Swansboro Area Heritage Center Museum

10/14/2026

10/13/2026

Ever wonder about the history behind the Big Rock Tournament?

On September 14, 1957, a Raleigh angler named Jimmy Croy boated a blue marlin in Morehead City, and a raucous crowd gathered at the harbor. 🎣

An index abstract at East Carolina University says Croy was fishing aboard the Mary Z with Captain K.W. "Bill" Olsen, and that the fish weighed 143.5 pounds and measured 8 feet, 5 inches. Other accounts round it to 143. Blue marlin had been rumored in the waters off Morehead City, but no one had boated one there before. Local businessmen had put up a prize for the first.

The prize is where the story gets soft. The Big Rock tournament's own site says accounts range from $250 to $500 and that nobody kept accurate records. The best-known telling is a red wagon filled with silver dollars, while Marlin magazine says first prize was 250 silver dollars. That one fish became the seed of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, and the tournament's site now lists a record of 914 pounds, landed by Todd Dickerson of Fenwick Island, Delaware, in 2019.

What is the biggest fish you ever saw hanging at a dock?

10/10/2026

Look for them around town!

We are all eager for MumFest, but do you know the other flower associated with New Bern each fall?

Lycoris radiata 'Spider Lily' is also known as 'New Bern Lily'

Capt. William Willis Roberts brought them home to his wife Elizabeth in New Bern — three bulbs that had traveled across the Pacific Ocean from Japan.

The year was 1854 and after a slow start, the plants thrived in New Bern. His niece later described the bulbs as being, “in such a dry condition that they did not show signs of life.” But they came to life with the rain, and as they multiplied. His wife, Elizabeth shared them with family and friends. The lovely red flowers eventually made their way across the South.

That is how the rather unique Spider Lily came to New Bern.

Over the next century and a half, the flowers have become closely associated with New Bern.

10/10/2026

In 1864, a seventeen-year-old girl from Wisconsin walked into the White House and asked Abraham Lincoln if she could sculpt him.

He said yes.

Her name was Vinnie Ream. She was small, self-taught, and had been working in clay for less than two years. She had no formal training, no institutional backing, no family connections in Washington. What she had was nerve, and a referral from a congressman who had seen her work.

For five months, she met with Lincoln in the White House, thirty minutes at a time, shaping him in clay while he read letters and met with visitors. She later said he barely acknowledged her most days. He was carrying something too heavy for small talk.

Then came April 14, 1865.

Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre that night. He died the next morning. Vinnie Ream was eighteen years old, and the clay model she had made from life became one of the last artistic records of Lincoln before his assassination.

Two years later, in 1866, Congress voted to commission a full marble statue of Lincoln for the United States Capitol. The commission was worth $10,000, a significant government contract by any measure.

They awarded it to Vinnie Ream.

She was eighteen.

The outrage was immediate. Critics argued she was too young, too inexperienced, too female. Several members of Congress moved to rescind the commission. Newspapers ran pieces questioning whether a teenager with no formal training had any business representing the nation's grief in marble. One senator proposed that the work be given to a "proper" sculptor instead.

She kept the commission.

She traveled to Rome to carve the final statue in marble, working with the best Carrara stone she could source. She completed the work in 1870. The statue was unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda on January 25, 1871.

Vinnie Ream was twenty-three years old.

The statue stands there still. Lincoln in marble, rendered by the teenage girl who sat with him in the White House while the war was still being fought. Her hands worked while his were too full to notice.

She went on to complete other major commissions, including a bronze of Admiral Farragut that stands in Farragut Square in Washington. But nothing defined her legacy quite like that first one.

First woman commissioned by the United States government to create a public work of art.
Given the commission at eighteen, over the objections of Congress itself.
The statue, carved from life, still stands in the Capitol Rotunda.

The skeptics are long forgotten. The marble is not.

10/10/2026

Today is ! This postcard depicts Pullen Park, the first public park in North Carolina. The park, opened in 1887, spans 66 acres in Raleigh. From 1899 to 1938, Pullen Park Zoo was a popular attraction, boasting alligators, bears, monkeys, and a lioness.

10/10/2026

Here's the latest scuttlebutt (news) about our upcoming quarterly presentation!

10/04/2026

The Swansboro Mullet Festival is October 10-11 2026! See you there.

Swansboro Mullet Festival of NC | Swansboro Festivals https://share.google/cBWGTISaY5cER8V5q






https://coastalreview.org/2018/02/coasts-history-north-carolinas-first-fish/

Striped mullets, or jumping mullets, North Carolina's first commercial fishery, provided sustenance and income and were a big part of life for coastal residents.

09/24/2026

The Revolutionary War on the North Carolina outer banks was a war of inlets. Every named land or boarding action in the historical record ended in Patriot victory.

09/23/2026

Giving a nod to old ghost trees today!

Because I literally saw a Christmas advertisement this morning, I decided to go ahead and begin the celebration of the Halloween season.
The old ghost trees on the island have a lot to say and they are preparing.
This one is the mayor of the ghost trees ocean side!

© Annie Po Photo - Cindy Kaye Smith

09/23/2026