In 2011, the CDG submitted three nominations to the North Carolina Office of Archives and History for highway historical markers. It was the first time in memory that three nominations from one source were accepted at the same time.
Hertford County's first new marker in 17 years.
On October 21, 2011, the marker for the town of Choanoac was unveiled at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church in Harrellsville. Coordinated by the CDG, the dedication event was a collaboration involving the Harrellsville Historical Association, Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, the Meherrin Indian Tribe and the Roanoke-Chowan Community College. Many government officials and academics were among the attendees. The marker was unveiled by Choanoac descendants, most of whom grew up in Hertford County.
The marker is located at the intersection of NC 45 and Swain’s Mill Road which leads to the Choanoac site on the Chowan River. The town of Choanoac was the largest coastal town in North Carolina in 1586 when the second English expedition on Roanoake Island explored the Chowan. The Choanoac people controlled the Chowan River – then called the Nomopana – from the Virginia border to the Albemarle Sound. The meeting of the Choanoanc and the English was the first recorded event in the Roanoake-Chowan area. news article | gallery
Courtesy of Gary Robbins
The marker for Parker David Robbins, one of the most accomplished figures of the Winton Triangle, will be dedicated on January 16, 2012 in Robbins’ final home of Magnolia, NC. The dedication event, planned in partnership with the Duplin County Historical Association, will begin at 10am at the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville, NC. Civil War re-enactors and representatives of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History and the North Carolina History Museum will participate.
Robert L. Vann at the beginning of his career.
Robert Lee Vann was born in 1879. He grew up in Ahoskie and Harrellsville, graduated from Waters Training School in Winton, and in 1910 began his law career in Pittsburgh. Under his stewardship, the Pittsburgh Courier grew from a one-sheet local paper to a national African-American newspaper with the largest circulation. Vann made tremendous efforts, using law, politics and journalism, to promote rights and equal opportunity for all Americans. The Robert Lee Vann Highway Historical Marker will be erected in Ahoskie in 2012.
More nominations will be made in 2012