North Carolina is a state in the United States of America. North Carolina is the 11th most populous state, according to the 2000 Census, with a resident population of 8,046,579. The population grew by 21.4% from the 1990 total of 6,628,637. According to Census records, only 8 other states grew faster during the last decade (Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, Texas, and Utah).
North Carolina consists of 48,843 square miles of land and 3,826 square miles of inland water. The total area of 52,669 square miles ranks North Carolina twenty-ninth in area among the states. The Old North State lies on the Eastern Seaboard with half of the population of the United States living within a 500-mile radius of the state. The state's temperate climate has four distinct seasons and is highly acclaimed for its year-round living comforts. Rainfall is adequate and dispersed over the entire year.
More than 64.5 million visitors traveled to North Carolina in 2005, ranking the state eighth behind California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Michigan. Eighty-nine percent of all travelers traveled to North Carolina by auto, truck or camper/RV.
North Carolina has the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, the Outer Banks (a chain of islands) in the east, and everything in between. Murphy is the westernmost town of significance and Manteo is the easternmost town of significance; "From Murphy to Manteo" is a popular saying.
Together with South Carolina it forms Carolina, sometimes called The Carolinas.
Regions
Cities
The ten largest cities in North Carolina, by population, are as follows.
Other destinations
When to come
Year-round.
Summers can be warm, especially during July and August, but in general the climate of North Carolina is mild compared to its neighbors in the southeast. For example, the average July high in Charlotte, and most central NC cities, is 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32°C). In the mountains of Asheville, the average July high is only 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29°C), and highs below 90 degrees Fahrenheit are also found on the coast. For travelers coming from warmer climates, summers in North Carolina are quite nice, especially in the mountains.
During the summer, high humidity combined with summer temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit may be hazardous for senior citizens and those of ill health. Between the months of June and August, heat advisories are not uncommon. The good news about the heat is the air and ocean water temperatures, particularly for the Southeast NC beaches, remain comfortable for swimming and beach-going well into September, if not October.
In general, for travelers coming from cooler climates, the heat and humidity of southern summers can be a shock, making spring and fall much more attractive. During the Fall season, the Blue Ridge Mountains are a popular destination due to the beauty of the foliage. It should be noted that construction on Highway 321 may involve delays. Please check your local traffic reports.
In the winter, the mountains of northwestern North Carolina offer skiing and other winter sports.
Understand
North Carolina is a very old and traditional state. According to some, North Carolina can claim to be the first state. In 1775, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed, even though North Carolina wasn't the first to ratify the Constitution.
Travelers familiar with the American South will find that North Carolina is typical of the area in terms of culture. To some degree, it is a "transition state" between the Deep South and the Mid-Atlantic area. As a result, it has a moderate mixture of cultural influences; this effect is heightened by a very high rate of immigration from northern states and from Latin America.
Talk
Standard English is the major language, and spoken in all of the large cities. The local dialect in the Western regions can seem impenetrable, but not impossible. Spanish is a popular second language used by a sizable minority population in some areas.
Also in Western North Carolina, the Cherokee language is spoken by 15,000 to 20,000 people.
In the City of Charlotte you will also find a wide amount of languages spoken due to the city's high immigrant population.
Get in
By car
North Carolina borders Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. North Carolina has the largest state-maintained highway system in the nation, incorporating over 78,600 miles of highways. It provides same-day access to major eastern US markets. Five major interstate highways intersect North Carolina: I-26, I-40, I-77, I-85 and I-95.
By plane
North Carolina has four international airports:
By boat
North Carolina’s ferry system on the Outer Banks/Coast is second largest in the nation and largest on the East Coast, operates 24 ferries. The ferry system annually transports nearly 2.5 million passengers and 1.3 million vehicles.
By train
Twelve daily Amtrak passenger trains serve 17 North Carolina cities on six routes, including the northbound and southbound Carolinian, Piedmont, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Crescent and Palmetto. The Carolinian and Piedmont are operated jointly by the State of North Carolina and Amtrak to provide daily, round-trip passenger rail service between Charlotte and Raleigh. The Carolinian continues service to the Northeast.
Get around
Compared to other American states, North Carolina has decent roads. Larger cities such as Charlotte and Raleigh tend to have lower-quality roads due to heavy traffic; still, they are tolerably well-kept. Some mountain areas still have unpaved roads, and some of the Outer Banks are inaccessible by automobile.
See
Do
The Appalachian Mountains in the western part of the state provide extensive trails for hiking and many places allow for overnight camping. Go see Grandfather Mountain, a popular tourist spot with a fantastic view, or climb Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River.
Feel free to also visit Harrah's Cherokee Casino located on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
Eat
Down home Southern cooking style. North Carolina prides itself on its vast farming community, which produces a plethora of fresh produce and livestock. As the slogan says, "Goodness grows in North Carolina."
