Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center (LLC) is pleased to announce the continuation of the New Bern History lecture series. Our goal is to engage the broader community and expand the understanding of and engagement in the fascinating history of New Bern and the region.
The presentations will take place on Wednesday afternoons at 2 p.m. in the Cullman Performance Hall at the North Carolina History Center, located at 529 S. Front Street in downtown New Bern. These programs are free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted at the door to support the program.
The series is presented by the LLC and Tryon Palace, in partnership with the Richard Dobbs Spaight Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the New Bern Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). DAR and SAR members will be on hand at each event in period dress to greet lecture participants. Additional information can be found at CravenCC.edu/HistoryLectures.
2025 Schedule of Events:
January 29 - The Preservation and Care of Historic Documents
Speaker: Sarah Koonts, Director, State Archives of North Carolina, NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
Sarah E. Koonts has served as the State Archivist of North Carolina since 2012. Koonts began her career in the Archives as a graduate student intern in 1992. She worked in reference, records management, and preservation programming prior to being named State Archivist. She also serves as the director of the America 250 NC, a statewide initiative being led by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. In commemoration of the founding of our country in 2026, the America 250 NC team is working across the agency to develop and foster robust programming in all divisions. It also partners with a team of stakeholders to foster commemoration programming across the state.
February 12 - History and Tradition of Fife & Drum
Speaker: Shane Mason, Historical Interpretation and Programs Coordinator, Tryon Palace
Shane Mason moved to New Bern from the Space Coast in Florida when he was eight years old and has lived here continuously, with the exception of his four years of study of history at UNC Charlotte. He began fencing in high school and won the North Carolina State Games in épée fencing in 2013 and 2014. Mason has given lectures on dueling for Tryon Palace and other historic sites. He has served as the head of Fife and Drum and full-time interpreter. In September 2023, Mason was promoted to Interpretation Coordinator at Tryon Palace.
This lecture is a newer offering created for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The presentation will feature a performance by the Tryon Palace Fife & Drum Corp.
February 26 - The Regulator Movement
Speaker: Carole Watterson Troxler, Professor Emeritus of History, Elon University
Carole Watterson Troxler was born in LaGrange, Georgia and received an A.B. degree from the University of Georgia, followed by a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In March 1988, Troxler became a full professor with Elon College's history department. Troxler is an accomplished historian and author who has published numerous books and articles. Her research for the 2011 book, Farming Dissenters, is an investigation of the pre-Revolutionary Regulator Movement, which Alan D. Watson characterized as “the most historic, graphically exciting, and controversial topic in North Carolina's past.” Watson found Troxler's account of the May 16, 1771 defeat of the Regulators to be "the best account available of the bloodiest confrontation among white English colonials in the 18th century." Her lecture presentation will focus on this history.