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Before the Civil War, North Carolina was divided by the battle over secession. Some state leaders remained loyal to the Union because they saw the potential for compromise with Northern states. William Alexander Graham helped broker the Compromise of 1850. John Motley Morehead and Jonathan Worth led the campaign against secession in early 1861. Most continued to serve their state under the Confederacy. Although Zebulon B. Vance opposed secession, he served in the Confederate army and as governor of the state during the Civil War. Historian and author Steve M. Miller tells the story of the Tar Heel Unionists who bravely fought to steer their state away from the disastrous future they foresaw.

In the winter of 1861, Union armies had failed to win any significant victories over their Confederate counterparts. The Northern populace, overwhelmed by the bloodshed, questioned whether the costs of the war were too high. President Lincoln despondently wondered if he was going to lose the Union. As a result, tension was incredibly high when Union hero Ambrose Burnside embarked for coastal North Carolina. With the eyes of the nation and world on little Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks, Burnside began his amphibious assault on the beaches and earned a victory that shifted control of Southern waters. Join author and historian Michael Zatarga as he traces the story of the crucial fight on Roanoke Island.

Kure Beach derived its name from a Danish immigrant named Hans Anderson Kure Sr. He began acquiring land in the area in 1891, and by 1900, he had purchased 900 acres just south of Carolina Beach to Fort Fisher. He established the Kure Land and Development Company and in 1913 produced a map of Fort Fisher Sea Beach, which would later become Kure's Beach and eventually Kure Beach. In 1923, the first wooden fishing pier on the Atlantic coast was constructed by Lawrence Kure. DAN PRI, one of the first surfboard companies on the East Coast, was also established at Kure Beach. The area is rich in historical significance--from Verrazzano's discovery to Cape Fear Indians, pirates, lighthouses, the "Rocks," the Ethel Dow Chemical Plant, and the community's role in both the Civil War and World War II. Most cherished, though, are the people that loved living a relaxed, peaceful life in their "paradise."