Hog farms are North Carolina's number-one commodity and as such, the pig plays an important role in state cuisine. As in the rest of the South, pork meat (particularly ham, bacon, smoked ham hocks and salt pork) and pork fat (fatback and lard) are highly popular flavoring ingredients. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no part of the pig is wasted. Livermush, a delicacy that includes pig liver, parts of the head, and cornmeal is a favorite delicacy. The town of Shelby, NC has an annual festival celebrating the tradition of livermush and barbecue. A great local delicacy — albeit one that most people won't touch, if they weren't raised eating it — is chitterlings (most often abbreviated to chitlings or chitlins), aka pig intestines, which are thoroughly cleaned, boiled and fried. Small local companies like Neese's manufacture souse (also called headcheese), liver pudding, pickled pigs' feet and C-loaf (made from chitterlings). For the less adventurous, North Carolina offers plenty of mainstream ways to enjoy the humble pig:
:* The pig pickin' is a longstanding North Carolina tradition, usually to be found at large gatherings like a church supper or family reunion. An entire pig is split and slow-roasted all day over the fire, then pulled apart and served to the hungry crowd along with a wide variety of accompanying side dishes and desserts.
:* Barbecue tends to stir up strong emotions anywhere there's a prized local variation, and North Carolina is no different. Here the main split is between the east and the west. Western NC barbecue (or Lexington Style) favors only the pork shoulders, and the sauce (or dip) is vinegar- and tomato-based. Eastern NC barbecue roasts the entire pig, and uses a sauce made primarily from vinegar and hot red pepper. In North Carolina, the pork meat is pulled, or shredded (by hand or with forks) in the eastern part of the state, and chopped in the western part. Barbecue can be served all by itself on a plate (but usually with a generous serving of hushpuppies), but more commonly is piled atop a hamburger bun along with chopped coleslaw and eaten as a sandwich. A point about the slaw; in the eastern part of the state, the slaw is the familiar shredded cabbage and mayonnaise mixture you can buy in any grocery store, but the furter west of Triangle you get, the more likely you are to be served slaw of a different nature, BBQ slaw. BBQ slaw is made from the same, albeit more finely shredded, cabbage; but instead of mayonnaise and other spices, the same vinegar and tomato mixture (minus the hot sauce) that is used on the pork is added, along with sugar to give it a slightly sweet taste.
:* Country ham is thinly-sliced and heavily salted. It's usually pan-fried and eaten on a biscuit as a kind of breakfast sandwich. The drippings are mixed with black coffee to create red-eye gravy, which is served over the country ham or the other breakfast foods.
Chicken is also a highly popular food; while it may not be as ubiquitous as pork, it's much beloved. Fried chicken is commonly served as part of a traditional Sunday dinner (although a roast ham is an equally popular alternative). There's also the classic comfort-food of chicken and dumplings, and roast chicken is often served at a pig pickin' for those rare few who choose not to gorge on pork.
Thanks in large part to the African influences on the entire South, traditional Southern meals — particularly barbecues and buffets — are incomplete without a spread of vegetable side dishes, usually slow-cooked or deep-fried. These include greens (collard, turnip, mustard or kale, slow-cooked in a large pot with ham, and sometimes served with cider vinegar; the leftover liquid, or pot liquor, makes a side dish in itself), cabbage (boiled, or fried in bacon grease), green beans (slow-cooked with ham), okra (most often sliced thickly, dipped in cornmeal batter and deep-fried), tomatoes (sliced fresh if ripe, or deep-fried in cornmeal if green), potatoes (boiled if new, or made into potato salad with mayonnaise and seasonings), field peas (boiled with ham) and black-eyed peas (simmered with salt pork and hot pepper). Sweet potatoes are also a major North Carolina crop; although they don't figure hugely into local cuisine, you'll find them baked, served in casseroles, occasionally raw on salads, or as a delectable pumpkin-like pie filling.
One of the most prominent vegetables in North Carolina cuisine, and Southern cuisine in general, is corn. Aside from boiled or grilled corn-on-the-cob, cornmeal is frequently used to make local favorites:
:* Grits is made of coarsely-ground corn kernels. It's almost invariably boiled slowly like porridge, and served with salt, black pepper and butter as part of a Southern breakfast. Some people like to make cheese grits by mixing in Cheddar cheese, and in the coastal region, cheese grits are often garnished with fresh shrimp.
:* Cornbread is a crumbly bread made of stone-ground cornmeal and buttermilk, baked in a cast-iron skillet. It's usually eaten hot with butter, or crumbled into something soupy, like more buttermilk, pot liquor from cooked greens, or pinto beans.
:* Hush puppies are deep-fried cornmeal dumplings, either round or elongated, sometimes flavored with chopped onion and served alongside barbecue or fried seafood. Restaurants usually serve them with butter, as if you need to make them any oilier. They can be quite addictive, as well as heavy, so don't overdo it! Legend has it that they were named when a cook tossed some to a barking dog who was begging for food.
Also in the bread category are biscuits, which are round leavened breads usually made from buttermilk, and are often used as the litmus test for any good Southern cook. They're usually split down the middle and spread with butter and possibly some kind of jam, or used for making breakfast sandwiches.
Because of its large coastal area, seafood is also a popular item on North Carolina menus: fresh fish, shrimp, scallops, clams, oysters and crabs can be found across the state, particularly in the eastern half. Preparation tends to be simple rather than elaborate, emphasizing the fresh taste of the ingredients. Calabash-style seafood is popular throughout the state; this is dipped in evaporated milk, then a dry breading mixture, and deep-fried. There's also catfish, found in rivers throughout the state, usually served dredged in cornmeal and deep-fried.
