This list is intended as a general resource, not a comprehensive guide. Hours, fees, and exhibit schedules are subject to change. Admission is free unless noted.

Barker House
509 South Broad Street, Edenton
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.; Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
(252) 482-7800
http://www.edenton.com/history/barker.htm

Built in 1782 and enlarged during the 1820s, this clapboard house is best known as the home of Penelope Barker (1728–1796), the reputed leader of the Edenton Tea Party in 1774, and her husband, Thomas Barker (1728–1789), a successful lawyer, planter, and colonial agent. Now owned by the Edenton Historical Commission, the Barker House is open to the public for tours of the interior. The Barkers’ gravesites can be seen at nearby Hayes Plantation.
 

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
1401 National Park Drive, Manteo
Hours: Daily 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Visitor center open until 8:00 P.M. in summer during the run of the outdoor drama The Lost Colony.
(252) 473-5772
http://www.nps.gov/fora/raleigh.htm

Reconstructions, exhibits, live drama, and presentations by park interpreters give visitors a rich understanding of those who backed the ill-fated Lost Colony and those who lost their lives in the quest. Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America, and Queen Elizabeth I are among the individuals featured.
 

Moore's Creek National Battlefield
40 Patriots Hall Drive, Currie
Hours: Daily 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. 
(910) 283-5591
http://www.nps.gov/mocr/index.htm

This park, commemorating the decisive victory by 1,000 Patriots over 1,600 Loyalists at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776, contains a monument to Mary Slocumb and other women who bravely helped in the Revolutionary War. According to legend, after dreaming that she saw her husband lying wounded in battle at Moore's Creek, Slocumb rode her horse all night to reach the battle, then spent many hours caring for the wounded.
 

Somerset Place State Historic Site
2572 Lake Shore Road, Creswell
Hours: (April through October) Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.; Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.; (November through May) Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 p.m.; Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. 
(252) 797-4560
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/somerset/somerset.htm

During its eighty-year existence as an active plantation (1785–1865), Somerset Place encompassed over 100,000 acres and became one of North Carolina’s most prosperous rice, corn, and wheat plantations. It was home to more than three hundred enslaved men, women, and children of African descent. Sixty percent of Somerset’s field hands were women; female slaves also worked in the plantation house.

Airborne and Special Operations Museum
100 Bragg Boulevard, Fayetteville
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 P.M.
(910) 483-3003
http://www.asomf.org/

Exhibits and programs highlight the history, equipment, technology, legend, art, and weaponry of the army’s airborne and special operations units. Women served as soldiers in these units.
 

Ava Gardner Museum
325 E. Market Street, Smithfield
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.; Sunday, 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. 
Adults, $6 seniors (65+) and teens, $5; children 3–12, $4.
(919) 934-5830
http://www.avagardner.org/

The museum houses a large collection of Ava Gardner memorabilia. Gardner, a Smithfield native whose film career spanned forty-four years, achieved fame as a charming, talented actress in the golden age of Hollywood.
 

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial
U.S. Route 70, Sedalia
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 p.m. Closed most major holidays.
(336) 449-4846
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/chb/chb.htm

This state historic site, showcasing the life and work of Charlotte Hawkins Brown, pioneer in African American education, features a visitor center, Brown’s gravesite, and buildings from Palmer Memorial Institute, the rural African American school that Brown founded.
 

Greensboro Historical Museum
130 Summit Avenue, Greensboro
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. 
(336) 373-2043
http://www.greensborohistory.org/

The permanent exhibit Dolley Madison: North Carolina’s Only First Lady, honoring the Greensboro native, includes a 1848 daguerreotype and a 1850 portrait of Madison, her calling card case, silk slippers, and snuffbox, handwriting samples, and other family items.
 

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
2332 New Garden Road, Greensboro
Hours: Daily 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
(336) 288-1776
http://www.nps.gov/guco/index.htm

This National Park Service site contains twenty-eight monuments recognizing heroism during the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Kerrenhappuch Turner, according to legend, rode on horseback from her Maryland home to nurse her son wounded on the Guilford battlefield. Martha McFarland McGee Bell, from Randolph County, convinced Lord Cornwallis not to burn Bell’s Mill, which she operated while her husband fought in the war.

North Carolina Museum of History
5 East Edenton Street, Raleigh
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.; Sunday, noon to 5:00 P.M.
(919) 715-0200
http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/

The role of women in North Carolina history figures in exhibits and educational programs.
 

Old Salem
601 Old Salem Road, Winston-Salem
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.; Sunday, 12:00 to 5:00 P.M. Adults, $21; children 6–16, $10.
http://www.oldsalem.org/

Old Salem, an authentic restoration of the Moravian community founded in 1766, features costumed interpreters who describe the life and activities of this town. The living-history site provides a personal look at everyday life in the community from 1766 to the mid-1800s.

Biltmore Estate
1 Lodge Street, Asheville
Hours: (January through March) Daily 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.; (April through December) Daily 8:30 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. 
Fees vary with the season
(800) 624-1575
http://www.biltmore.com/

Explore the history of one of America’s wealthiest turn-of-the-century families and their opulent estate. George Vanderbilt’s wife, Edith, and daughter, Cornelia, are featured throughout the house and grounds.

Gertrude Smith House
708 N. Main Street, Mt. Airy
Hours: By appointment
(800) 576-0231
http://www.inst.ncecho.org/InstHitList.aspx?qry=Inst&Name=Gertrude+Smith+House

This Victorian-style home contains unique period furnishings that illustrate the design tastes of Gertrude Smith, an interior decorator. The house remains as it was when Smith occupied it and serves as a living museum, reflecting the early-1900s lifestyle of a single woman of means.