Memorial Weekend

[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," we'll celebrate Memorial weekend with activities all around the state, like a flag museum in Columbus, music in Bynum, and a distillery in Weldon.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ [upbeat music continues] - Hi, everyone.

Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend."

I'm Deborah Holt Noel and this week, we're highlighting things to do and places to go Memorial Weekend.

I'm at the Halifax State Historic Site, a fascinating place to explore.

Did you know that in this village back in 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress recommended independence from Great Britain.

That's right.

We were the first colony to take the plunge.

There's also a tavern, a jail, even a printing press.

[upbeat music] There's also an underground railroad site here.

We'll learn more about historic Halifax throughout the show, but first, let's head to the mountains where producer Clay Johnson takes us to downtown Columbus and shows us a collection of flags that's really a collection of stories.

[military drum music] - We think of a flag representing a sovereign nation, a sovereign state, a governmental unit or a military, so on, but it's the people that are behind that flag, that support that flag, that sponsor that flag, that make it all worthwhile, 'cause without the people, a flag is nothing.

- [Clay] Robert Williamson may be the curator of the House of Flags Museum in Columbus, but he's also a steward of stories, the stories behind these flags.

- We know of no other House of Flags Museum that's like this, that focuses only on U.S. history, that centers around all 27 official U.S. flags.

It's the history timeline told by flags.

We teach history of the United States, we teach flag respect, we teach how to use the flag properly, and what the flag means.

So, it's an educational museum.

- [Clay] George Scofield founded the museum in 2001.

It was in a small building with no heat, air conditioning, or restrooms, 13 miles outside of town.

The museum moved into this downtown building donated by the county in 2011.

- [Robert] Well, there's about 300 flags on display here.

- [Clay] They include this hornets' nest flag, which was the first unofficial flag of North Carolina.

It symbolizes General Charles Cornwallis' defeat at Charlotte in 1780.

- Cornwallis wrote back to England and said, "I tried to retain Mecklenburg County and Charlottetown, but it's a hornets' nest of rebellion."

Hence, Charlotte is known as the hornets' nest city.

The Charlotte Hornets a basketball team.

This is a presidential flag exhibit.

It's the only exhibit like this that we know of in the United States.

- [Clay] The exhibit shows the evolution of the presidential flag from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower when our nation reached 50 states and there's an exhibit of flags remembering the United States' worst tragedy.

- All nearly 3,000 people that lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in New York, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania are named on this flag.

It's called the Flag of Honor.

We've had some people come through and say, "I've got a half hour to look at the flags."

Well, when they start hearing the first story of the flags, they're here for another two hours, because every flag has a story.

- [Clay] That's what happened to Tom Weaver and his wife when they moved to Columbus from Illinois.

- We went inside and we wanted to stay like for 10 minutes and we stayed like for two hours.

- [Clay] The flags are all painstakingly accurate reproductions, some custom made, some donated, some purchased.

Williamson says originals can be nearly impossible to find and are too expensive to preserve and protect, especially for an all-volunteer nonprofit organization.

- If we had authentic flags, we'd have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of artifacts here and quite frankly, we don't have the deep pockets to secure that and preserve that.

- [Clay] Still, the authentic reproductions draw groups from schools, churches, civic organizations, as well as history buffs.

- [Robert] People from all over the world have been here.

- [Clay] To see what are far more than just flags.

- The flag represents our nation.

It's not a piece of cloth and when it represents our nation, it represents the history of our nation.

Everything that our nation went through to get to this point is represented, can be told by that flag.

[military drum music] - The House of Flags Museum is at 33 Gibson Street in Columbus and they're open Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information, give them a call at 828-894-5640 or go online to houseofflags.org.

This is the Owens House, built around 1760.

George Owens was a successful merchant who traded up and down the Roanoke River.

You know, another river town, Bynum, is located on the banks of the Haw River and there's actually a general store there, but what makes it really special is the amazing music there every Friday on the front porch.

[upbeat jazz music] [upbeat jazz music continues] [upbeat jazz music continues] [upbeat jazz music continues] - It's like whenever you come into Bynum, it's like stepping back 50 years in time.

The houses are over 100 years old.

This is where the hub was.

You could come down here at any time of day and there would be four or five men sitting around discussing everything.

They solved the world problems.

A phrase that our storyteller likes to use, "If these walls could talk, they would have a lot to say."

[upbeat jazz music continues] ♪ Where somebody waits for me ♪ ♪ Sugar's sweet and so is she ♪ ♪ Bye bye blackbird ♪ ♪ No one here can love and understand me ♪ ♪ Oh what hard luck stories they all hand me ♪ ♪ Make my bed and light the light ♪ ♪ I'll be home late tonight ♪ ♪ Blackbird bye bye ♪ - The goal is to keep the store as a community center to have people gather at the music series to meet their neighbors and make new friends and just have a night of entertainment that is enjoyable.

