Tucked away just below Wilmington and the mouth of the Cape Fear River and just 45 minutes or so above the South Carolina state line you'll find Southport. Centuries of boating men and women have left their mark on this village. If you aren't in a hurry, come by and explore it. Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate, was repairing his vessel in a nearby creek when he was captured. I venture to say if you stop here for a day, you too will be captured by the charm and visitors' welcome attitude.

It's a town close enough to Wilmington to reach the conveniences of a big city and college campuses, yet just out of reach of the interstate traffic. The road from Wilmington passes a southern attraction, Orton Plantation, which is open to the public in the spring and summer months. The two-lane slowly meanders towards the ...

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On the Main Stage this Year: The Tempest!

 

NCSF’s mission is to entertain, educate and enrich North Carolina students and citizens with quality professional productions of the world’s great plays, and with in-school and life-long learning opportunities.  The Festival takes pride in its service as a cultural and artistic resource.  It enriches life, broadens sensibilities, preserves cultural and historical pathways and, overall, builds community.  It’s great entertainment, too!

NCSF attracts high caliber professional actors, directors, designers and technicians from all over the United States, as well as theatre artists and technicians trained in colleges and universities right here in North Carolina.  It is associated with Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers, and operates under an agreement between the union and The League of Resident Theatres.

Spirit Center is The Festival’s new home, a 51,000 square foot central operations facility that ...

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Tryon Palace was originally built between 1767 and 1770, as the first permanent capitol of the Colony of North Carolina and a home for the Royal Governor and his family. Governor William Tryon had brought John Hawks, an English architect, with him when he came to North Carolina in 1764. Hawks designed the Palace in the manner of a number of fashionable houses in the vicinity of London-- Georgian in style, with symmetry maintained throughout. It was soon regarded to be the finest public building in the American colonies.

Governor Tryon, his wife Margaret Wake Tryon, and their daughter Margaret, lived in the Palace for just over a year. They left New Bern in June 1771, when Governor Tryon was appointed to the governorship of New York.

Josiah Martin, the second royal governor to live in the Palace, fled in May of 1775 at the beginning of the American Revolution ...

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For those of you who have no history, so to speak, with North Carolina or Pittsboro, NC in particular (my mother grew up there) then you wouldn't truly understand the transformation: from small, off-the beaten-path crossroads to growing Chapel Hill suburb; from small gas stations and storefronts to trendy restaurants and arts displays.

It's true. Pittsboro is now one of the places to be in the Triangle are of NC (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel-Hill).

A must stop: The General Store Cafe, 39 West Street.

In the unlikeliest of places lies one of the most happening hot spots in the Triangle area. Its popularity is growing. Visitors show up from different states often to see what all the fuss is about. Take a stroll through downtown Pittsboro on a weekend evening and you may hear the music, see the lights and smell the wonderful aromas emanating from the General Store ...

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