bar and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.

4). Joel Lane Museum House will sponsor Lizzie Lane’s Colonial Tea on Sunday, September 28 from 3 to 5 pm with a rain date of Sunday, October 5. Elizabeth was Colonel Joel Lane’s seventh child. He was a founding father of North Carolina’s capital city and an officer in the Militia during the American Revolutionary War. In the beautiful colonial gardens at the Joel Lane Museum House, mothers, daughters, grandmother, and granddaughters will learn the etiquette of taking tea and crumpets in the colonial manner. They will have a chance to learn a Scottish country dance and participate in a colonial craft or game. “Flies in the Kitchen”, a string quartet, will provide music.

5). SciWorks: SciWorks visitors will be in for a treat in September when a lively group of stomping, roaring, animated dinosaurs move in for a four-month stay from September 20th through January 31st. The prehistoric giants are manufactured in Los Angeles by Kokoro Dinosaurs, using the latest robotic technology. A computer-controlled air compressor gives each dinosaur its own unique sequence of movement and sound.

6). Western Carolina University: Western Carolina University presents “Plaza Suite,” a comedy by Neil Simon, to begin the University Theatre’s 2008-09 Mainstage season. “Plaza Suite” performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 17-20, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at Hoey Auditorium, on the WCU campus. For tickets, call the box office at (828) 227-2479 or go to www.ticketreturn.com.

7). Discovery Place presents “Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs,” September 2, 2008 – November 20, 2008. Rediscover the tombs of the great pharaohs of Egypt and examine the mummification process and its role in ancient Egypt’s society in “Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs”. Capturing the efforts of scientists, the film reveals the valuable information these uniquely preserved ancient remains hold. “Mummies” unravels some of the mysteries enshrouding the ancient royal mummies, how they were embalmed and where they were hidden, and also re-creates the dramatic story of their recovery.

8). Fort Dobbs State Historic Site: State officials unveiled a much-anticipated, detailed scale replica of the original Ft. Dobbs on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Friends of Fort Dobbs annual membership dinner held at the state historic site. North Carolina folk artist Don Stevenson recently finished crafting the fort replica, scaled at 1/16th of the size of the 1756 fort. The three-story replica stands 25.75 inches high and weighs more than 200 pounds. Stevenson created the work in consultation with archaeologist and historian Dr. Lawrence Babits and Ft. Dobbs staff, using funding from the Friends of Fort Dobbs, the state historic site’s support group.

9). Port Discover: Preschoolers at Port Discover’s September 18 Toddler Time will learn all about “Swampy Critters”—the animals that inhabit the Great Dismal Swamp. The program will discuss why reptiles and amphibians are cold-blooded and which birds lay and incubate their eggs in the winter. Everyone will make their own swampy critter to take home. The program begins at 10 a.m. A fee of $5 per family and reservations are required. Program is for 3 – 5 year-olds and parents or guardians must accompany the child.

10). Cameron Art Museum: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has awarded the Cameron Art Museum a $5,000 grant to support museum visits for fifth graders of New Hanover County. This Foundation grant ensures that over 1,800 New Hanover County fifth graders will visit the museum this school year for guided tours of all exhibitions.

11). N.C. Department of Cultural Resources: Researchers on the wreck of the presumed “Queen Anne’s Revenge” (QAR), Blackbeard’s flagship, will conduct the fall dive expedition Sept. 15-Nov. 7, and they are thinking big. The highlight of the thousands of artifacts they expect to recover is a cannon about eight feet long and weighing more than a ton, at about 2,500 pounds. It will be the 12th cannon recovered. “Cannons are favorites among tourists and museum visitors, and the large number of cannons found at this wreck site only adds to Blackbeard’s lore,” said QAR Shipwreck Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing.