Culture Around Every Corner: March 14-17

Bentonville Battlefield will commemorate the 148th anniversary of the the Battle of Bentonville with cannon demonstrations and other activities

Behind-the-scenes battleship tours, Civil War cannon demonstrations and the chance to drive a train are all part of the family fun offered this weekend by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

The weekend fun starts early Thursday when the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City hosts a kids program on farming and food and continues when artist Donna Nyzio will give step-by-step instructions while creating maritime-inspired works of art at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort. That night the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem will also present the film Chasing Ice, which artistically portrays the process of climate change.

The fun continues Saturday when the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington will offer behind-the-scenes tours of engineering facilities. The N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer will give visitors the chance to drive a train, while Bentonville Battlefield in Four Oaks will commemorate the 148^th anniversary of North Carolina’s largest Civil War battle with a living history program.

The weekend wraps up Sunday with a second day of re-enactments at Bentonville, the screening of a documentary on the Colorado River at SECCA and an oral history program on the sinking of USS Indianapolis at the Museum of the Albemarle.

Throughout the weekend, Ratio Theatre will present the musical Songs for a New World at Tryon Palace in New Bern, while the N.C. Symphony will hosts concerts of Mozart, Mendelssohn and Elgar in Southern Pines and Raleigh.