James and Nancy Bennett lived along the Hillsborough Road, a major throughway between the county seat of Hillsborough and the state capitol of Raleigh.
Topics Related to Bennett Place State Historic Site
The modern Thanksgiving holiday stems from a mid-19th century campaign by Sara Josepha Hale for the adoption of a national thanksgiving holiday. President Abraham Lincoln created the federal holiday in 1863 during the American Civil War.
In 1923, a committee of influential local leaders commissioned the monument at Bennett Place to inform visitors about the history and significance of the Civil War surrender that occurred here.
Union armies brought freedom to central North Carolina in the closing days of the Civil War. Emancipation elicited a variety of powerful reactions to news of slavery's collapse.
Join us as we commemorate the 160th anniversary of the largest Civil War surrender at Bennett Place! The program features costumed living history and community table displays.
This program has been postponed from Friday April 25 to Saturday, September 20, 2025.
Bennett Place hosts several historic sites and museums for a history-packed School Day program. Students rotate through several stations focusing not just on Bennett Place and the Civil War, but many aspects of North Carolina’s long, rich history.
Join us as we launch an evening component to our commemoration of the surrender at Bennett Place. This event will honor the lives of enslaved people in North Carolina who gained their freedom at the end of the Civil War.
Join us as we commemorate the 159th anniversary of the Civil War surrender at the Bennett farmhouse! The daytime event features costumed interpretation of military and civilian life during the Civil War. The event is $5 for adults and $2 for children and seniors.