Around the Winston-Salem area, there's a large Moravian settlement which specializes in local delicacies that aren't found elsewhere in the state. Moravian sugar cookies are paper-thin and extremely labor-intensive to make (recipes can be found online, for those of curious natures and muscular arms), and available in a wide variety of flavors including ginger, spice, lemon, Key lime, butterscotch, chocolate and black walnut, as well as regular sugar. Moravian sugar cake is a leavened cake topped with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. Lovefeast buns are tasty potato rolls flavored with mace and citrus peel, a favorite during the holiday season.
A snack which may have originated in North Carolina, and is certainly popular throughout the state, is cheese straws, crispy baked strips of extruded dough flavored with copious amounts of Cheddar cheese and hot sauce.
Popular throughout the South is pimiento cheese (often spelled "pimento") — at its simplest, a spreadable mixture of grated sharp cheddar cheese, pimiento strips and mayonnaise. It's usually made into sandwiches, often toasted so that it melts, and topped with lettuce and tomato; but you may also find it as a spread for crackers or celery sticks. It can be found in tubs at the grocery store or in convenience-store sandwiches, but the flavor tends to pale in comparison to homemade.
If you happen to be in the Raleigh area, Goodberry's Creamery is a small local chain serving excellent frozen custard. It's made with fresh ingredients — including heavy cream and eggs — and served as soon as it comes out of the churning machine. It's hard to pass up the exquisite vanilla, but they have other great flavors as well. Be sure to get a sample, and use the small sample spoon to savor your custard longer.
Perhaps North Carolina's most celebrated food is the addictive yeast-raised Krispy Kreme doughnut, a tradition in Winston-Salem since 1937. These light, fluffy, heavenly-tasting fried confections are now available all over the US and internationally; connoisseurs claim that they're the best doughnuts on the planet. If you're lucky enough to visit a town that has a Krispy Kreme store, you can stop by when the red light is on to watch the fresh, hot doughnuts go through the glazing machine, and buy one or a whole dozen of them before the glaze has even fully set. It's a treat not to be missed, if you're in the state.
Drink
North Carolina is famous for its fine wines. One particular specialty of the state is wine made from Scuppernong grapes, a fragrant variety of Muscadine, which gives it a remarkable flavor.
Not a wine, but named as if it were (owing to its burgundy color), is local cherry-flavored soft drink Cheerwine. It's been a North Carolina favorite since 1917, originating in the town of Salisbury. Until recently, it was difficult to find outside of the area, but its popularity has caught on and it's beginning to expand throughout the US.
And, of course, there's always the ubiquitous Southern sweet iced tea. As in practically all of the South, sweet tea is the beverage of choice for a lot of people; the stronger and sweeter, the better. "Iced" is always assumed (ask for "hot tea" if you want it steaming) and "sweet" is the default, although people still tend to specify "sweet tea" when ordering. Most places do offer "unsweet" tea, but remember to ask for it if you want it.
Stay safe
North Carolina isn't known for its violence. As with any state, it is best to use common sense whenever visiting an unfamiliar place. In most areas, the greatest safety threats are bad drivers on the highway.
Stay healthy
Outside of the major metro areas, North Carolina is very rural and undeveloped. You should be aware that this makes for dangerous wildlife and plants. If hiking, avoid straying from the marked trail. There are numerous poisonous animals located in North Carolina. Please use common sense. Also, during the summer months, thunder storms increase and the potential for dangerous lightning should be acknowledged.
Near the ocean, shark attacks have been on the rise in recent times. Always take precautions while enjoying the beautiful Atlantic ocean.
Respect
The Southern drawl in language is generally charming to most outsiders. In most cases, mutual respect is expected and southern hospitality is a staple of the area. This is expressed in a number of ways: holding doors open for strangers, not honking a car horn unless necessary, and keeping one's voice down when in a crowded room.
As is common in other parts of the South, North Carolinians typically take offense at being stereotyped as "hicks" or "rednecks". While some rural residents might apply such labels to themselves as a matter of humor, it is not expected that outsiders will follow suit (this is similar to the double-standard common in American race relations, where a word may be taken as a complement or a slur depending upon the social status of the speaker). It is very strongly advised that visitors treat the locals with the same respect that you'd afford to any other group of people, and not attempt to make a joke out of age-old class discrimination.
Get out
Bordering North Carolina on the north, Virginia offers many things to see and do. Shenandoah National Park offers great scenery along the top of the Appalachian Mountains. Nearby is Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, our third president.
Tennessee is to the west and shares the Great Smoky Mountains with North Carolina. Shopping and attractions abound in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Chattanooga is the home of Lookout Mountain.
South Carolina, to the south, is a haven for beach lovers. Myrtle Beach has a large number of hotels and restaurants. Charleston is rich in history, with historic homes and Fort Sumter.
Georgia, which borders the southwestern corner of North Carolina, is famous for its peaches; there's also the popular Alpine village of Helen and the historic riverside city of Savannah, with its deep-South ambience. Atlanta, the capitol, has Stone Mountain Park and Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest.
