Do you like history? Check out this stories and photos

ASHEBORO — Ham the Astrochimp, the first hominid to travel into space and a longtime resident of the North Carolina Zoo, will soon be honored with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker near the zoo's entrance.

The marker will be installed July 14 at the roundabout at Zoo Connector (N.C. 159) and Zoo Parkway in Asheboro, according to the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees the state's Highway Historical Marker Program.

American history runs through North Carolina.

While celebrating America's 250th birthday this year, visit these locations to explore how the region impacted major moments of the nation's history through the eyes of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and more. 

CHEROKEE — The face in the painting is split down the center. On one side is the seal of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. On the other side, the Stars and Stripes. The man in the painting is not torn between them. He is whole.

As the United States prepares to mark 250 years since the Declaration of Independence — a document that espoused universal ideals while excluding women, enslaved people and Indigenous nations from their full meaning — the anniversary lands in a more complicated place for Cherokee people.

This year, the United States of America will mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

A few years after that historic day, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, a group of patriots from North Carolina helped turn the tide of the war.

Recruits arrived by train.

Noses pressed against the windows, according to some recollections.

Two decades before English settlers attempted to establish a settlement off the coast of North Carolina, Spanish explorers were moving through the southeastern United States with the hopes of finding gold and silver.

About 6 miles north of Morganton, 8 miles by road, sits a field bordered by Upper Creek where the first Europeans passed through as they ventured from the coast and went deeper into the interior of what would become the United States.

A do-it-yourself casket for a pet is as close as most get today. I’ve heard of people paying a carpenter to build a casket for a dog, and I get it. Just placing a pet in the ground doesn’t seem loving.

If I were a carpenter and you were a lady, would you hire me to build a casket for your pet? Would you hire a carpenter to make one for your baby? Many years ago folks hired woodworkers to build caskets for family members, but that and other practices changed in a big way. I never think of Abe Lincoln at funerals, but I do now and you will too.

ASHEVILLE — One of western North Carolina's most historically significant homes has been listed for sale in Biltmore Forest for $9.75 million.

Known as "New Gunston Hall" or "Franklin Hall," the Colonial Revival estate at 324 Vanderbilt Road was completed in 1923 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property spans more than 11 acres and includes an 8,688-square-foot residence with nine bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two half-baths.

MIDLAND — Visitors will have a new opportunity to explore North Carolina's first documented gold discovery site this summer as Reed Gold Mine joins a statewide pilot program offering Sunday hours at select historic attractions.

The North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites announced that Reed Gold Mine will be among 13 state-owned historic sites participating in an eight-week pilot program that adds Sunday operating hours from 1-5 p.m. beginning June 14 and continuing through Aug. 2.

CHINA GROVE — State and local officials on Friday, April 17, unveiled a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker recognizing what is believed to be the nation’s first African American credit union, founded more than a century ago in rural Rowan County.

The marker commemorates Piedmont Credit Union, established in April 1918 by farmer Thomas B. Patterson and 22 neighbors who pooled $126 to create a financial alternative for Black farmers shut out of traditional banking under Jim Crow laws.

North Carolina played a significant role in the American Revolution. From being the first to call for freedom to being the site of pivotal battles that shifted the trajectory of the war, North Carolina was influential before, during and after America’s call for independence.

Check out these five key events below to learn more about North Carolina’s revolutionary past.

RALEIGH — Two dozen historic sites across North Carolina have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, state officials announced, marking another step in preserving the state’s cultural and architectural heritage.

The Logan Community in Concord is among those added.

The Rev. Clegg Avett and the Mount Pleasant Methodist Sunday School children from the early 1950s are shown here.

Most of the children are named, but the Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society could use help identifying one child and determining the photo's date.