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I am so grateful for all the wonderful people who visit the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum. The museum hosts visitors from all over the world. As of today, the visitors have come from all 50 states and 48 countries. This weekend, we enjoyed sharing Washington’s amazing history with visitors from Germany, Florida, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and from many places in North Carolina.

Milt and I take great pleasure in telling visitors what our city has to offer. And it is to our great delight to hear them tell us what they enjoy about Washington. Most of them say how welcoming, kind and gracious the people are. They say the beauty of our waterfront is always a big hit. The history of Washington is a bonus for many and satisfies the appetites of all history hunters. We have an abundance of history for everyone, and the arts, cultural and dining experiences visitors find here are a bonus.

I especially enjoy telling visitors about other parts of our town where they can find a gold mine of local history. We have churches and houses that have stood for over a century and a half or more, whose history is well noted in North Carolina. Local cemeteries are like place cards in time, with grave markers that tell of the lives of people who lived here and left their fingerprints on the history we celebrate today.

Even the smaller ones that could be easily overlooked, for example Beebe Memorial Park’s Cemetery markers located near Bridge and Eleventh Streets, chronicle the names of some of Washington’s most prosperous and prominent Black residents and civic leaders who lived here over 100 years ago or more.

I host 10 free walking tours to help visitors learn about our city. Donations to the tours go to the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum, Arts of The Pamlico and several local charities. The tours also encourage locals to learn more about their own town. The tour participants get to be eyewitnesses to history, and I get to witness their great joy to learn that some of the people I talk about are their ancestors.

This spring, I hope more local residents and visitors will get out and explore all of Washington and learn why history scholars, book authors, movie producers, P.H.D. candidates, ‘hungry for history folks’ and the just plain curious are visiting Washington to learn about and enjoy all we have here. Happy history hunting!