North Carolina (IPA: /nɔːɹɵ ˌkɒ.ɹəˈlaɪ.nə/) is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It was one of the original Thirteen Colonies, originally known as Carolina, and the home of the first English colony in the Americas. On 20 May, 1861, it became the last of the Confederate states to secede from the Union, and was readmitted on 4 July, 1868. It was also the location of the first successful powered heavier-than-air flight by the Wright brothers at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk in 1903. Today, it is a fast-growing state with an increasingly diverse economy and population. As of 1 July, 2006, the population estimate is 8,856,505 - a 10% increase since 1 April, 2000.
Due to its wide range of elevation, from sea level on the coast to almost 6,700 feet (2,042 m) in the mountains, North Carolina has the most variation in climate of all the southeastern states. The climate in the coastal and Piedmont regions of eastern and central North Carolina is similar to other southern states such as Georgia and South Carolina, while the climate in the western mountains is closer to that found in New England or the upper Midwest. While the coastal plains, especially the tidewater areas, are strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, the western, mountainous part of the state is more than 300 miles from the coast, resulting in considerably less maritime influence. As such, the climate of the state ranges from a warm, humid subtropical climate near the coast to a humid continental climate in the mountains. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical zone.
Geography
North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The United States Census Bureau classifies North Carolina as a southern state in the subcategory of being one of the South Atlantic States.
North Carolina consists of three main geographic sections: the coastal plain, which occupies the eastern 45% of the state; the Piedmont region, which contains the middle 35%; and the Appalachian Mountains and foothills, which take up the remaining 20% of the state in the west. The coastal plain begins in the east as a chain of narrow, sandy barrier islands known as the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks form two sounds—Albemarle Sound in the north and Pamlico Sound in the south; they are the two largest landlocked sounds in the United States. Immediately inland, the coastal plain is relatively flat, with rich soils ideal for growing tobacco, soybeans, and cotton. The coastal plain is North Carolina's most rural section, with few large towns or cities, and agriculture remains an important industry. The major rivers of this section, the Neuse River, Tar River, Pamlico River, Cape Fear River, and Roanoke River, tend to be slow-moving and wide.
The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the "fall line", a line which marks the elevation at which waterfalls first appear on streams and rivers. The Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the state's most urbanized and densely-populated section - all five of the state's largest cities are located in the Piedmont. It consists of gently rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. A number of small, isolated, and deeply eroded mountain ranges and peaks are located in the Piedmont, including the Sauratown Mountains, Pilot Mountain, the Uwharrie Mountains, Crowder's Mountain, King's Pinnacle, the Brushy Mountains, and the South Mountains. The Piedmont ranges from about 300–400 feet (90–120 m) elevation in the east to over 1,000 feet (300 m) in the west. The major rivers of the Piedmont, such as the Yadkin and Catawba, tend to be fast-flowing, shallow, and narrow.
The western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Balsams, Pisgahs, and the Black Mountains. The Black Mountains are the highest mountains in the Eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet (2,037 m). It is the highest point east of the Mississippi River. Although agriculture remains important, tourism has become the dominant industry in the mountains. Due to the higher altitude in the mountains, the climate often differs starkly from the rest of the state. Winters in western North Carolina typically feature significant snowfall and subfreezing temperatures more akin to a northern state than a southern one.
North Carolina has 17 major river basins; five of the state's river basins - the Hiwassee, Little Tennessee, French Broad, Watauga and New - are part of the Mississippi River Basin, which drains to the Gulf of Mexico. All the others flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins, 11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the state's borders - the Cape Fear, Neuse, White Oak and Tar-Pamlico.
Climate
The coastal plain is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which keeps temperatures mild in the winter and moderate in the summer. Daytime high temperatures on the coast average less than 89 °F (31.6 °C) during the summer. In the winter, the coast has the mildest temperatures in the state, with daytime temperatures rarely dropping below 40 °F (4.4 °C). The coastal plain usually receives only one inch (2.5 cm) of snow and/or ice annually, and in some years there may be no snow or ice at all. The Atlantic Ocean has less influence on the Piedmont region, and as a result the Piedmont has hotter summers and colder winters than the coast. Daytime highs in the Piedmont usually average over 90 °F (32.2 °C) in the summer. While it is not common for temperatures to reach over 100 °F (37.8 °C) in North Carolina, when it happens, the highest temperatures are to be found in the lower areas of the Piedmont, especially around the city of Fayetteville.In the winter, the Piedmont is much less mild than the coast, with daytime temperatures that usually reach in the mid to upper 50's, while low to mid 60's are common winter highs around the coast. The region averages anywhere from 3-5 inches of snowfall annually in the Charlotte area to 6-8 inches in the Raleigh-Durham area. The Piedmont is especially notorious for sleet and freezing rain, which can accumulate to several inches in some storms and snarl traffic and collapse power lines. Annual precipitation and humidity is lower in the Piedmont than either the mountains or the coast, but even at its lowest, the precipitation is a generous 40 in (102 cm) per year. The Appalachian Mountains are the coolest area of the state, with daytime temperatures averaging in the 40's for highs in the winter and often falling into the teens (−9 °C) or lower in winter nights, and relatively cool summers rarely rising above 80 °F (26.7 °C). Snowfall in the mountains is usually 14–20 in (36–51 cm) per year, but is often greater in the higher elevations.