♪ They're always asking me about you darling ♪ ♪ And it hurts me so to tell 'em that you're gone ♪ - Well, it's a very welcoming venue.

They can bring their own lawn chairs, bring a picnic.

We try to have a food truck of some sort, so people can come eat.

[food sizzling] It's a Southern thing.

If you provide food, they will come and if you provide music, that can only be that much better.

[banjo playing] ♪ Woke up this morning ♪ ♪ Happy as could be ♪ ♪ I looked out my window ♪ ♪ What did I see ♪ ♪ Coming up the sidewalk ♪ ♪ Just plain as day ♪ ♪ Here comes trouble ♪ ♪ And I hadn't seen her since she went away ♪ - Bluegrass is our staple, so we'll have maybe four, five bluegrass bands, 'cause a lot of people around here do like bluegrass, but then we mix it up.

We'll have country music, jazz, indie rock.

- These guys rolled in from Raleigh.

They play for the hat.

There will be a large, overweight, intimidating man in a green shirt standing in front of you.

Please give what you can in terms of whatever you can afford.

Thank you much.

[slow rock music] [slow rock music continues] ♪ Sounded low with your ♪ - We sell ice cream, we sell drinks.

We're not a money-making organization.

All of the funds that we gather go to the operation, the overhead of the infrastructure, and then all of the other monies go to scholarships or to benefit people within the community.

[upbeat jazz music] - Check out the live music on the front porch of the Bynum Historic General Store on Friday nights from the first Friday in May until the end of August.

They also offer storytelling, a Bluegrass Jam, and other things to do all year-round.

The Bynum store is at 950 Bynum Road, just outside Pittsboro.

For more information, go to bynumfrontporch.org.

Historic Halifax is a state historic site, so around town, you'll see folks dressed up in costume, interpreters, all kinds of different ways to convey what happened here.

Let's learn more from Rick Sullivan's step back in time.

- [Rick] The town of Halifax is the seat for Halifax County.

There are only about 230 people living here, but back in the day, when the town was founded in 1758, this place was hopping.

- Historic Halifax was a trade center.

It was right here on the Roanoke River and the Roanoke River at this point in time, the 18th century, was used as the means to take goods from one place to another, but during the 19th century, you begin to see the rise of the railroads and unfortunately, the railroads did not pass through Halifax.

- [Rick] That was bad news for the future prosperity of the town in this part of the state, but it's also been a blessing for historians.

- So, the town is literally preserved, a snapshot of history from 1776 and that's very rare in our culture to find that kind of preservation.

Also, there were people in the town that knew how important the history was and really worked to preserve the buildings.

It's very exciting.

- What attracted me to this community was the preponderance of buildings.

Everywhere you walk here, you find history.

It's all over.

I've got an 1838 jail.

You just don't find that these days, a complete jail.

It's sitting beside of a late 19th century clerk's office and printing press, a working printing press.

That's fantastic.

- [Rick] And these are just some of the many buildings you can tour at Historic Halifax today.

The site is one of 27 locations preserved and operated within our state by North Carolina Historic Sites.

The presentation at Halifax has recently seen some improvements that will raise its profile immediately.

- Now, what we're doing is we're doing more onsite interpretation.

We're looking toward advancing our programming to rather than doing two and three, four programs a year.

We're doing at least 10.

We're filling up our schedule with as many interpretive opportunities possible for both the public and for us.

- Yeah, we're very excited about the changes and the new things happening at Historic Halifax.

If you came to Historic Halifax 10 or 15 years ago, you must come back.

The site is coming back to life.

The interpreters are now in costume and you'll see living history.

A printing press will be running or a blacksmith will be working at the site.

It's a wonderful opportunity to bring your kids and literally step back in time to 1776.

[guns fire] - That was the year, of course, we became a nation with the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, but even before that happened on the 4th of July, there was the signing of a document called the Halifax Resolves, dated April 12th, 1776.

That's when North Carolina's representatives became the first members of the colony to formally call for separation from Great Britain.

The tiny town of Halifax was such a big deal at the time that George Washington himself came to visit, a stay-over the town folks still talk about.

- So, the story is that George Washington came to Halifax during the revolution and he said to the people of Halifax, "Wait here.

Don't do anything until I come back."

- [Rick] And pretty much, they've obeyed.

George never came back, but every year, the Halifax Resolves is observed here with a throwback to 1776.

Studying history is one thing.

Immersing yourself in it and walking the same paths where these events took place more than two centuries ago, that's the difference you can feel at Historic Halifax.

I'm Rick Sullivan for "North Carolina Weekend".

