Watch as residents remember and honor the state's first governor.
KINSTON, N.C. -- People from all across North Carolina gathered in Kinston Friday to pay tribute to the state’s first governor, Richard Caswell, more than 200 years after his death.
“I came here to honor him,” said Ian Tisdale, a Caswell descendant. “It makes me feel proud to teach them all about Caswell and how he was a good man. He played a big role in life.”
In addition to being the state’s first governor, Caswell also represented N.C. at the first and second meetings of the Continental Congress, was a hero of the revolutionary war, and since then has been called the father of North Carolina.
“If George Washington was the father of our country,” said Tisdale, “Richard Caswell is surely the father of our state.”
People in Caswell’s hometown wanted to honor him with a re-creation of his original funeral. His family was touched by the public tribute.
Friday was part of a week-long celebration.
“Governor Caswell is part of that generation that was willing to put their lives, property, and personal fortunes on the line to basically found a new country, a republic, that we now have,” said Morris Lee Bass with the Gov. Caswell Historic Site.
The week-long celebration of his life continues through this weekend at the Governor Caswell State Historic Site in Kinston. For more information, click Historical Preservation or Grand Lodge.