Severe weather is not a rare event in North Carolina. On average, the state receives a direct hit from a hurricane once a decade, and a tropical storm every 3 or 4 years, although in some years several hurricanes or tropical storms can either directly hit the state, or brush across the coastal areas. Only Florida and Louisiana are hit by hurricanes more often. On average, North Carolina has 50 days of thunderstorm activity per year, with some storms becoming severe enough to produce hail and strong, damaging winds. Hurricanes not only are a problem for the coast, the Charlotte area had a direct hit from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. North Carolina averages less than 20 tornadoes per year, and many of these are produced by hurricanes or tropical storms along the coastal plain. Nonetheless, tornadoes from thunderstorms are a risk, especially in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina.
History
Native Americans and The Lost Colony
North Carolina was originally inhabited by many different native peoples, including the Cherokee, Tuscarora, Cheraw, Pamlico, Meherrin, Coree, Machapunga, Cape Fear Indians, Waxhaw, Saponi, Tutelo, Waccamaw, Lumbee, Coharie, and Catawba. North Carolina was the second American territory the British attempted to colonize. Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the state capital is named, chartered two colonies on the North Carolina (then Virginia) coast in the late 1580s, both ending in failure. The demise of one, the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island, remains one of the great mysteries of American history. Virginia Dare, the first English child to be born in North America, was born in North Carolina. Dare County is named for her.
Colonial Period and Revolutionary War
The first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were British colonists who migrated south from Virginia, following a rapid growth of the colony and the subsequent shortage of available farmland. Nathaniel Batts was documented as one of the first of these Virginian immigrants. He settled south of the Chowan River and east of the Great Dismal Swamp in 1655. By 1663, this northeastern area of the Province of Carolina, known as the Albemarle Settlements, was experiencing full-scale British settlement. During the same period, the English monarch Charles II gave the province to the Lords Proprietors, a group of noblemen who had helped restore Charles to the throne in 1660. The new province of "Carolina" was named in honor and memory of King Charles I (Latin: Carolus). In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony and with the exception of the Earl Granville holdings, it became a royal colony seventeen years later. There was some difference in the settlement patterns of eastern and western North Carolina, which would affect the political, economic, and social life of the state from the eighteenth until the twentieth century. Eastern North Carolina was settled largely by immigrants from England and the Highland Scots. Western North Carolina was settled largely by Scots-Irish and German Protestants. During the Revolutionary War the English and Highland Scots of eastern North Carolina tended to remain loyal to the British Crown, while the Scots-Irish and German settlers of western North Carolina tended to favor American independence from Britain.
On April 12 1776, the colony became the first to instruct its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from the British crown, through the Halifax Resolves passed by the North Carolina Provincial Congress. The dates of both of these independence-related events are memorialized on the state flag and state seal. North Carolina often witnessed fierce guerilla warfare between bands of pro-independence and pro-British colonists throughout the Revolutionary War. A major American victory in the war took place at King's Pinnacle along the North Carolina-South Carolina border. On October 7, 1780 a force of 1000 mountain men from western North Carolina (including what is today the State of Tennessee) overwhelmed a force of some 1000 British troops led by Major Patrick Ferguson. Most of the British soldiers in this battle were Carolinians who had remained loyal to the British Crown (they were called "Tories"). The American victory at Kings Mountain gave the advantage to colonists who favored American independence over the Tory colonists, and prevented the British Army from recruiting new soldiers from the Tories. The road to Yorktown and America's independence from England led through North Carolina. As the British Army moved north from victories in Charleston and Camden, South Carolina, the Southern Division of the Continental Army and local militia prepared to meet them. Following General Daniel Morgan's victory over the British Cavalry Commander Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, southern commander Nathanael Greene led British Lord Charles Cornwallis across the heartland of North Carolina, and away from Cornwallis's base of supply in Charleston, South Carolina. This campaign is known as "The Race to the Dan" or "The Race for the River."
Generals Greene and Cornwallis finally met at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in present-day Greensboro on March 15, 1781. Although the British troops held the field at the end of the battle, their casualties at the hands of the numerically superior American Army were crippling. Following this "victory", Cornwallis chose to move to the Virginia coastline to get reinforcements, and to allow the British Navy to protect his battered army. This decision would result in Cornwallis's eventual defeat at Yorktown, Virginia later in 1781, a victory which guaranteed American independence.
