The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a sprawling complex of galleries, gardens, and an outdoor theater. It is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. The Museum’s permanent collection began in 1947 when the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $1 million to purchase works of art, making North Carolina the first state in the nation to
Tag Archives: North Carolina
Jackson County, NC; a Gem in the Mountains
It’s quiet. Well, there are birds singing and the occasional crunch of gravel as a car slowly passes by, but pretty much it seems like I am a million miles away from anyone or any care in the world. I am staying in a rustic cabin with all the amenities anyone could wish for at Balsam Mountain Preserve. The entire
Traces of Hollywood in North Carolina
By Marilyn Jones I’m greeted by a middle-age man draped in Mardi Gras beads and sporting a megaphone, waiting for others to join his Hollywood Location Walk in Wilmington, N.C. Spiel Stevenberg (Mike Hartle) thrusts a scrapbook at me of author Nicholas Sparks’ movies filmed in the area, including A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Nights in Rodanthe. He also shows me
Time Travel in Wilmington, NC
Colonized in the 1720s, Wilmington prospered as an English settlement because of its location on the Cape Fear River. It grew into a busy port community with new residents flocking to the area from colonies throughout North Carolina and South Carolina. For anyone curious about what it was like for the wealthy during this time, they can tour Burgwin-Wright House and
North Carolina Gem Mining 101
I jotted down the names of gems and minerals that can be found at Mason Mountain Mine near Franklin, North Carolina, as Tom Johnson steered his pickup truck up a steep incline toward their source. “Rhodolite garnet, pyrope garnet, smoky quartz, moonstone, kyanite, cordierite, surface copper ore, ruby, sapphire and small traces of emerald,” he ticked off as he pulled