‘Women Breaking Barriers in Northeastern North Carolina’ exhibit now open at Roanoke Island Festival Park – OBX Today

'Women Breaking Barriers in Northeastern North Carolina' exhibit now open at Roanoke Island Festival Park - OBX Today
The first female doctor in North Carolina, Susan Dimock, ca. 1865. Courtesy of The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The traveling exhibit “Women Breaking Barriers in Northeastern North Carolina” is open at Roanoke Island Festival Park. This free exhibit is open to the public Tuesday – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 31, in the Ticket Sales Gallery.

The exhibit was created in 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America. The exhibit highlights women of northeastern North Carolina and how their experiences, stories and challenges changed the path of history. The focus is on women breaking barriers in areas such as public service, literature, medicine, activism, journalism, and more. 

Susan Dimock of Beaufort County is featured as the first woman doctor of North Carolina. Some of the other women include Carolista Baum of Dare County, Dorothy Spruill Redford of Washington County, Lovie Beard Shelton of Beaufort County and Georgia Harvey Morgan of Pasquotank County.  

This traveling exhibit is on loan from the Museum of the Albemarle.