Exhibition Celebration: Unearthing Our Forgotten Past, Fort San Juan

The new exhibition on display in MHU’s Rural Heritage Museum (on loan from the Exploring Joara Foundation) chronicles the Spanish incursion into the area of present-day Burke County. Archaeologists have identified the site as the location of the Native American town of Joara, one of the largest Native American towns in western North Carolina, occupied from about A.D. 1400-1600. Joara was visited by the Hernando de Soto expedition in 1540 and by the Juan Pardo expedition from 1567-68. Fort San Juan, built by Pardo, was the earliest European settlement in the interior of what is now the United States. Join us in MHU’s Black Box Theatre for a talk by Dr. David Moore, Executive Archaeologist of the Exploring Joara Foundation. Be sure to visit the museum either before or after the talk to see the exhibit (the museum will be open from 5-8).

Community members are welcome at this event.