North Carolina Highway Historical Markers

North Carolina Highway Historical Markers The North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program was established in 1935.

On September 8, 1896, B. Everett Jordan was born in Ramseur. Before being appointed to fill the vacant seat of Senator K...
09/08/2026

On September 8, 1896, B. Everett Jordan was born in Ramseur. Before being appointed to fill the vacant seat of Senator Kerr Scott in 1958, he was a successful textile executive who had worked his way up the ladder in one company since the 1920s.

Although several newspapers at the time considered him to have been placed in the Senate as a “seat warmer” for Luther Hodges, who was then governor and popular politically, Jordan was reelected in 1960 and 1966.

His work in the Senate focused on Agriculture and Forestry, Public Works, and Senate Rules and Administration. He introduced the to***co “acreage-poundage” legislation that changed the way to***co was marketed and valued. He also helped the state acquire federal funds for water resources and harbor improvements.
Jordan’s age and health were key factors in the 1972 Democratic primary race for his Senate seat. At that time, he was defeated by Nick Galifianakis, who in turn lost the general election to Republican Jesse Helms.

The Chatham County New Hope Lake project, authorized in 1963, was renamed in honor of Jordan in 1973.

Marker located in Alamance County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/20/b-everett-jordan-1896-1974-g-95

On September 7, 1859, John Merrick was born enslaved in Sampson County. When he was 12 years old, Merrick and his mother...
09/07/2026

On September 7, 1859, John Merrick was born enslaved in Sampson County. When he was 12 years old, Merrick and his mother moved to Chapel Hill, where he worked in a brickyard and she was a house servant.

When his mother remarried and moved away, Merrick remained in North Carolina and established himself as a brick mason in Raleigh, working on the construction of Shaw University. Economic fluctuations compelled him to take a second job as a bootblack in a barbershop.

Merrick soon became a barber and advanced through the ranks until he owned five barbershops in Durham by 1892, three for white patrons and two for Black patrons. He also helped establish the Royal Knights of King David, a fraternal insurance company.

His experience with the Royal Knights led Merrick to launch what became the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, later the largest Black-owned business in the United States.

He was president of Mutual Life until he died in 1919.

During World War II, the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington launched the Liberty Ship John Merrick.

Marker located in Durham, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/20/john-merrick-1859-1919-g-109

On September 6, 1958, William R. Valentiner, former director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, died in New York after...
09/06/2026

On September 6, 1958, William R. Valentiner, former director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, died in New York after a short illness.

Born in Germany in 1880, Wilhelm Rheinhold Otto Valentiner came to the United States in 1908 as the curator of Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 1914, he returned to Germany and enlisted as a private in the German Army. There, in 1919, he joined the November Group, an organization of artists with socialist ideals. While in Germany, he advised the Detroit Institute of Arts on its acquisitions and, in 1924, one year after his return to the U.S., he became the director of that institution. He became an American citizen in 1930. In 1955, he was hired as the founding director of the North Carolina Museum of Art.

During his lifetime, Valentiner founded and served as editor of two art journals and as Director General for the “Masterpieces of Art” exhibition for the 1939 World’s Fair. He left pieces from his personal art collection to the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the State Archives holds a significant collection of his personal papers.

Marker located in Raleigh, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/22/north-carolina-museum-art-h-76

On September 5, 1802, political rivals John Stanly and Richard Dobbs Spaight, both armed with smooth-bore flintlock pist...
09/05/2026

On September 5, 1802, political rivals John Stanly and Richard Dobbs Spaight, both armed with smooth-bore flintlock pistols, took deliberate aim at each other and fired. It was 5:30 p.m., and the pair were positioned behind the Masonic Lodge in New Bern. Approximately 300 spectators crowded around.

After three rounds of loading and firing, only Stanly’s coat had been hit. Bystanders begged the men to stop, but Spaight’s supporters urged him on. The gentlemen reloaded and aimed again. On the fourth discharge, Spaight fell, having been struck by the bullet in his side. He died the next day.

