Maritime Museum to host program on burning of Fort Johnston

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport is getting ready to host an all-day program that commemorates the pivotal 1775 event that spurred North Carolina into the Revolutionary War.

The 250th Anniversary of the Burning of Fort Johnston is a free, day-long program featuring lectures, living history demonstrations, artillery firings, and more.

It starts at 10 a.m. On Saturday, July 19th on the garrison lawn, in the Southport community building and in the museum.

The program ends with a special luminary event that begins at sunset.

“This program is about bringing awareness to what happened in July of 1775,” said Shannon Walker, education curator at the museum. “The people of southeastern North Carolina stood up to the Crown, sparking the colony’s entry into the American Revolution.”

“North Carolina, particularly the Lower Cape Fear, played a very important role in the American Revolution,” Walker said. “My goal with this program was to bring more awareness to that and to let the general public know and take their pick of how they want to learn about it. They can go to that living history and learn from one of our interpreters. If they want to sit down and enjoy a lecture in the air conditioning, they can do that. It’s just a big learning experience.”

Here is the full schedule:

Musket/artillery tandem demos (Garrison Lawn/Bay Street):

10 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

1 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

4:15p.m.

Lectures (Southport Community Building):

10:30 a.m.: Jim McKee, “The Construction of Fort Johnston”

Noon: Stephen Atkinson, “HMS Cruizer and British Naval Activity in the Lower Cape Fear”

1:30 p.m.: Jack Fryar, “When the British Came: Revolution in the Cape Fear, 1765-1782”

3 p.m.: Chris Fonvielle, “With Such Great Alacrity: The Burning of Fort Johnston”

Nighttime luminary commemoration (Garrison Lawn): sunset to 10 p.m.