Museums & History

Greenville and Pitt County have over 300 years of documented history going back to before the American Revolution! Over 30 homes and buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, 14 markers on the NC Highway Historical Marker Program, 6 sites on the Civil War Trails of America, and several museums that share the history of our area from its settlement in the early 1700s through today. 

Plan a trip to one of our history museums to really step back in time! Discover the history and science behind the infamous Eastern NC pirate Blackbeard and the treasures of his flagship that is currently being excavated in Beaufort Inlet and preserved and at the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory at East Carolina University's West Research Campus. Learn about farm life from 1840-1940 at the Eastern Carolina Village & Farm Museum in Greenville, delve into the history of the western part of Pitt County at the May Museum in Farmville, and discover Pitt County’s role in the first state-wide exploration of North Carolina by English colonists and how that trip ended not far from the Grifton Museum & Indian Village, which hosts an annual John Lawson Legacy Days festival every year there on the banks of the historic Contentnea Creek.