[cheerful music] - The Halifax State Historic Site is at 25 Saint David Street in Halifax and it's open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Like Allstate historic sites, admission is free.

For more information, give them a call at 252-583-7191 or go online to historicsites.nc.gov.

This is the inside of an 18th century tap room in historic Halifax.

Guests could actually spend the night here or just grab a spirited drink.

Just about 10 miles up the road here is a working distillery and it also has a very rich history.

Let's join producer Rob Holladay at the Weldon Mills Distillery.

[upbeat rock music] - I know a lot of people heard bourbon has to be made in Kentucky.

That's marketing.

North Carolina was making bourbon long before Kentucky was ever a state.

The Weldon Mills distillery has been open for right around four years.

This version was constructed in 1892 and it was operational as a corn mill.

Barrel mill, corn mill, made sense to incorporate it into a bourbon distillery when those are two key ingredients for bourbon.

These barrels right here are 53-gallon barrels.

We're primarily a bourbon distillery.

That's what we hold ourselves out as, but we also make other quality of spirits.

We make whiskey, gin, vodka, flavored whiskey, flavored gin, flavored vodka.

We have rum coming and we've even partnered with a Mexican tequila distillery and now, we're gonna have six different tequila offerings, as well.

- Southern Roots, taste that sweet potato flavored whiskey.

When you're doing the tastings at the mill building, you can do four for free, where you can pick and choose which four you want or you can do different flights, a bourbon flight, a whiskey flight, a gin flight, a tequila flight, a vodka flight.

- 10 shots, basically, of vodka, gin, whiskey, bourbon.

It was fantastic.

- This is really amazing.

Someone actually mentioned it to me and said, "Hey, did you know that there's a Weldon Mills distillery?"

And I'm like, "Didn't know that, but let's go check it out."

[upbeat country rock music] - We have over 30 different products.

We originally started off with just bourbon.

Our first bourbon that we made was Soldier's Cut Bourbon and it's at 82 Proof for the 82nd Airborne Division.

Then, we have our other three bourbons.

We have our Weldon Mills Select, our Weldon Mills Reserve.

Then, we have the All Malt, which is the only all malted grain bourbon in the world.

We also have two lines of vodka.

We have 3 Hamlets gin, which is great from martinis.

We have a fun little cinnamon vodka.

It's super smooth.

It is green.

It's green with food coloring.

We just want it to be fun.

We want it to look like nerve agent, 'cause the name is Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMD.

[people cheering] - I think it's a good ambiance.

The tasting was fun, the bartenders were fun the drinks are great and I like everything.

- If you don't wanna just do samples, you can head over to the bar and we have craft cocktails designed by our mixologist, specifically for the type of spirit they're using in those cocktails.

- They actually put it on a platform and covered it and smoked it and I've never seen that before.

- It just gives it that little extra pizzazz that's fantastic.

[slow bluegrass music] - We just actually stopped in for a tasting and they were having a tour, so we said, "Okay, let's try it."

- There's just so much history in this area.

They'll hop on the trolley, take the trolley over to the distillery building and right there, they're gonna learn all about the distilling process.

I mean, from grinding grains to cooking a mash to distillation process, they're gonna learn the whole thing - From beginning to the end of bottling, I mean, it was quite interesting and it was good to learn that some of the stuff we see on TV is not necessarily actually how they do it, but I mean, it was educational.

- The tour was very good.

I enjoyed the trolley ride.

I also liked that when they're actually doing the tour, that they're doing a bunch of historic guidance along with it.

I liked to see that they're taking some of our historic buildings and doing something positive with them.

They're not just sitting and dwindling away.

- We wanna create an experience for folks.

We want folks to be able to come over to Weldon, walk along the riverfront, get embraced in all that is bourbon making.

- That's great.

That's what I'm looking for.

I'm not looking for national spirits.

I'm looking for local spirits and cool a place like this.

I like to buy local stuff, stuff that you can't get everywhere and brag about it to other people.

[laughs] - We just want folks to have a good time, a getaway.

They're choosing to spend their valuable time with us.

We just wanna give everybody an experience that's unique to our little neck of the woods.

[slow bluegrass music continues] - The Weldon Mills Distillery is at 100 Rockfish Drive in Weldon and it's open every day at noon.

For more information, give them a call at 252-220-4235 or go online to weldonmills.com.

This is the Eagle Tavern, built in the 1790s.

Guests could spend the night here or grab a meal and one very special guest who ate here was George Washington.

In fact, there's another restaurant where a president and first lady ate three times.

It's located in Asheville and it's called 12 Bones Smokehouse.

[upbeat rock music] - 12 Bones is a barbecue restaurant and brewery.

The the style of barbecue that we have is it's sort of that eclectic Asheville spirit that's unique.

