Movies filmed in NC

With the upcoming release of Nights in Rodanthe (IMDB), a film based on the book by Nicholas Sparks and set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I’ve been curious about other movies that were filmed in the Tar Heel state. Thankfully, we’ve got a copy of The North Carolina Filmography by Jenny Henderson here in the library, an index with over 2,000 listings of films all or partially shot in North Carolina.

Some larger name films that were partially shot in NC include:

North Carolina Filmography cover

  • Hannibal
  • Patch Adams
  • Nell
  • Forrest Gump
  • The Fugitive
  • Last of the Mohicans
  • Mr. Destiny
  • Dirty Dancing
  • Bull Durham
  • Days of Thunder
  • The Swan
  • Shallow Hal
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

To my delight, I also stumbled on a few films in the index you may not have heard of, including:

  • Hot Summer in Barefoot County (1974, Charlotte)
  • Pitch a Boogie Woogie (1947, Greenville)
  • Somebody Moved My Mountain (1974, Asheville, Winston-Salem)
  • Cannibal Vampire Schoolgirls (1995, Wilmington)
  • Alien Outlaw (1986, Kernersville)
  • A Child of the Wild (1917, Hendersonville)

Article Details The Shutdown Of An Alternative Summer Camp In Western NC

Loyal NCM reader Jon Elliston has just published an interesting story about Camp Summerlane of Rosman, N.C., and its forced shut-down in 1963. (He stumbled upon details concerning Camp Summerlane while researching a different topic in the North Carolina Collection Clipping Files.) The camp was designed as a kind of social experiment where children and adults had equal input in deciding rules and activities, no censorship was enforced, and older campers were given the chance to do outreach work with migrant workers.

Summerlane Brochure
Image from http://www.mountainx.com/xpressfiles/the_camp_summerlane_documents

However, locals responded aggressively to the camp’s opening, though the reasons for this are still a matter of debate. Some claim it was the camp’s integrationist stance that stirred the locals, while others cite rumors of nudism, sex exploits, drug use, and communist connections.

Roughly a week into the camp opening, groups of angry townsfolk gathered at night to “run Summerlane out of town.” Dozens of armed locals waited outside the camp yelling threats. A nearby pond was set on fire, and as the flames died down, camp staffer George Hall claims that he “Got into one of the little boats and paddled next to the reeds that were still burning. Then [he] roasted some marshmallows.”

To find out more about the background of Camp Summerlane, how the shutdown events escalated and eventually concluded, and to view more original documents about these events, see the full series from Mountain Xpress: Cruel Summer: The Attack on Camp Summerlane.

New Read North Carolina Novels Site!

I am happy to announce that the North Carolina Collection’s new blog–Read North Carolina Novels–has officially gone live! This blog replaces the old Read North Carolina Novels website; it is updated, expanded, and provides more ways to search for the kinds of North Carolina-set books that might interest you. You can search for books by keyword or author, or browse based on genre, county, region, or year of publication. We’ve also categorized books for kids, series books, and novels that have fictional N.C. settings. I’m especially excited that the new site also offers you the opportunity to make comments and suggestions. We will be adding to the blog regularly as the North Carolina Collection acquires new titles, and we welcome suggestions of books to add to our list.

So, whether you are already a fan of fiction set in North Carolina or just looking for your next summer read, you should check it out. To visit, click here, or on the “Read North Carolina Novels” link in the right-hand column.

North Carolina Novels

Take a virtual tour of the Smokies

Smoky Mountains 75th

With the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s 75th Anniversary fast approaching, a new interactive website has been launched as a “Virtual Visitor Center to showcase all things 75th.” The site features an interactive timeline with photos, sound clips, and videos; a calendar of upcoming events; and even a Smokies Family Album, where users can share their own stories and images from the country’s most-visited park.

Roosevelt speech

My favorite find on the site is the sound clip from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1940 Dedication Speech, an event we’ve got pictured on a postcard (at left) from the NC Postcards site. Can’t get enough? Check out our This Month In North Carolina History article about the speech.

After Graduation, What?

The North Carolina Collection has a wide variety of ephemeral materials related to the history of UNC, including announcements, programs, bulletins, and posters. While sorting through new items, I found this undated brochure from the old University Placement Service entitled “After Graduation, What?” The imagery of the graduate standing alone and looking back at the Old Well struck me as an accurate portrayal of the bittersweet feelings of many recent-graduates. And then I opened the brochure, saw the scary job-search font on the next page, and knew that I had to share it with others.

Placement Service brochure cover Placement Service brochure page 2

The advertised Placement Service—for which students registered at the beginning of their final year—gave various types of career advice, notified students of job vacancies and examinations for which they were qualified, nominated registrants for open positions, arranged interviews, and answered inquiries about specific people from prospective employers. Some of the advice is timeless, but perhaps my favorite tidbit from the Service is the dated reminder, “And, girls, married or not, most of you will work sometime!”

Hilfe!

Part of my job with the North Carolina Postcards project is to describe the postcards, including the messages written on them. Today I came across this Durham postcard, and you’ll notice that the message is written in German. Suffering a severe unfamiliarity with the language, I am having trouble transcribing it, and am wondering if any of you folks out there can help!

Postcard
(click for larger image)

While a translation would be quite interesting, what we need most is an actual transcription of the message in German.

Any help?

Happy Birthday, Ed!

Today would be the 100th birthday of journalist Edward R. Murrow. Murrow worked throughout his career to inform the American public, first at CBS and later as the director of the United States Information Agency. He is perhaps most famous for attacking Joe McCarthy on his television show See It Now and for his World War II-era reports broadcast from Europe, which he often ended with the signature phrase, “Good night, and good luck.” But did you know that this great journalist was also a great North Carolinian? Born Egbert Roscoe on April 25, 1908, Edward was the youngest son of Ethel and Roscoe Murrow. He lived on the family’s farm at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, until his family left North Carolina in 1914 and headed west to settle in Washington state.

Abe Lincoln’s Carolina Roots

Sunday’s News & Observer offered an article discussing the recent opening of the Bostic Lincoln Center Museum. What is the Bostic Lincoln Center, you ask? A Rutherford County group whose mission is “to preserve, study, prepare and make visitor-friendly the traditional birthplace of Abraham Lincoln,” which, by the way, is in Bostic, North Carolina.

Ok, most people would agree that the traditional birthplace was actually in Kentucky, but the Bostic Lincoln Center claims evidence to the contrary. For instance, records of Bostic’s Concord Baptist Church showed that Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, was listed as a member at the time of his birth, suggesting that little Abe was born out of wedlock. With a little searching, I found a number of books here in the North Carolina Collection that support Lincoln’s Carolina roots, such as James H. Cathey’s 1899 work, The Genesis of Lincoln, pictured below.

catheycover.jpg

Each of these sources disagrees on one detail: who’s the father? Among the seven sires of Abraham Lincoln, as listed by William Barton, are Abraham Enloe, Andrew Marshall, and John C. Calhoun. Even Napoleon Bonaparte has been accused, fictionally speaking. Perhaps playing on this Western North Carolina lore, the accusation was made by a character in Thomas Wolfe’s short story “Gentlemen of the Press.”

To settle the matter, the Bostic Lincoln Center is calling for a DNA test. Will they ever find Honest Abe’s illegitimate father? Stay tuned.