NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) — How do you celebrate 100 years in a city with more than 300 years of history? If you’re the New Bern Historical Society, you celebrate all year long.

Part of those celebrations includes an exhibit showcasing the history of one of North Carolina’s oldest cities. The exhibit is about storytellers and the people and events that has made New Bern what it is today.

“I think just as you walk in and you are struck by just so much of what’s there. That first look as you walk in the door and go ‘wow’,” said Kathy Morrison, the first vice president of the New Bern Historical Society.

New Bern Historical Society turns 100

It’s an exhibit more than two years in the making. There are more than 100 artifacts and thousands of pictures. It’s all there to tell the story of New Bern’s people.

“We collected all kinds of things from New Bern’s history and are just excited to share it with everybody,” Morrison said. “We are really trying to tell everybody’s story. I mean, our history is made up of the stories of all the people involved in our 300-plus years of the town.”

New Bern Historical Society celebrates 100th year with free exhibit

The exhibit’s theme is “Through the Looking Glass, A Journey With the Storytellers.”

“Showing ourselves in the mirror, here is New Bern, let’s take a look, let’s take an inspection, a look at New Bern and its history and how it’s reflected back to us through the mirror,” Morrison said.

As for takeaways? History is made every day and everybody is a part of it.

“You know, what do you have in your family that you really need to be remembering and hanging onto and sharing,” Morrison said. “History is not just what you read in a book in school, history is the stories that brought us all to where we are now.”

The exhibit is located within the Duffy Gallery at the NC History Center. It officially opens to the public on Saturday. Admission is free.