https://www.dncr.nc.gov/about-us/history/division-historical-resources/nc-highway-historical-marker-program

North Carolina Highway Historical Markers, Raleigh, NC (2026)

08/25/2026

On August 25, 1774, 71 delegates were present at the roll call for North Carolina’s First Provincial Congress. It was the first such meeting held in any of the colonies. Though the rebellious Congress was held in New Bern near Royal Governor Josiah Martin’s residence at Tryon Palace, no attempt was made to stop the assembly.
A month earlier, William Hooper had convened a meeting of colonists from the Cape Fear region who felt that a Provincial Congress, separate from North Carolina’s royal government, was urgently needed. Invitations to send delegates were dispatched and, in response, 30 counties and four towns held elections without delay.

The congress, which only lasted for three days, endorsed the proposal that the colonies hold a Continental Congress. To that end, the group selected William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and Richard Caswell as delegates to that convention.
Aside from revolutionary topics, the delegates also discussed the basic rights and responsibilities of government. They were eager to exercise control over North Carolina’s affairs. The concluding pledge to support the actions of the forthcoming Continental Congress was a testament to their goal of self-government and to their preparedness to achieve that goal.

Marker located in New Bern, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/07/first-provincial-congress-c-50

08/24/2026

On August 24, 1814, Dolley Madison rescued several important state documents and a now-famous oil portrait of George Washington from the White House as Washington, D.C., was being burned by invading British forces.

Born Dolley Payne in 1768 in Guilford County, the future First Lady met her would-be husband through mutual acquaintance Aaron Burr in Philadelphia in 1794. The couple married less than a year later. While James Madison served as Secretary of State for the widowed Thomas Jefferson, Dolley became the unofficial “first lady,” hosting events for politicians and international guests. The 1809 inauguration of her husband, therefore, made for an easy transition to the role of the president’s wife.

As Washington came under siege from the British as part of the War of 1812, President James Madison asked his wife to stay behind in the White House and gather important documents so that the building could be abandoned quickly if needed. As the invading force drew near, the First Lady decided to abandon the Pennsylvania Avenue mansion.

Though popular legend tends to tell the story in such a way that Madison herself ripped the portrait out of a frame and hand-carried it and other important documents out of the White House, contemporary historians revisiting the subject argue that people enslaved in the household most likely did it under her orders.

Marker located in Greensboro, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/03/dolley-madison-1768-1849-j-6

08/23/2026

On August 23, 1784, the State of Franklin declared its independence from North Carolina. The independence would prove to be short-lived.

Settlers in far western areas had long discussed separating from the Old North State, criticizing the General Assembly for ignoring Western interests. Led by John Sevier, the settlers formed their own state. Though they wrote their own state constitution and elected an assembly, western representatives were still sent to North Carolina’s General Assembly.

Governor Alexander Martin was outraged by the separatists and threatened to use force against them. The Confederation Congress, the federal governing body at that time, refused to recognize the new state, and it quickly fell apart. Sevier was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1789, and the state of Franklin came to an abrupt end. That same year, North Carolina ceded its western lands to the United States government, and, in 1796, those lands became part of the new state of Tennessee.

There is no NC marker about the state of Franklin (because there is no real place to mark since it is now in Tennessee), but it remains a very interesting story in North Carolina history.

Alexander Martin was the governor of NC when Franklin folded.

Marker located in Rockingham County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/03/alexander-martin-1783-1807-j-15

08/22/2026

on August 22, 1978: Andre René Roussimoff, known to the world as Andre the Giant, found the place that would become the true center of his life. After years of wrestling across Europe, Canada, and the biggest arenas in the United States, he chose a quiet 9.12‑acre property near Ellerbe, North Carolina. Over time, that small purchase grew into a 194‑acre ranch along Big Mountain Creek, a peaceful refuge where one of the most famous athletes on earth could simply be a neighbor.

Andre first came to North Carolina through his wrestling schedule, performing in cities like Asheville, Charlotte, and Greensboro. He fell in love with the landscapes and close‑knit communities that reminded him of rural France. In Ellerbe, he found friendship, privacy, and a slower pace of life. He even used his influence to support local civic efforts, including opposition to a proposed radioactive waste site.
The people of Ellerbe embraced him not as a celebrity, but as Andre; the gentle, thoughtful man who called their town home. Today, his legacy lives on at the Rankin Museum’s permanent exhibit and in the memories of those who knew him. When he passed away in 1993, his ashes were returned to his ranch, the place he cherished most.

Marker located in Ellerbe, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2026/04/08/andre-giant-k-69

08/21/2026

On August 21, 1829, Priestley Hinton Mangum, Jr. was born in Wake County.
Educated at Wake Forest College, Mangum would be little known today but for a revolutionary erosion control technique he pioneered in 1885 that became known as the Mangum Terrace.

As a farmer, Mangum faced two significant problems with the lay of his land: first, what to do with the wasted land necessary for ditches to control water runoff and, secondly, how to incorporate farm machinery that was not adapted for ditched land. His answer, which he engineered with the help of an African American farmhand, Tom Jones, was a terracing system comprised of broad ridges with smaller gentle slopes that would control water flow and still permit crop growth and machinery use.

