05/16/2026
“I love interacting with visitors, because it is just amazing to me how far people travel to visit Edenton. And that, to me, is the most fun… being around the shop in the Penelope Barker House and greeting and talking with the visitors.
I would say that most of our visitors are from North Carolina, from all over the state. But we also see a lot of people from the Tidewater area, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake. They’ll drive down for the day. We’ll have people from all over the country who are heading to the Outer Banks, and they make a stop here on the way. And I’m always pleasantly surprised when Colonial Williamsburg people show up. We’re not that far away, and there’s a lot of crossover throughout our local and regional history.
It’s funny how when you live in an area, and I have been guilty of this, you tend to think, oh, well, I’ll go there someday. It’s just down the street or it’s 5 minutes away. I’ll visit. And time passes, and you never get around to this part of your community that you’d actually really enjoy. You don’t know what you’re missing. People are often surprised at how many cool things we have in the shop. We have stocked some great new items, and we’ve brought back some things that we used to have that our customers have really been missing. A lot of great hostess gifts, and wonderful Edenton-themed merchandise.
Our motto is to preserve, restore, and educate. And so, those three columns are the centerpiece of what we’re all about at the Barker House and the Edenton Historical Commission. If you haven’t stopped by to see us yet, now is the time!”
-Trish Rand, Director of Customer Engagement, Penelope Barker House Welcome Center, Edenton Historical Commission