It's different, it's not what you would see at a traditional Western North Carolina barbecue place.

- Barbecue, as like a category, it has a long history, globally, and everyone has their own interpretation of barbecue and what it should be, but the way we present it, all the different options, beef, poultry, vegetarian options, it's just welcoming.

[upbeat rock music continues] - We really focus a lot on the sides.

Corn pudding, definitely one of our flagship sides.

Certainly, jalapeno cheese grits.

Everyone loves those.

The vinegar coleslaw, that recipe's over 100 years old from Kentucky.

Our cornbread recipe is actually a Northern recipe.

Having a sauce like a blueberry chipotle sauce, President Obama's favorite.

We've got a pineapple habanero sauce, a spicy vinegar sauce.

So, we kind of have the Carolinas covered.

We take inspiration from a variety of places and we're just trying to make our own brand.

[upbeat rock music continues] - The brewery is a little over three years old and the restaurant has 16 years of reputation and my job was to elevate the beer to the reputation of the 12 Bones Smokehouse brand and trying to combine the two, like what goes with barbecue, and then also, kind of expand on top of that.

A lot of our focus goes towards the restaurant, but not all of it.

We still have 16 taps here.

Each restaurant has about five or six.

Our favorite beers are Coastin' West Coast IPA.

We do classic lagers.

We also do hazy stuff, fruited sours, but we kinda tend to lean more towards classic ales, classic lagers.

We're more of like a neighborhood spot here.

[glasses clink] [upbeat rock music continues] - 12 Bones almost has a neighborhood pub feel.

I'm drinking a Coastin', the West Coast IPA.

I find it to be one of the more enjoyable IPAs in the area.

- I've been coming for years.

It's always consistently super good.

Pulled pork, collard greens, sweet potatoes.

So, yeah, that's my go-to.

The other thing I like about 12 Bones is how approachable it is.

The same for years, it's kinda the folks you see in here are anywhere from suits to boots.

- We've seen lots of celebrities over the years.

I think the most famous would be President Obama and his wife Michelle.

They've had our food on three separate occasions.

Anytime you can get that kind of publicity, it's something you can't pay for.

- I've sold takeout to the Secret Service out the back door with like the government credit card and like, we had presidents come back and not make a big show of it, just get it to go, just 'cause they really craved the recipes.

I mean, I think the food is just like universally delicious.

- The location we're at now is our South Asheville location, 12,000 square feet, houses are smokehouse and brewery.

The building was built in 1940, but I think it's got a lot of character that you can't replace by building a new facility.

So, that's one thing that we like to do at 12 Bones is revitalize those old buildings and sort of bring new life to them and honor the past, honor the history that they have.

I think that's really special.

[upbeat rock music continues] The River Arts location, originally, it was an old cinder block shack, 1,900 square feet and it was built, I think, in around 1897.

It's been around a long time, got a lot of history there, a lot of work cleaning that place up, but we decided to sort of keep that graffiti look while honoring what that brought to the building.

We hired some of the local muralists and graffiti artists to sort of have a little bit more of a cohesive look.

We got a lot of cool pieces down there and also at our south location.

[upbeat rock music continues] - We have folks that have been coming since day one that still come and we know their names, and then we have folks who are out of town.

There's tourists and our community also includes the folks that work for us and our team and the same as some of our customers.

We have staff here who have been with us for 16 years and we wanna honor the relationship we have with them.

- The staff, we hire everyone from so many demographics and classes and races and religions and I think that's why people feel comfortable and welcomed here.

Just providing the stuff for the people, it's really, it's a pleasure - Really, one of the things that sets us apart and makes us special, well, number one, it's the people, our staff.

I really love our staff and I think they do a great job of making folks feel welcome.

At the end of the day, we wanna make barbecue and beer that we would wanna eat and drink.

- When I think about food, it's such a unifier.

It's something that all humans have in common is eating and it just helps us appeal to even more and more types of people.

When you eat here you kind of realize that there's something special going on.

Just the special mission of like this place is like a safe welcoming environment for people who like delicious food.

[music slows to an end] - 12 Bones Smokehouse has two locations in Asheville.

They're at 5 Foundy Street and they're open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In Arden, you can find them at 2350 Hendersonville Road and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6:00.

For more details, check out their website at 12bones.com.

In addition to its role in Colonial North Carolina, Halifax was a stop along the Underground Railroad.

You can actually walk the trail, read signage along the way, and when you get here, you can read this sign and see the river that greeted many freedom seekers.

You can also use your phone, scan the QR code, and hear an interpretive story.

The Halifax State Historic Site is such a hidden gem.

You can really learn a lot about what life was like here 250 years ago and just remember it's completely free and if you've missed anything in today's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[upbeat music] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ [upbeat music fades out] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[piano outro]