Some of North Carolina's 28 state historic sites will soon be open to visitors on Sundays, but the initiative wasn't developed by the agency overseeing the attractions.
The mandate was part of a stopgap "mini-budget" bill passed this summer to address time-sensitive funding needs while Republicans lawmakers negotiate an agreement on a full budget bill.
The legislation names 13 state historic sites and requires the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to establish a "pilot program" to add Sunday hours there during "each site's peak season." Currently, most state historic sites are open five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday), which allows full-time staffers there to be present most of the time they're open.
The sites slated for Sunday openings include the state Capitol building in Raleigh, Fort Fisher near Wilmington, Bentonville Battlefield in Johnston County, and historic sites in Bath, Edenton and Halifax.
Other sites – including Durham's Historic Stagville, Duke Homestead and Bennett Place, as well as House in the Horseshoe near Sanford and Alamance Battleground near Burlington – would remain closed on Sundays.
The bill includes $114,000 in funding for the Sunday program, but that appears to be less than what it would cost the agency to cover Sunday staffing. It's unclear when the sites will begin opening on Sundays.
"We are still working out details, so we do not have a timeline or cost estimates at this time," agency spokesman Schorr Johnson told WUNC. The legislation doesn't spell out a timeline, but it does require an interim report on the program by October 2026.
Johnson says the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources did not request the Sunday program.
It's unclear who pushed for the idea to be included in the mini-budget alongside more time-sensitive funding for schools and Medicaid. The provision initially appeared in both the House and Senate's budget bill, but it got scant mention during hours of floor debates.
Senate budget writers mentioned it briefly during their introduction of the budget bill in April, but they didn't elaborate on the plan or explain why certain locations were chosen.
Legislators turned down other funding requests related to the state historic sites. Rep. Rodney Pierce, D-Northampton, unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to add staffing at Historic Halifax to help with its celebration of the 250th anniversary of America's founding.
And Gov. Josh Stein's budget proposal sought funding for additional staff and operating funds at Fort Fisher and the N.C. Transportation Museum. Those were included in both the Senate and House budget bills but weren't in the mini-budget that was signed into law in August.
With the budget stalemate continuing, that funding remains in limbo, along with funding from the House and Senate budget bills to spend $1 million on updating exhibits at state historic sites and $7 million to build new visitor centers at House in the Horseshoe, Historic Stagville and Somerset Place historic sites.