Antebellum Period
On November 21, 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution to become the twelfth state in the Union. The North Carolina delegation's reluctance to sign the Constitution was instrumental in creating the United States Bill of Rights. The state refused to ratify the constitution until some sort of declaration of the people's rights was added. The North Carolina Government received a letter from Continental Army General George Washington stating that this was a wonderful idea. Thus, the Bill of Rights was added to the United States Constitution. North Carolina then worked to establish its state and local governments. In 1840, it completed the state capitol building in Raleigh, still standing today. Unlike many other Southern states, North Carolina never developed a dominant slaveholding aristocracy, and middle-class yeomen tended to control the state government. Most of North Carolina's slaveowners and large plantations were located in the eastern part of the state; western North Carolinians tended to be non-slaveowning subsistence farmers. In mid-century, the state's rural and commercial areas were connected by the construction of a 129–mile (208 km) wooden plank road, known as a "farmer's railroad," from Fayetteville in the east to Bethania (northwest of Winston-Salem). In 1849 the North Carolina Railroad was created. By the start of the Civil War in 1861 the railroad connected the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina with the state capital of Raleigh; the railroad then moved west to Greensboro, High Point, and Charlotte. During the Civil War the Wilmington-to-Raleigh stretch of the railroad would be vital to the Confederate war effort; supplies shipped into Wilmington would be moved by rail through Raleigh to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. During the antebellum period North Carolina was an overwhelmingly rural state, even by Southern standards. In 1860 only one North Carolina town, the port city of Wilmington, had a population of more than 10,000. Raleigh, the state capital, had barely more than 5,000 residents.
Civil War
In 1860, North Carolina was a slave state with a relatively small slave population (compared to other Southern states). However, it refused to join the Confederacy until President Abraham Lincoln called on it to invade its sister-state, South Carolina. The state was the site of few battles, but it provided at least 125,000 troops to the Confederacy— more than any other state. Approximately 40,000 of those troops never returned home, dead of battlefield wounds, disease, and privation. Governor Zebulon Baird Vance, elected in 1862, tried to maintain state autonomy against Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond. Even after secession,some North Carolinians refused to support the Confederacy; this was particularly true of non-slave-owning farmers in the state's mountains and western Piedmont region. Some of these farmers remained neutral during the war, while others covertly supported the Union cause during the conflict. Even so, Confederate troops from North Carolina served in virtually all the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy's most famous army. The largest battle fought in North Carolina was at Bentonville, which was a futile attempt by Confederate General Joseph Johnston to slow Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's advance through the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. In April 1865 Johnston surrendered to Sherman at Bennett Place, in what is today Durham, North Carolina. This was the last major Confederate Army to surrender. North Carolina's port city of Wilmington was the last Confederate port to fall to the Union, it fell in the spring of 1865 after the nearby Second Battle of Fort Fisher.
The first Confederate soldier to be killed in the Civil War was Private Henry Wyatt, a North Carolinian. He was killed in the Battle of Big Bethel in June 1861. At the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, the 26th North Carolina Regiment participated in Pickett/Pettigrew's Charge and advanced the farthest into the Northern lines of any Confederate regiment. At Appomattox Court House in Virginia in April 1865, the 75th North Carolina Regiment, a cavalry unit, fired the last shots of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War. For many years, North Carolinians proudly boasted that they had been "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg, and Last at Appomattox."
Demographics
North Carolina has 3 Metropolitan Combined Statistical Areas with a population over 1 million:
- The Metrolina: Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock Hill, NC-SC - population 2,124,013
- The Triangle: Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill - population of 1,509,560
- The Piedmont Triad: Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point - population of 1,490,886
North Carolina has historically been a rural state, with most of the population living on farms and in small towns. However, over the last 30 years the state has undergone rapid urbanization, and today the residents of North Carolina live primarily in urban and suburban areas, as is the case in most of the United States. In particular, the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh have become major urban centers, with large, diverse, mainly affluent and rapidly-growing populations. Most of this growth in diversity has been fueled by immigrants from Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia.
The center of population of North Carolina is located in Randolph County, in the town of Seagrove.
6.7% of North Carolina's population were reported as under 5 years old, 24.4% under 18, and 12.0% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.
Ancestry
The largest ancestry groups in North Carolina are:
- African American (21.6%),
North Carolina has one of the largest Native American populations in the United States. North Carolina has the second largest Laotian American population in the country.
Most populated counties
African Americans
African Americans make up a fifth (some state political groups claimed a quarter) of North Carolina's population and the state experienced an influx of middle-class blacks from the Northeast states since the 1970s. African Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Plateau where plantation agriculture was most dominant. Until the mid 1860s, North Carolina had more small farms and fewer plantations than adjacent South Carolina and Virginia. These "yeoman" farmers were non-slave-holding, private land owners of tracts of approximately 500 acres (2 km²) or less. African-American communities number by the hundreds in rural counties in the south-central and northeast, and predominantly black neighborhoods in the cities: Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington and Winston-Salem enjoyed dramatic improvements in quality of life and political representation since the early 1980s.
European Americans
North Carolinians of Scots-Irish, Scottish and English ancestry are concentrated in the western mountains, coastal areas, and rural areas of the central Piedmont. In the Winston-Salem area, there is a substantial population of German ancestry from the migration of members of the Moravian faith during the mid-18th century. The coastal region attracted a history of European immigration, like Swiss-Germans settled New Bern in the late 18th century, and over 10,000 locals of Portuguese descent, mainly fishermen from Portugal, worked along the coast for over three centuries.
Native Americans
Estimated population figures for Native American in North Carolina as of 2004 is 110,198. Only five states (California, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas) have a larger Native American population than North Carolina. The total Native American and Alaska Native population in the United States is 2,824,751, or 0.95% of the total.
