On June 29, 2021, Fort Fisher State Historic Site will debut a new exhibit depicting the contributions and remarkable story of Lumbee Indians at Fort Fisher entitled, A Memory A People Could Not Forget: Lumbee Indians at Fort Fisher.

Guest curated by UNC Pembroke’s Museum of the Southeast American Indian and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Civil War exhibit conveys the vital role played by Lumbee Indians in building the fort’s massive earthworks alongside free and enslaved African Americans. Faced with the reality of conscription and brutal working conditions, the Lumbee Indians endured seemingly endless labor demands in building what came to be known as the Gibraltar of the South. This new exhibit uses text, maps, photographs, and diagrams to show the grim price paid by individuals who were transported more than a hundred miles from home to construct the colossal Confederate fortress.

Fort Fisher State Historic Site is located at 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd S, Kure Beach, N.C.