The confrontation came after the men exchanged two years of personal attacks through newspapers, handbills, and street corner oratory. Their public bickering reached its climax when Spaight released a flier calling Stanly “a liar and scoundrel,” insults which prompted the duel.

Spaight’s death outraged his friends and family, who sought to have Stanly tried for murder. Though Gov. Benjamin Williams pardoned Stanly, the General Assembly responded by passing a law that prevented duel participants from holding public office and hit them with a hefty fine. Most duels moved out of state as a result.

Marker located in New Bern, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/07/political-duel-c-39

On September 4, 1826, early industrialist John Fulenwider died.Born in Switzerland in 1756, Fulenwider moved to North Ca...
09/04/2026

On September 4, 1826, early industrialist John Fulenwider died.

Born in Switzerland in 1756, Fulenwider moved to North Carolina with his family and settled in Rowan County. After fighting on the Patriot side at the Battle of Ramsour’s Mill, he took up iron manufacturing along with many others who received land grants of 3,000 acres and tax deferrals under the state’s 1788 “Act to Encourage the Building of Iron Works.”

Fulenwider landed in Lincoln County, finding that it provided all of the essential ingredients for success: iron ore, trees for charcoal, limestone, and falling water. He established two forges around 1795, with the one at High Shoals becoming his most important foundry.

His works produced nails, farm and kitchen implements, bar iron, and wagon wheels, and he developed one of the earliest methods for making pig iron. During the War of 1812, the High Shoals Ironworks produced cannonballs for use by the American army. The works operated for more than 70 years, until 1875.

At his death in 1826, Fulenwider left over 20,000 acres of land and accumulated wealth to his heirs. He is remembered as part of an important cadre of entrepreneurs who spurred the development of iron manufacturing.

Marker located in High Shoals, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/19/john-fulenwider-o-54

On September 3, 1585, Ralph Lane described the Virginia Colony, which included present-day North Carolina, as, “the good...
09/03/2026

On September 3, 1585, Ralph Lane described the Virginia Colony, which included present-day North Carolina, as, “the goodliest soile under the cope of Heaven.”
Lane, leader of the second group of English voyagers that was sent to explore the colony, used the phrase in a letter to Richard Hakluyt the elder, an Englishman who promoted New World exploration.

Describing the Virginia Colony as a land of unexplored greatness with many native people living in rudimentary villages, Lane found the climate wholesome and pleasant and stated that no one among his crew fell ill while visiting. He further claimed that the New World had no equal in the known world at the time.

There is debate among historians over whether or not Lane was giving an accurate description of Virginia or if he was simply trying to increase the likelihood that a permanent English settlement would be established in the colony.

Regardless of questions surrounding the intent of the description, the “goodliest soile under the cope of heaven” phrase has become revered by North Carolinians and seen as an apt accounting of the natural beauty of the state.

Marker located in Hertford County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/01/lanes-expedition-45

On September 2, 1911, Romare Bearden, one of the 20th century’s most important African-American artists, was born in Cha...
09/02/2026

On September 2, 1911, Romare Bearden, one of the 20th century’s most important African-American artists, was born in Charlotte.

Bearden studied at the Art Students League in New York City, Columbia University, and the Sorbonne. For 30 years, he worked on his art at night and on weekends while employed as a social worker in New York City.

Bearden’s first solo exhibition was in Harlem in 1940. His collages, watercolors, oils, photomontages, and prints depict Black culture in a style derived from Cubism. Bearden also was a songwriter and book illustrator and designed sets for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company.

An advocate for young emerging artists, Bearden had close associations with distinguished artists, intellectuals, and musicians including James Baldwin, Stuart Davis, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Joan Miró, George Grosz, Alvin Ailey, and Jacob Lawrence.

