The 64th Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival will be held April 6-10, 2011 in the greater Wilmington area. The Festival is a celebration of Wilmington’s exceptional artwork, gardens, rich history and culture during its five days of entertainment that includes: a parade, street fair, circus, concerts, pageantry, and all that is Southern.

 

Since its Inception in 1948, the Festival has blossomed into an extended weekend celebration that attracts more than 300,000 people. The Festival is a non-profit civic organization and this year is sponsored in substantial part by its four (4) major sponsors: Progress Energy, Wachovia Bank, the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, and Coastal Beverage.For more than 50 years, the folks of Southeastern North Carolina have been throwing the best party in the South and you're invited! There's something for everyone among our community's rich array of artwork, gardens, history and culture. 

The "Home Furnishings Capital of the World" is crowded with furniture manufacturing operations, pier wall bargain hunters, even a Furniture Discovery Center. So it should be no surprise that High Point has taken the lead in the big furniture battle with not one, but two giant chests of drawers.

The original chest of drawers was built in the 1920s by the High Point Chamber of Commerce. The twenty foot tall building-with-knobs served as the local "bureau of information." In 1996, the building was completely renovated and converted into a 38-foot tall Goddard-Townsend block front chest. A real chest was used as a prototype -- it can be viewed in the Lobby of the local visitor information center.

Two gigantic socks dangle from a drawer, officially symbolizing "the city's hosiery industry."

It's an impressive leap from the old chest of drawers, clearly shoving the big chair brouhaha into a dusty ...

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Salem was founded in 1766 by the Moravians – a Protestant group of people that began in what is now known as the Czech Republic. The Moravians were missionaries who established an earlier settlement in Bethlehem, PA before beginning "Wachovia" in the North Carolina backcountry in 1753. In the Wachovia Tract of nearly 100,000 acres, Salem was the central administrative, spiritual, craft, and professional town surrounded by five outlying congregations.

The Moravian Church and Salem residents kept meticulous records and accounts of their lives, their interactions, their buildings and landscapes, and their evolution into the town of Winston-Salem. These records, diaries, and accounts provide accurate details to tell the stories of those living and working in Salem.

Salem residents were also well respected for their architecture and attention to detail. The architecture and landscape of Salem are still quite accurate, as many of the Historic Town buildings are original structures ...

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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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