Places to Visit

The road to America’s 250th anniversary begins in North Carolina. From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks, explore the places where our nation’s story took shape and discover why North Carolina is a cornerstone of America’s journey.
A grey battleship docked on a river with colorful signal flags on the ship.

Battleship North Carolina

Battleship North Carolina participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific theater of operations during World War II, earning 15 battle stars. This authentically restored National Historic Landmark proudly serves as her State’s World War II Memorial to the 11,000+ North Carolinians who made the ultimate sacrifice.

https://battleshipnc.com/
Battleship North Carolina
Two log cabins with stone chimneys sit on a grassy lawn.

Bennett Place State Historic Site

Visit the simple farmhouse that was located between Confederate General Johnston's headquarters in Greensboro and U.S. General Sherman's headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1865. The two officers met at the home of James & Nancy Bennett, where they signed surrender papers for southern armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

Ruins of St. Philips Anglican Church in colonial Brunswick Town surrounded by green leafy trees.

Brunswick Town / Fort Anderson State Historic Site

A major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina's Cape Fear River, Brunswick was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the Confederacy.

The red brick Elliot Hall sits on the campus of the Palmer Memorial Institute on a sunny day.

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum

Founded in 1902 by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Palmer Memorial Institute transformed the lives of nearly 2,000 African American students. Today, the campus provides the setting where visitors can explore the place where boys and girls lived and learned during the greater part of the 20th century. The museum links Dr.

A visitors center sits above a dark river surrounded by green trees at Dismal Swamp State Park

Dismal Swamp State Park

Dismal Swamp State Park offers access to the Great Dismal Swamp, the largest remaining swamp in the eastern United States. Here, you can paddle along the 22-mile Dismal Swamp Canal, a popular destination that hosts the annual Paddle for the Border event. The park's unique plant life, wildlife, and rich cultural history make it a fascinating first stop.

The grassy mounds of Fort Fisher surrounded by old cedar trees on a sunny day.

Fort Fisher State Historic Site

Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina's port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. When Ft. Fisher fell after a massive U.S.

A white house with a brick chimney set in a lush yard with scattered trees under a clear blue sky.

Historic Stagville Historic Site

In 1860, Stagville was part of a vast plantation where the Bennehan and Cameron families enslaved over nine hundred people. Once one of the largest plantations in North Carolina, Historic Stagville now inspires new understanding about the history of slavery through preservation, interpretation, research, genealogy, and descendant engagement.