Author and historian Kevin Duffus will speak and present his slide program, “The Lost Light – A Civil War Mystery,” at 11 a.m. today in the Town Council Chamber at the new Butner City Hall, 415 Central Ave., Butner.
Duffus’ talk is part of the ongoing lecture series sponsored by the N.C. Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy Sesquicentennial Committee.
Lectures are being scheduled in the state’s eight UDC districts each year of the sesquicentennial, which marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The first lecture of the series was held May 20, 2011. May 20 was the date North Carolina left the Union in 1861 under Gov. John W. Ellis of Salisbury.
The lectures are free and open to the public.
Since 1997, Duffus has written four books and produced four documentary films on Outer Banks history. In 2002, his research solved the mystery of the missing 6,000-pound, 12-foot tall Fresnel lens that had been used at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse during the Civil War.His book, “The Lost Light, A Civil War Mystery,” is now in its second edition and will be available after the lecture.One of the many jobs Duffus has held in connection to his love of history was to serve as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. Duffus had an ancestor who served in the Civil War and saw duty on the Outer Banks.
For more information contact N.C. Division Sesquicentennial Committee Chairman Sue Curtis of Salisbury at 704-637-6411, or southpaws@fibrant.com.