Kings City Author Talk: Warren L. Bingham

Kings Mountain Historical Museum is in partnership with Mauney Memorial Library to host a Revolutionary War Series of author talks for America's 250th anniversary. This is the first of those author talks!

In the spring of 1791, President George Washington paid a formal visit to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia; a trip that was part of Washington’s plan to visit the thirteen states during his term as president. In his book published by The History Press, George Washington’s 1791 Southern Tour, Warren Bingham chronicles this important eighteenth-century journey and considers the past and present of Washington’s route.

Warren Bingham grew-up in North Carolina and has lived most of his adult life in Raleigh. Though Bingham has had a career in financial and philanthropic services, he has long maintained a vigorous sideline as a writer and speaker on topics in history. In 2016, his book on Washington’s Southern Tour was published and he took a year to make over a hundred public and media appearances scattered from DC to Georgia.

During the book tour, Bingham spoke twice at Mount Vernon, appeared on C-SPAN, was interviewed by National Public Radio in Atlanta, appeared on regional television and radio stations, and was featured on North Carolina BookWatch on PBS North Carolina. Over the years, he has entertained over six hundred audiences in five states and the District of Columbia.

Bingham has been the keynote speaker at many signature events, including for the annual gathering of the Wachovia Historical Society in Old Salem, for the dedication of Marshall Memorial Park in Raleigh and at “Historic Halifax Day,” which celebrates North Carolina’s 1776 “declaration of independence.” As a broadcaster, Bingham was featured regularly from 2013-2016 on WPTF radio in Raleigh with his historical vignettes on North Carolina, entitled Carolina Color.

Bingham’s research and writing have been published in many newspapers around North Carolina as well as in Carolina Banker; Mount Vernon Magazine; The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography; The Encyclopedia of North Carolina, and in the cookbook, North Carolina—An Appetizing State. He was an advisor to noted author Nathaniel Philbrick for Philbrick’s book, Travels with George, published in 2021. Bingham is a member of the Tryon Palace Commission, the group that oversees the operation of that reconstructed historical building in New Bern where Washington dined and danced during the Southern Tour.

A lifelong learner, Bingham earned an undergraduate degree in history at UNC-Chapel Hill and a master’s in liberal studies at Hollins University. He is married to Kings Mountain native Laura Carpenter Bingham, former president of Peace College of Raleigh.

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