Blackbeard Exhibit Visits N.C. Transportation Museum with Treasures from 'Queen’s Anne's Revenge'

RALEIGH, N.C. - July 11, 2013 - PRLog -- SPENCER, N.C. -- Actual treasures from the shipwreck of Blackbeard the Pirate are traveling across the state, and the N.C. Transportation Museum will soon host this incredible exhibit (http://nctrans.org/Events/Blackbeard-s-Queen-Anne-s-Revenge.aspx) for six weeks.

Blackbeard's Queen's Anne's Revenge: 1718 features real items from the shipwreck of Blackbeard the Pirate. It will be available to all visitors with regular museum admission tickets starting July 19, with a ribbon-cutting and kids' events planned July 20 and July 27.

The Queen Anne's Revenge (http://www.qaronline.org/) ran aground near Beaufort in 1718. It is only in the past few years that these artifacts have been raised from the depths of the ocean and are now traveling the state, on loan from the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort.  

Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge displays artifacts that represent weaponry, nautical tools and personal items. Items range from what one would expect on a pirate ship, such as cannonballs, lead shot, gun flint, spikes and grinding stones, while others represent normal life in the 19th century, such as dinner plates, a pipe stem and bowl, thumb screws and cask hoops.

The exhibit will travel the Tarheel State through the next year and a half, shown at the N.C. Transportation Museum through Aug. 31, Historic Edenton through Oct. 19 and Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum through Dec. 7. Additional sites are planned in 2014. The exhibit was on display during June and early July in the Department of Cultural Resources’ Western Office in Asheville.

At the N.C. Transportation Museum, a ribbon-cutting event will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 20, with N.C. Transportation Museum Interim Executive Director Larry Neal and Secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Susan Kluttz providing brief remarks. Additional lectures relating to the exhibit will be offered later in the day in the Roundhouse Orientation Room (details to be announced later). The day will also feature reduced admission for those dressing as pirates and kids' activities.

Saturday, July 27, will turn the focus to families and kids with the museum's Family Pirate Day. Group rates will be available for individuals dressed like a pirate, both kids and adults, a pirate costume contest, kids crafts and a treasure map to follow through the museum with a prize at the end.

The Queen Anne's Revenge traveling exhibit, however, is about more than Blackbeard and pirates. It's about educating the next generation on colonial life. It has also created a true economic impact in the Crystal Coast region and created partnerships to foster breakthroughs in archaeological research.  

The raising of artifacts from the Queen Anne's Revenge draws together some of the leading experts in the field from institutions including East Carolina University, N.C. Marine Fisheries and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources to collaborate and use the latest techniques in the science of preservation. The project also provides students with hands-on learning experiences in maritime history, archaeology and preservation.

Stories in publications like National Geographic and the Los Angeles Times have helped raise the profile of the region. The Blackbeard exhibit at the N.C. Maritime Museum at Beaufort has drawn more than 300,000 visitors in the past year alone.  

With the Queen Anne's Revenge traveling exhibit that same level of education and economic impact can now stretch across the entire state.

The N.C. Transportation Museum is located in historic Spencer Shops, the former Southern Railway repair facility. It is located just five minutes off I-85 at Exit 79 in Spencer, N.C., and about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. The museum is part of the Division of Historic Sites (http://www.nchistoricsites.org/) within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (http://www.ncdcr.gov/).

About the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state's cultural resources to build the social, cultural and economic future of North Carolina. Led by Secretary Susan Kluttz, NCDCR's mission is to enrich lives and communities by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history and libraries in North Carolina that will spark creativity, stimulate learning, preserve the state's history and promote the creative economy. NCDCR was the first state organization in the nation to include all agencies for arts and culture under one umbrella.

Through arts efforts led by the N.C. Arts Council, the N.C. Symphony and the N.C. Museum of Art, NCDCR offers the opportunity for enriching arts education for young and old alike and spurring the economic stimulus engine for our state's communities. NCDCR's Divisions of Archives and Records, Historical Resources, State Historic Sites and State History Museums preserve, document and interpret North Carolina's rich cultural heritage to offer experiences of learning and reflection. NCDCR's State Library of North Carolina is the principal library of state government and builds the capacity of all libraries in our state to develop and to offer access to educational resources through traditional and online collections including genealogy and resources for the blind and physically handicapped.

NCDCR annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation's first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council and the State Archives. NCDCR champions our state's creative industry that accounts for more than 300,000 jobs and generates nearly $18.5 billion in revenues. For more information, please call (919) 807-7300 or visit www.ncdcr.gov.