Let's head to Milton where a small museum dedicated to furniture maker, Thomas Day has been upgraded to a state historic site.

[upbeat instrumental music] - Good, morning.

[audience laughs] - [Audience Members] Good morning.

- This is the youngest Thomas Day descendant.

Say hello.

- Hello.

[audience applauding] - Good morning.

I am Michelle Lanier and I am Division Director of North Carolina Historic Sites and we are celebrating the birth of our newest state historic site, Thomas Day State Historic Side.

[audience applauding] We want to tell the story of his artisanship.

We want to tell the story of his life in context with the land.

Three, two, one.

Thomas Day.

[audience applauding] - [Earl] Born circa 1801, Thomas Day was a free man of color and in antebellum terms, free issue, meaning neither of his parents were ever enslaved.

Day was an extraordinarily successful business person building cabinetry and furniture in the shop he started in Milton, North Carolina.

Day's innovative use of esteem powered sawmill beginning in the 1850s, and his assembly line process helped establish the large and productive shop as one of the most prosperous in the south.

Hi, I'm Earl Ijames.

here in Milton, North Carolina at the Thomas Day Museum with "North Carolina Weekend," and it's now an official state museum.

I can't wait to see it.

Come and join us.

You see, they actually recruited him.

The old tobacco planners recruited him to come here and set up shop.

Cabinet maker, Jerome Bias has studied the history of Thomas Day's traditional woodworking techniques.

- Hey, Jerome.

- Hello, my man.

- Good to see you.

- Here at the new Thomas Day Historic Site of Milton.

- It's quite the event.

I'm so proud of this.

We've been working this for many, many years.

- You know, we can't have a better be reenactment man than to do what Thomas Day did.

- I love doing eight period woodworking, and this is a great place to do that.

- Well, you know, - Speaking about this space, with a space that has such a revolutionary impact on society and economy in North Carolina, and throughout the country with a steam powered sawmill.

And tell us about some of the techniques of this latest technology down in the South.

[upbeat instrumental music] - [Jerome] Often people think of Thomas Day working alone in a shop, and in this case he wasn't working alone in a shop, but he is got a building attached to this building that's 25 feet wide, 75 feet long.

And in that building he's got table stalls, he's got lays, he's got shaper tables, he's got many of the power tools that we have in our shops today.

He's got right there and then.

It's really interesting when you look at the bills of sale.

He's making, he's selling things to everyone of various pocketbook amounts.

If you have a little bit of money, he's got something to sell.

You got a lot of money, he's got something else to sell you.

And he is gonna have, he's working a large enough scale that he's got this space here would've been one of his wear room.

He's the emerging furniture talent, and furniture maker in this part of the state.

He's doing a really amazing job in that the people in this area can get any kind of furniture they want.

The railroad is not far away.

The river is not far away.

So they can get anything from Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City.

And so he's competing against those furniture makers, and what he's producing here.

And the amazing thing is that here in the back, back country, North Carolina, this man has got this wonderful furniture factory that is competing for price, quality and design with the latest designer furniture makers out of Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

- [Earl] Historic.

Milton, North Carolina has other links to Thomas Day's ties here.

And just up the street from the Thomas Day Museum in Milton, North Carolina is the Milton Presbyterian Church established 1826, where Thomas Day built the pews, and sat on the front row every Sunday morning.

- We expect that we will have many people following our journey as we develop the site.

It will have multiple buildings where people will be able to see his workshop.

We also have a visitor center.

All of it's in development.

And so if people wanna know how to stay involved, we invite you to follow the Thomas Day Site on social media.

- [Deborah] The Thomas Day State Historic Site is at 148 Broad Street in Milton.

The site is not officially open, but they do allow private tours.

To visit, just book a volunteer at [336] 234-0030.