NCMC Events From Around the State… February 18, 2013



50th Anniversary NCMC Annual meeting registration is now under way! Take a look at the conference itinerary and register on-line.

1). HandsOn! Hands On!-A Child's Gallery, the children's museum in downtown Hendersonville, is excited to announce new additions on February 26th to the Baby Place sponsored by Park Ridge Health. Come enjoy new manipulatives focused on early childhood literacy. Explore your image in our new Bubble & ABC mirrors. And finally, search for the hidden alphabet in the new mural focused on sleep, dreams & lullabies. Free with $5 admission/free for members.

2). SECCA To help celebrate Valentines Day, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) will be holding the third installment of their “Teas and Tours” series on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. This Valentine’s Day-inspired tea will be filled with the aromas and flavors of chocolate and strawberries. The event is a fund-raiser organized by Friends @ SECCA.

3). N.C. Transportation Museum The N.C. Transportation Museum’s “At the Throttle” program begins its third season this Spring, offering a chance for visitors to live out their fantasy of operating an antique steam locomotive. No previous locomotive experience is required. The program is simply a unique opportunity for rail fans to live their dream of running a steam engine, taking a trip back in time to the golden age of railroading. A qualified engineer will be in the cab at all times, but participants will be operating the engine, following a short safety and operation session. This year’s “At the Throttle” sessions take place March 2, 16, and April 6, 13, 20. Sessions will be held between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. each day. Sessions are $150 for each participant. N.C. Transportation Museum members receive a discount.

4). High Point Museum invites you to a special program February 20 at 10 am at the High Point Museum. Zane Hedgecock, a local community leader from Wallburg, will discuss the early village of Browntown. For most of the work week, he commutes to Raleigh for his administrative role with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. He is dedicated to retaining the culture of his community, much of which has deep roots in farming. The settlement of Browntown goes back to the mid-18th century following the founding of the Abbott’s Creek Community and the Baptist Meeting House there.

5). Tryon Palace Join us for “Civil War Weekend” - March 9-10. Enjoy rare exhibits, tours & living history programs. After its fall to Union troops in March of 1862, New Bern remained a Federally-occupied city for the remainder of the war. Learn what life was like for the Union soldiers stationed in a city behind enemy lines. The weekend will include special Civil War-themed tours, programs, soldier encampments and craft activities.

6). Bellamy Mansion presents “The Development of Slavery in Colonial British America” by lecturer Thomas Massey, History Lecturer at Cape Fear Community College and Bellamy Mansion Museum Education Chair. Monday, Feb 25 at 6:30PM at Bellamy Mansion.

7). N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher Celebrate a “Whale of a Weekend” at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher on Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3, 2013. The two-day event showcases Dolphin Discovery and Right Whale Quest, new exhibits inspired by real whales and a dolphin living in North Carolina coastal waters. Visitors match wits with Holly, a life-like bottlenose dolphin and take a 3-D virtual journey from North Carolina to the Bay of Fundy with North Atlantic right whales, Calvin and Delilah.

8). N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences Spend an afternoon learning about famed naturalist Charles Darwin, take a closer look at his theories and their impact on modern science, and meet some of the scientists who are continuing his work when the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts “Darwin Day” on Saturday, February 16, 9am-5pm. Free. Visitors are invited to learn more about evolution through natural selection, as well as specific evolutionary adaptations seen in everything from primates to carnivorous plants to viruses. Talk with exhibitors who can trace the 500 million year evolutionary journey of arthropods, from trilobites to insects.

9). N.C. Maritime Museum at Beaufort A busy week at the Museum! On Wednesday February 20th at 1 p.m. Associate Curator Benjamin Wunderly will present on the history of the United States Lifesaving Service in North Carolina, this lecture is free! The following day, Thursday the 21st, there will be a field trip for a behind the scenes tour of the Morehead City Port. Come check out the products that come and go by tanker ships and barges. Lastly, on Friday the 22nd at 5 p.m. there will be a free screening of the film “Rescue Men: The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers”, followed by a Q & A discussion with the producers.

10). Blowing Rock Art & History Museum will open “The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley” on February 21, 2013, an exhibition of photographs taken by Morley who traveled western North Carolina documenting the people and places of Appalachia in the 1890s. The photos, from the NC Museum of History, will be coupled with period artifacts on loan from the Catawba County Historical Association. The exhibit will be up through April 25.