Bowen Family Letters Tell a 150-year-old Story in Historic Bath Exhibit

BATH – “Sometimes it is the little stories that matter,” said Leigh Swain, site manager at Historic Bath. Many of those stories are contained in letters from Washington County ’s Bowen family showing the home front side of the Civil War story.

A new display at Historic Bath, “The Civil War at Home: Uncovering Local History Through Family Letters,” will highlight some of the ways readers can glean bits of local knowledge 150 years later through personal letters exchanged during this pivotal era in American history. Canteens, spectacles, binoculars and belt buckles from the Civil War era will be on display through 2011.

Based on these letters, Historic Bath staff member Bea Latham will give a lecture titled “A Woman’s Place was in the Home: Learning about Life Through Civil War Letters” on April 16 at 10 a.m.

“Sometimes when the men went away, the wives were left to hold the pieces together,” Swain observed.

In addition, the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War will be underway with programs, educational symposia and re-enactments throughout North Carolina . Activities for life-long learners, travelers, teachers and school children will feature the theme “ North Carolina and the Civil War: Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory.” For additional info rmation visit http://www.nccivilwar150.com/.

For info rmation about Historic Bath call (252) 923-3971 or visit www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/bath.htm. The Historic Bath office is located at 207 Carteret Street , N.C. 27808 .

Historic Bath is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at http://www.ncculture.com/.