Hometown Walkabout Cultural Tours
2025-09-23 09:00 - 15:00, 2025-09-25 08:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-25 08:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | NC
We will host two Hometown Walkabout Community Group tours and two law enforcement tours during the remainder of 2025. The tours will encompass: pre-tour guides, orientation, curated cultural site stops, guest speakers, cultural lunch, reflections, and follow-up resources.
Our mission is to increase awareness of the rich cultural landscape in Burke County, NC, through place-based and art-based tours and guided discussions that highlight and celebrate the unique qualities of local communities.

08/30, Community Cohort 1 starts at The Industrial Commons, 647 Hopewell Rd., Morganton, NC 28655
09/23, Law Enforcement Cohort starts at the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, 150 Government Drive, Morganton, NC 28655
9/25, Law Enforcement Cohort starts at the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, 150 Government Drive, Morganton, NC 26855
10/25, Community Cohort 2 starts at The Industrial Commons, 647 Hopewell Rd., Morganton, NC 28655

Stories that Connect Us: A Community Conversation on Telling the Full Story
2025-09-25 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-02 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-09 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-16 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-23 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-30 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-11-06 17:30 - 19:30 | Passmore Center, 103 Meadowlands Dr, Hillsborough, NC, 27278, United States
Discover the stories that shape our community in a special four-part conversation series! Hosted by the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough and the Telling the Full Story committee, each session dives into the history of local sites from our interactive map, with engaging video presentations and oral histories that bring these places to life. Join us for lively discussions and reflections on the impact of these spaces in Hillsborough.
Mark your calendar for Thursday evenings in February 2025, 5:30–7:00 PM at the Passmore Center in Hillsborough, NC. Come to learn, connect, and be inspired—see you there!
February 6th- Entrepreneurship in the 20th Century
February 13th- The Land Remembers
February 20th- Community Institutions
February 27th- Navigating Freedom
What is Telling the Full Story: The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough’s Telling the Full Story program seeks to uncover and share the diverse, often untold histories of Hillsborough. Through community conversations, interactive maps, and oral histories, this program invites everyone to explore the people, events, and places that have shaped our community, fostering a richer understanding of our shared heritage.
Funding for this program series is generously provided by North Carolina Humanities.

20th Annual Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors
2025-09-27 09:30 - 17:00 | Bookmarks, 634 W. Fourth St., Winston Salem, NC, 27101, United States
Bookmarks is celebrating 20 years of providing access to books and cultivating community in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County area. There are ticketed events on Thursday and Friday before the free Saturday festival. On Saturday, everyone is invited to join us for books talks and book signings with 50+ authors of various genres. There will also be activities and panels for kid and family all day long. Stay connected and learn more by visiting bookmarksnc.org/festival.
Bookmarks began as an annual book festival in 2004 and has since grown to be the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas. After several years as a volunteer-run book festival, Bookmarks has grown to be a 501(c)(3) literary arts nonprofit organization and independent bookstore in downtown Winston-Salem with year-round programming and outreach. All of Bookmarks’ programming, including the Festival of Books & Authors, is part of the organization’s mission to cultivate community by bringing people of all ages together with books and authors that educate, inspire, challenge, and entertain.

Fall African American Walking Tours
2025-09-27 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-09-28 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-04 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-05 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-11 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-12 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-18 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-10-19 10:00 - 11:00 and 5 more dates | Pope House Museum, 511 S Wilmington St, Raleigh, NC, NC, 27601, United States
Autumn is perfect for walking! Explore Raleigh’s historic, influential Black neighborhood, the Third Ward, near Shaw University—a hub of culture, business, and education.
Registration is required. $10 per adult and $5 per child (ages 5-17)

NOTE: Saturday tour times are 10 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm. Sunday time 2 pm

September: Saturday 20th, 27th and Sunday 21st, 28th
October: Saturday 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, and Sunday 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th
November: Saturday 1st, 8th, 22nd and Sunday 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd,
December: Saturday 6th, 13th, 20th, and Sunday 7th, 14th, 21st

Raleigh Wide Open Panels First Friday
2025-10-03 17:00 - 21:00 | City of Raleigh Museum, 220 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC, 27601, United States
The Gospel program at Raleigh Wide Open brings the sounds, stories, and spirit of gospel music to life through dynamic talks at the City of Raleigh Museum. Appaloosa Redd joins Greensboro musician and storyteller Colin Cutler for a conversation on the Gospel of the Blues, followed by Kendall Kent’s exploration of the gospel quartet tradition and the resonant artistry of the bass voice.
Presented by the North Carolina Folklife Institute in partnership with PineCone, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.

