Piedmont Plateau

Region

Revolution Era

Pyle’s Defeat: A Little-Known Rout with Big Consequences

1776-1835

Pyle’s Defeat occurred in February 1781 near the end of the Revolution. It was a savage blow to British hopes, as Lt. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis attempted to stop the Patriots’ momentum.

Churches

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

1946-1990

Since 1951, Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest has been a leader in the cultural and theological changes within Baptist churches, especially those affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Baptists in the United States formed the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions in 1814. Also...

Colleges and Universities

Braxton Craven: Forgotten Educator (1822 – 1882)

1776-1835

“The history of Trinity College is the history of Braxton Craven.” So said Thomas N. Ivey, an early biographer of the Methodist minister and educator. Ivey, a graduate of Trinity College, astutely described the inseparable connection between the man and the institution. Craven (1822–1882) devoted his life and career to building a humble school into...

Education

University of Mount Olive

1946-1990

The University of Mount Olive opened its doors in 1952, after the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists approved the founding of a junior college named Allen Junior College.

Colleges and Universities

Carolina University

1866-1915

Carolina University is a non-denominational Christian school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1947 by Dr. Charles H. Stevens, it offers courses from theology to engineering.

African American

Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964)

1836-1865

Anna Julia Cooper was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1858. It is believed she was the daughter of her enslaver, Fabius J. Haywood. Cooper was emancipated when she was nine years old and in 1867 enrolled in Saint Augustine’s Normal and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh with the aid of the Freedmen’s Bureau.  At Saint...

Colleges and Universities

Lenoir-Rhyne University

1866-1915

Lenoir-Rhyne University was founded in 1891 by four Lutheran pastors—Andrew L. Crouse, Robert A. Yoder, William P. Cline, and Jason C. Moser—to provide students with an education grounded in Christian faith and values. The institution began as Highland Academy, a one-room schoolhouse with twelve students during its first year. The school was located in Hickory,...

Colleges and Universities

Salem College

1664-1775

The story of Salem College goes back to 1744, when immigrants from Moravia settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.There, Moravians fostered communitarian values, and each individual devoted labor to community needs in exchange for food and shelter, in a system known as oeconomies. They kept this enterprising spirit as they expanded into North Carolina and founded the...

Commentary
Early America

Joseph Hewes and the Navy

1664-1775

Joseph Hewes is best known as one of North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. But he also played an important role in the creation of the U.S. Navy. In fact, a World War II transport ship, the U.S.S. Joseph Hewes, was named for him, and so was a frigate deployed in the...

African American

Latta University

1836-1865

The Rev. Morgan L. Latta was the founder and president of Latta University, located in Oberlin Village, which is now part of Raleigh, North Carolina. Born in 1853, he was enslaved on the Cameron Plantation in Durham County. Fifty years later (in 1903) Latta published his autobiography, which tells, among many things, about how he...

Colonial North Carolina

The Mecklenburg Resolves

1664-1775

On May 31, 1775, the county of Mecklenburg, North Carolina signed 20 resolutions or “Resolves.” They start by saying that a recent address by Parliament had stated that “the American Colonies are declared to be in an actual State of rebellion.” Whereas by an Address presented to his Majesty by both Houses of Parliament in February last,...

Early America

The Battle of Kings Mountain

1776-1835

The Battle of Kings Mountain took place on Oct. 7, 1780. A Patriot victory, it was a turning point of General Charles Cornwallis's Southern Campaign and of the revolution itself.