To date, North Carolina recognizes eight Native American tribal nations within its state borders:
- The Lumbee are the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth largest tribal nation in the U.S. The Lumbee comprise over half the state of North Carolina's indigenous population of 84,000 with a population of 52,614, and live in Robeson, Hoke, Scotland, and Cumberland counties. The Lumbee received state recognition in 1885, and have maintained a relationship with the federal government since 1888, but federal recognition is still pending.
- The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were federally recognized in 1868 and received state recognition in 1889. The Eastern Cherokee live in eastern Swain County, as well as Graham and Jackson counties, and have roughly 13,400 enrolled members, most of whom live on a reservation properly called the Qualla Boundary. The Reservation is slightly more than 56,000 acres (230 km²), and is held in trust by the federal government specifically for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
- The Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of Native Americans received state recognition in 1965. The tribe is comprised of a little more than 3,800 enrolled members who reside in northeastern North Carolina's Halifax and Warren counties.
- The almost 2,000 members of the Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe are located in the southeastern North Carolina counties of Bladen and Columbus and received state recognition in 1971.
- The Coharie Tribe of Native Americans are located in Sampson and Harnett counties, and have a population of 1,781 enrolled members. The Coharie received state recognition in 1911. North Carolina rescinded recognition in 1913 but reinstated it in 1971.
- The Sappony Indians of Person County received state recognition in 1911 and have 850 enrolled members.
- The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation have a population of 800 members who reside in Orange and Alamance counties and received state recognition in 2002.
- The Meherrin are an Iroquoian-descent Native American tribe located primarily in rural northeastern Hertford, Bertie, and Gates counties, with a population of 557 enrolled members.
Since 1990 the state has seen a boom in the number of Hispanics/Latinos. Once chiefly employed as migrant labor, the increase in Hispanics since 1990 can be attributed in part to the ease of access to low skilled jobs that are the first step on the economic ladder. As a result growing numbers of Hispanics are settling in the state, mainly from Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic. Hispanic neighborhoods are found in the cities and there are sizable populations of Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans in North Carolina. In 2005, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that 300,000 — roughly 65 percent of North Carolina’s Latino population — are illegal immigrants, based on the Census Bureau’s population estimates. The population has grown from 76,726 in 1990 to 517,617 in 2005, an average increase of 13.5% per year.
Asian Americans
The state has one of the most rapid growing Asian American, specifically Indian and Vietnamese, populations in the country; the populations nearly quintupled and tripled, respectively, between 1990 and 2002. The earliest record of Asian immigration in North Carolina goes back to the mid 1800s when the first Chinese Americans were hired as agricultural workers. The famous Chinese-American Siamese twins - Eng and Chang Bunker - settled in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1839. Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Koreans arrived in the early and mid 20th century. Recent estimates suggest that the state's Asian American population has increased significantly since 2000. The Hmong population in North Carolina has tripled in the last 10 years and is still continuing to grow.
Religion
North Carolina, like other Southern states, has traditionally been overwhelmingly Protestant, with the largest Protestant denomination being the Southern Baptists. However, the rapid influx of northerners and immigrants from Latin America is steadily increasing the number of Roman Catholics and Jews in the state, and the numerical dominance of the Baptist Church is beginning to decline. This is especially evident in the urban areas of the state, where the population is more culturally diverse and the bulk of the growth has occurred. The fastest growing non-Judeo-Christian religion is Hinduism, largely due to the rapidly increasing Indian and Sri Lankan populations. The current religious affiliations of the people of North Carolina are shown below:
- Christian – 88%
- Protestant – 77%
- Baptist – 40%
- Methodist – 10%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Episcopalian – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 20-24%
- Roman Catholic – 10%
- Other Christian – 1% such as Mormon or Eastern Orthodox.
- Non-Religious – 11% (atheists, agnostics, and others)
- Other Religions – 1% (Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism)
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's 2004 total gross state product was $336 billion. Its 2005 per capita personal income was $31,029, 36th in the nation. North Carolina's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, tobacco, hogs, milk, nursery stock, cattle, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. However, North Carolina is the state most affected by offshoring and industrial growth in countries like China; one in five North Carolina manufacturing jobs has been lost to overseas competition. There has been a distinct difference in the economic growth of North Carolina's urban areas and its rural, small-town areas. While large cities such as Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary, and others have experienced rapid population and economic growth over the last thirty years, many of the state's small towns have suffered from job and population loss. Most of North Carolina's small towns historically developed around textile and furniture factories; as these factories have closed and moved to low-wage markets in Asia and Latin America the small towns that depended upon them have suffered.
Agriculture and manufacturing
Over the past century, North Carolina has grown to become a national leader in agriculture, financial services, and manufacturing. The state's industrial output—mainly textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, paper and pulp/paper products—ranked eighth in the nation in the early 1990s. The textile industry, which was once a mainstay of the state's economy, has been steadily losing jobs to producers in Latin America and Asia for the past 25 years, though the state remains the largest textile employer in the United States. Over the past few years, another important Carolina industry, furniture production, has also been hard-hit by jobs moving to Asia (especially China). Tobacco, one of North Carolina's earliest sources of revenue, remains vital to the local economy, although concerns about whether the federal government will continue to support subsidies for tobacco farmers has led some growers to switch to other crops like wine or leave farming altogether. North Carolina is the leading producer of tobacco in the country.
