2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Today we’re celebrating with a trip to Carolina Rising, a brand-new museum that uses revolutionary technology to tell the stories of the men and women who shaped the outcome of the American Revolution, right here in the Carolinas.

Located in Gaffney, SC, inside the former Carnegie Free Library, the Carolina Rising Museum invites visitors on an adventure to the heart of the Carolina backcountry, a critical part of the Revolutionary landscape that included the lead-up to Kings Mountain and Cowpens.

Instead of encountering artifacts in glass cases, this museum brings you face to face with ordinary people who took extraordinary action in the small, rural communities they called home. How, you might ask?

With immersive media, AI-supported storytelling, interactive environments, facial recognition, and digital characters! Amazing, right?

Thanks to decades of historical research, painstaking collaboration, and technological innovation, museum visitors can now time travel, or at least come close. The personalized technology adapts to the age of each visitor.

For neighbors in the Carolina backcountry, the fight for independence was personal. Liberty, loyalty, land, and community were all at stake.

Here visitors witness the tensions, meet the heroes, join the debate, and even choose an allegiance. Encounter women fighting to protect their homes and families. Enslaved people weighing promises of freedom. Native communities navigating war and survival. And local men making life-altering choices in a divided region.

At its heart, Carolina Rising asks you to consider not only what happened in this region, but what you might have done if faced with the same choices.

Carolina Rising is a one-of-a-kind museum where technology humanizes the past. Experience the future of historic storytelling and make plans to visit today. “Happy Birthday, America!”