The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources and the Division of State Historic Sites announce the selection of Larry K. Neal Jr. as site manager of Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site in Midland.
Neal has spent 15 years at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer, serving as a historic interpreter and then as chief of museum operations and education. He first served at Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach as an interpreter in the 1980s, then came to the Reed Gold Mine in Cabarrus County in 1993 before his time at the N.C. Transportation Museum.
He brings more than 20 years experience in historical interpretation and management to his new position and looks forward to working at Reed.
“This is a wonderful site with a marvelous story to tell of North Carolina as the location of the country’s first gold rush,” Neal explains. “I look forward to meeting the site’s friends and supporters, and to telling Reed Gold Mine’s story to a new generation.”
Neal graduated from UNC-Wilmington with a bachelor’s degree in parks and recreation management and minor studies in geology and history. He is married to the former Traci Gilbert of Rowan County and has a daughter, Kerstin. He recently published “Southern Railway’s Historic Spencer Shops” through Acadia Publishing.
North Carolina State Historic Sites include 27 unique historic sites that tell the story of North Carolina’s near and distant past. A battleship, a palace, the youthful homes of governors and a president, Civil War sites and a gold mine are among the destinations to be explored. The Division of State Historic Sites is within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
The Department of Cultural Resources annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation’s first state-supported symphony orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council and the State Archives. To learn more, visit www.ncculture.com.