On Saturday afternoon, February 10, the North Carolina Museum of History auditorium was filled for the third event of The Joffre Lanning Coe Lecture Series, “Antietam, America’s Bloodiest Day” presented by Dr. Stephen Potter, Regional Archaeologist, Capitol District, National Park Service in Washington, DC. Potter, who received his Ph.D. from UNC presented a passionate and energetic discussion of archaeological, historical and geophysical research conducted at the famous battleground. An unidentified professional archaeologist casually remarked,” It was exciting to note that few of the audience members were associated with archaeology. This event brought the public out in significant numbers on a cold, wintry day and clearly showed, like the previous lectures on historic archaeology and the Maya, that North Carolinians have a deep interest in gaining real knowledge about the distant past. The Coe Foundation opened the door and invited these state agencies to share the experience. I hope it continues!”
