Pender County middle school students and state archaeologists researched the muddy wreck of what was thought to be the ship SYLVAN GROVE. By studying yellowed newspaper articles and old photographs, the researchers discovered the true name of the vessel.
Discovery in 1989 of a flatboat in a Trent River meander near New Bern gave insight into the building and use of an important transportation mode, the ferry in colonial North Carolina.
Many unknown travelers, explorers, and artifacts from the 1500s and 1600s lie buried off the coasts of North Carolina and other coastal states. Underwater archaeology could assist in bringing information about this period to light.
A process that has been used by foresters and the timber industry is now a valuable tool in assisting historians in precisely dating old houses and maritime artifacts.
After the Civil War, the independent lifestyles of Outer Banks citizens began to change as business interests, such as commercial fishing, moved to the area in competition with traditional cottage industries, such as boat building and net making.
Prior to 1662 there were no accurate maps of the Carolina coast from Cape Lookout to Port Royal Sound. Six voyages of exploration between 1662 and 1667 added detailed descriptions of previously unknown areas to existing maps.
President Thomas Jefferson viewed the Navy as a defensive agency that should use small, two-cannon ships. Use of these vessels in North Carolina's treacherous coastal waters validated his gunboat program philosophy.
Schooners figured prominently in the state's water commerce during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Records of the S. R. Fowle Company of Washington provide important information on the use of these vessels for commerce.
Since people began settling near it in the early 1700s, New Topsail Inlet has witnessed commerce passing, ships sinking, wars, and now extensive recreational development.
Because of a need to provide medical care to seriously ill seamen on the Outer Banks, Congress authorized construction of the state's first hospital. It was built between 1846 and 1847 in the town of Portsmouth, on Portsmouth Island.
Hatteras Inlet is distinguished from other coastal inlets in that it has had two locations during its history. The first, depicted on a 1738 chart, was not shown in 1764. The second was created in 1846 by a storm.
The menhaden fishing industry once stretched from Maine to Florida, but now is centered in four states - Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The industry peaked in the state in 1956, and the sole plant still operating is in Beaufort.