A seminar on the life and legacy of Arthur Dobbs will be held at Carrickfergus Town Hall on Saturday 22 August 2026.

The event runs from 11.00am to 2.30pm and forms part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s programme marking America 250, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Historians and experts from Northern Ireland and North Carolina will examine Dobbs’s achievements. He was appointed Governor of North Carolina in 1753 and influenced political and social developments in colonial America in the years before the Revolution.

Dobbs was also a scientist and is credited as the first European to document the Venus flytrap.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman Thomas Gordon, said the seminar and an accompanying exhibition highlight the historical connections between the borough and North Carolina. He thanked the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for its support and collaboration.

The exhibition is hosted at Andrew Jackson Cottage and will run until 5 September 2026. It features items on loan from the Dobbs collection held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Places for the seminar are limited and advance booking is essential. Reservations can be made via the council’s Shaped by Sea and Stone website.