"Spark! Places of Innovation" Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
2025-10-09 10:00 - 2025-11-19 18:00 | NC
Alamance County Public Libraries is hosting the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit, Spark! Places of Innovation, October 9 through November 19, 2025 at May Memorial Library during library hours.
Spark! Places of Innovation A traveling exhibition that explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. Inspired by an exhibition by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the exhibition features stories gathered from diverse communities across the nation. Photographs, engaging interactives, objects, videos, and digital stories bring a multilayered experience to reveal the leaders, challenges, successes, and future of innovation in each town. Technical, social, cultural, or artistic– every sort of innovation story is as unique as each community and will be represented in Spark! Places of Innovation. #SparkPlaces
Spark! Places of Innovation is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Humanities Council. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress

Living History in the Park
2025-10-10 16:00 - 19:00 | Moore Square, ﻿﻿Moore Square Park 201 South Blount Street, Raleigh, NC, 27601, United States
Friday, October 10, 2025
4pm-7pm
Moore Square Park 201 South Blount Street Raleigh, NC 27601
The City of Raleigh Museum with support from Moore Square and The Friends of the City of Raleigh Museum are presenting an immersive living history experience at Moore Square! There’s a chill in the air, the leaves are turning rich vibrant colors and as the sun goes down in Moore Square, some very special visitors from Raleigh’s past will be on hand to share their experiences and contributions to Raleigh’s history. Join us at the Community Tables after your stroll through history to make a fall-themed craft.There will be Fall Snacks and beverages as well as a premiere craft experience available for purchase to help benefit the City of Raleigh Museum. Some of our vendor partners will be on hand with Food and Beverage for purchase.

Reckoning with Racial Covenants in Durham Exhibit Opening Reception
2025-10-17 18:00 - 20:00 | perfect lovers, 2823 N Roxboro St, Durham, NC, 27704, United States
The Hacking into History Project was conceived in 2020 on a walk between neighbors. An archivist and the ED of the nonprofit, DataWorks NC, vented about what was happening in our home of Durham: the lack of affordable housing and gentrification. The conversation turned to Durham’s history of barring nonwhites from owning or leasing properties, or even being laid to rest in burial plots. At the time, this historical practice of racially restrictive covenants was not well known.
This year, supported by a North Carolina Humanities grant, we are creating and presenting an exhibit about racial covenants in Durham. Our intentions are: to increase awareness of this lesser-known form of structural racism, show its impact on our city and county in the present day, inspire community action, and find possible remedies.
Our grant project included hosting a series of community listening sessions during which we shared our work from the past five years, and gathered input to help shape the design of the exhibit.
We are excited to share this exhibit with you, and celebrate what we have accomplished together over the past five years as a community-driven project. Refreshments will be provided.
This event is at Perfect Lovers, an art space & espresso pop-up, 2823 N Roxboro St. The exhibit, supported by an NC Humanities grant, will remain on display during Perfect Lovers’ open hours. There is plenty of parking behind the building via E. Edgewood Dr.
Date: October 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM (Eastern Time)

Music of the Appalachian Highlands, Setting the Stage for the Birth of Country Music
2025-10-25 15:00 - 16:00 | Burnsville Town Center, 6 South Main Street, Burnsville, NC, 28714, United States
For RiddleFest Seminar 2025 Roy Andrade (guitar, mandolin) and Kalia Yeagle (fiddle), faculty members from the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music program in the Department of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, will explore the musicians and music of the southern Appalachian Highlands with reference to the musical development of Lesley Riddle and AP Carter, who are considered to be key figures in the birth of country music. The Seminar is free and open to the public.

Family Fun Day - Fall Fair
2025-11-08 11:00 - 14:00 | City of Raleigh Museum, 220 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC, 27601, United States
A Fall Fair for children of all ages with games, gourd painting, and other activities at the City of Raleigh Museum!
