Female Institute, Warrenton, NC, Slave carried cover, ca. 1850s. The Warrenton Female Academy was founded in 1841 as a Presbyterian school for girls. It changed shortly to a Methodist affiliation. The name was changed to Warrenton Female College in 1856. The school was highly praised by contemporaries. In 1863 after the burning of Greensboro Female College, many of the schools’ students transferred here. When Greensboro reopened in 1873, Warrenton College closed. This cover addressed to Wm. Hedrick Esq. is manuscript (per boy). This was an indication of a slave carrying the mail to an individual.

Oxford, NC, July 21, CA 1863. This horizontal strip of five of Confederate Scott number 3 was posted from Oxford in Granville County, NC on a previously used pre-war cover from Petersburg, VA. The two cent green stamp was issued in March of 1862 to pay the drop letter and circular rate. The stamps were printed by Howyer & Ludwig of Richmond, VA. This is an example of the stamps being used to pay the 10 cent letter rate which went into effect July 1, 1862. This cover is one of two such covers recorded from Oxford and 17 known from North Carolina.

Wilmington, NC, Airmail sub-station Highwood Park, January 1, 1912. The first airmail flight in the US took place in New York on November 3, 1910, just over a year later, a group of North Carolinians met at the Highwood Park in Wilmington to watch a Curtiss Exposition plane, flown by Lincoln Beachey, take off from the park carrying 1200 pieces of mail. It flew about the park and then landed. Today, only six examples of mail carried on this flight remain. This was the thirteenth recorded airmail flight in the US. The postcard is Scott UX22 which was issued April 13, 1910.

Rutherfordton, NC, April 9, 1855, a letter of grief or mourning cover from Rutherfordton in Rutherford County. The envelope was posted April 9, 1855 and is the earliest recorded mourning cover from North Carolina. The 2.5 mm Black Border on the cover indicates someone had died and the writer was in mourning for their death. Queen Victoria of England is attributed as making mourning covers popular during her reign from 1837-1901. The latest known North Carolina mourning cover is 1934.