Knowledge of Mangum’s system spread by word of mouth in the decade following its development, and soon the Mangum Terrace was being publicized by agricultural periodicals. By 1912, the system had been officially adopted and endorsed by the United States Department of Agriculture, and within another ten years, it was utilized in nearly every state in the country.

Marker located in Wake County, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/21/magnum-terrace-h-58

08/20/2026

On August 20, 1775, the Third Provincial Congress, formed to replace the Colonial Assembly dissolved by Royal Governor Josiah Martin the previous April, convened in Hillsborough.

Samuel Johnston of Edenton was selected to preside, and the body declared itself the province’s temporary government and created the Provincial Council to conduct business when the Provincial Congress was not in session and to oversee the Committee of Safety.

For the purpose of organizing a militia and arranging representation in the Provincial Council, the congress determined that the six existing judicial districts would become military districts. The districts contained between four and eight counties and were named for the most prominent towns they contained: Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Wilmington, and Salisbury.

Each military district was authorized to establish a regiment of minutemen that was to serve within the boundaries of North Carolina. Furthermore, each of the 35 counties was asked to raise a company of militia.

The Third Provincial Congress ordered the enlistment of the first two units of Provincial Troops to join the Continental Army later that year.

Samuel Johnston marker found in Edenton, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/11/30/samuel-johnston-9

Josiah Martin marker found in Southport, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/11/josiah-martin-d-89

08/19/2026

On August 19, 1933, Black Mountain College was established in Buncombe County by disgruntled faculty from Rollins College in Florida. Unconventional by almost every standard, the college served as an alternative to traditional education and was one of the first schools in the nation to create an educational plan embodying the principles of progressive education. One of the major tenets of the school’s plan was to elevate the fine arts to full-curricular status.

Owing partly to the imbalance between the arts and sciences, Black Mountain College was never accredited. Despite that fact, many of its graduates enjoyed successful careers in the fine arts, education, and letters. Among the artists who were either students or faculty were architects Buckminster Fuller and Walter Gropius; artists Anni and Josef Albers, Elaine and Willem DeKooning, Ruth Asawa, Robert Motherwell and Robert Rauschenberg; dancers Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor; musician John Cage; filmmaker Arthur Penn; and writers Eric Bentley, Robert Creeley, Paul Goodman, Alfred Kazin, Charles Olson, Joel Oppenheimer and Jonathan Williams.

In 1941, the school moved to a large Internationalist-style building designed by faculty member W. Lawrence Kocher. The school fell into a period of decline following World War II, and it ceased operation in 1956.

Marker located in Black Mountain, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/22/black-mountain-college-p-64

08/18/2026

On August 18, 1590, Englishman John White returned to Roanoke Island to resupply the colony established on the island in 1587. White found the settlement abandoned. A single word “CROATOAN” was carved on a post in the fort.

In 1587, at the urging of fellow colonists, Governor White had returned to England to gather supplies for the blossoming colony. Before leaving Roanoke Island, White, and the colonists agreed that they would carve a message in a tree if they moved.
Additionally, a Maltese cross would also be carved if the move was forced. Since White didn’t find that particular distress signal, he was hopeful that the colonists would be found alive. White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, had been born exactly three years earlier.

After arriving back in England in October 1587, White was prevented from immediately returning to Roanoke Island because of England’s war with Spain. His attempt to do so in 1588 ended when pirates stole all his supplies. Finally, he was granted permission to return in early 1590.

White had the misfortune of arriving at Roanoke Island in poor weather and terrible landing conditions, leading to the death of seven mariners by drowning. The weather forced White to leave without searching adjacent areas for the colony.

Marker located in Manteo, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/04/first-english-colonies-b-1

08/17/2026

The North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program works closely with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to install and maintain markers. Thank you to the crew at Division 3 for reinstalling the Modern Greece marker in Kure Beach.

08/17/2026

On August 17, 1942, Frank Armstrong led the first daylight bomber attack by the United States. He flew over Axis territory in occupied France and earned the Silver Star, a military honor for valor.

A native of Hobgood, and a graduate of Wake Forest College, Armstrong enlisted in 1928 as a flying cadet. He received and conducted bombardment training and, in 1940, witnessed the N**i blitz bombing of London.

Armstrong’s involvement in the war did not end with the 1942 campaigns. In 1943, he led the first U.S. raids over Germany in a B-17 “Flying Fortress,” and, in 1945, he flew some of the last bombing raids over Japan targeting oil depots in a B-29. His official military biography states that he “led the first and last heavy bombing raids of World War II.

In 1948, Beirne Lay, Jr., who had served alongside Armstrong in the bombardment team in Europe, collaborated with Sy Bartlett to publish Twelve O'clock High! The authors made clear in the foreword that Colonel Frank Savage, the novel’s central character, was based on Armstrong. The 1949 film version of the book was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Marker located in Hobgood, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/13/frank-armstrong-1898-1969-e-108

North Carolina Highway Historical Markers

08/25/2026

08/24/2026

08/23/2026

08/22/2026

08/21/2026

08/20/2026

08/19/2026

08/18/2026

08/17/2026

08/17/2026

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