Although his family moved north when he was only four years old, he said of his home state, "Most artists take some place, and like a flower, they sink roots, looking for universal implications. . . . My roots are in North Carolina." Indeed, many of his paintings and collages were drawn from memories of his time in North Carolina.

Throughout his career, he received a host of honors, including the Mayor’s Award of Honor for Art and Culture in New York City in 1984 and the National Medal of Arts in 1987.

Bearden died in New York City in 1988.

Marker located in Charlotte, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/16/romare-bearden-1911-1988-l-113

On September 1, 1870, African American activist Abraham Galloway died in Wilmington.Born in 1837 in what is now the town...
09/01/2026

On September 1, 1870, African American activist Abraham Galloway died in Wilmington.

Born in 1837 in what is now the town of Southport, Galloway was the son of a white ship’s pilot and an enslaved woman. He escaped to the North by ship in 1857 and became active in militant abolitionist circles.

During the Civil War, Galloway led Black recruitment efforts in the federally occupied northeastern portion of the state to fill the ranks of what would become Gen. Edward Wild’s African Brigade. For the volunteers, he secured pay equal to that of the Massachusetts regiments, educational opportunities for soldiers’ children, and support for their families, most of whom were destitute.

As the war waned, Galloway began shifting his focus to the political struggle for equal treatment and organized the Equal Rights League, which lobbied for rights for freed people, including education, protection from violence, and the right to vote.

Galloway and the league organized the state’s first freedmen’s convention, held in Raleigh in September 1865, to represent the interests of the state’s Black population as the constitutional convention convened across town.

The apex of Galloway’s political career came in 1868 when he was among the first Black men to be elected to the state senate. He would serve there until his death.

Marker located in Wilmington, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/11/abraham-galloway-1837-1870-d-114

On August 31, 1823, former governor Jesse Franklin died at his home in Surry County. He was 63 years old.Born in 1760 in...
08/31/2026

On August 31, 1823, former governor Jesse Franklin died at his home in Surry County. He was 63 years old.

Born in 1760 in Orange County, Virginia, Franklin moved to North Carolina in 1776. He fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on the Patriot side and rose to the rank of major.

After the Revolution, Franklin served in the state legislature, representing both Wilkes and Surry Counties, before serving a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the Senate. In 1816, Franklin became part of a commission, with David Meriwether and Andrew Jackson, to negotiate settlements with the Cherokee and Chickasaw.

By the time he was elected governor in 1820, Franklin was 60 years old, overweight, and in declining health. Despite his health issues, Franklin carried out his duties conscientiously and with his characteristic simplicity and practicality. He is perhaps best known for reforming the state’s penal code and advocating the settlement of the state’s borders.

Franklin declined to run for a second term and returned to his Surry County home, where he remained until he died in 1823.

Marker is located in Surry County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/17/jesse-franklin-m-6

On August 25, 1774, 71 delegates were present at the roll call for North Carolina’s First Provincial Congress. It was th...
08/25/2026

On August 25, 1774, 71 delegates were present at the roll call for North Carolina’s First Provincial Congress. It was the first such meeting held in any of the colonies. Though the rebellious Congress was held in New Bern near Royal Governor Josiah Martin’s residence at Tryon Palace, no attempt was made to stop the assembly.
A month earlier, William Hooper had convened a meeting of colonists from the Cape Fear region who felt that a Provincial Congress, separate from North Carolina’s royal government, was urgently needed. Invitations to send delegates were dispatched and, in response, 30 counties and four towns held elections without delay.

The congress, which only lasted for three days, endorsed the proposal that the colonies hold a Continental Congress. To that end, the group selected William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and Richard Caswell as delegates to that convention.
Aside from revolutionary topics, the delegates also discussed the basic rights and responsibilities of government. They were eager to exercise control over North Carolina’s affairs. The concluding pledge to support the actions of the forthcoming Continental Congress was a testament to their goal of self-government and to their preparedness to achieve that goal.

Marker located in New Bern, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/07/first-provincial-congress-c-50

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