Technology, research, and finance
The information and biotechnology industries have been steadily on the rise since the creation of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in the 1950s. Located between Raleigh and Durham (mostly in Durham County), its proximity to local research universities has no doubt helped to fuel growth. Meanwhile, beginning in the 1980s, Charlotte's banking industry began a period of rapid growth, creating what is now the second largest banking center in the United States (after New York). Charlotte is home to Wachovia and Bank of America and the metro is home to 5 other Fortune 500 companies. The North Carolina Research Campus underway in Kannapolis promises to enrich and bolster North Carolina the way the RTP changed the Raleigh-Durham region. Encompassing 5.8 million square feet, the complex is a collaborative project involving Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and N.C. State University, along with private and corporate investors and developers. The facility incorporates corporate, academic, commercial and residential space, oriented toward research and development (R&D) and biotechnology. Similarly, in downtown Winston-Salem, the Piedmont Triad Research Park is undergoing an expansion. Approximately thirty miles to the east of Winston Salem's research park, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University have joined forces to create the Gateway University Research Park, a technology-based research entity which will focus its efforts on areas such as nanotechnology, biotechnology & biochemistry, environmental sciences, and genetics among other science-based disciplines.
Film and the arts
North Carolina is the third largest film production state behind California and New York. Film studios are located in Shelby, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, and Wilmington. Some of the best-known films and television shows filmed in the state include: All the Real Girls, Being There, Blue Velvet, Bull Durham, The Color Purple , Cabin Fever, Cape Fear, The Crow, Dawson's Creek, Dirty Dancing, "Evil Dead 2", The Fugitive , Hannibal , The Last of the Mohicans , The Green Mile, One Tree Hill, Patch Adams , Shallow Hal, 28 Days , and The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. The television show most associated with North Carolina is The Andy Griffith Show, which aired on CBS-TV from 1960 to 1968. The series is set in the fictional small town of Mayberry, North Carolina, and was based on the real-life town of Mount Airy, North Carolina, although it was filmed in California. Mount Airy is the hometown of actor Andy Griffith. The show is still popular in reruns and is frequently shown in syndication around the nation. Two of the most recent movies filmed in North Carolina are the Nights in Rodanthe, filmed in Rodanthe and Wilmington, and Leatherheads, filmed in Statesville.
Tax revenue
North Carolina personal income tax is slightly progressive, with four incremental brackets ranging from 6.0% to 8.25%. The state sales tax is 4.5%. Most taxable sales or purchases are subject to the state tax as well as the 2.5% local tax rate levied by all counties, for a combined 7%. Mecklenburg County has an additional 0.5% local tax for public transportation, bringing sales taxes there to a total 7.5%. The total local rate of tax in Dare County is 3.5%, producing a combined state and local rate there of 8%. In addition, there is a 29.9¢ tax per gallon of gas, a 30¢ tax per pack of cigarettes, a 79¢ tax on wine, and a 48¢ tax on beer. There are also additional taxes levied against food and prepared foods, normally totaling 2% and 8% respectively. The property tax in North Carolina is locally assessed and collected by the counties. The three main elements of the property tax system in North Carolina are real property, motor vehicles and personal property (inventories and household personal property are exempt). Estimated at 10.5% of income, North Carolina’s state/local tax burden percentage ranks 23rd highest nationally (taxpayers pay an average of $3,526 per-capita), just below the national average of 10.6%. North Carolina ranks 40th in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index with neighboring states ranked as follows: Tennessee (18th), Georgia (19th), South Carolina (26th) and Virginia (13th).
Transportation
International/Major regional airports
- Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (Charlotte)
- Asheville Regional Airport (Asheville)
- Fayetteville Regional Airport (Fayetteville)
- Piedmont Triad International Airport (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point)
- Pitt-Greenville Airport (Greenville)
- Moore County Airport (Pinehurst/Southern Pines)
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport (Raleigh/Durham)
- Craven County Regional Airport (New Bern)
- Wilmington International Airport (Wilmington)
Several cities are served by mass transit systems. The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) operates historical trolleys, express shuttles and bus service serving Charlotte and its immediate suburbs. In 2007 it is expected to open the LYNX light rail line connecting Charlotte with suburban Pineville. The Fayetteville Area System of Transit (FAST) serves the city with ten bus routes and two shuttle routes. Within Raleigh, the Capital Area Transit system operates 27 bus routes. The Triangle Transit Authority operates buses that serve the region and connect to municipal bus systems in Durham and Chapel Hill; efforts for the city of Raleigh to build a light rail from the downtown areas of Raleigh to the downtown area of Durham failed as TTA's projected ridership did not meet federal standards. The Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) bus system runs within Durham. The Triangle Transit Authority operates buses that serve the region and connect to municipal bus systems in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, which has its own bus service, Chapel Hill Transit. Piedmont Area Regional Transport (PART) provides limited bus service in and around Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point. There is also an intercity rail network extending across the state.
Major highways
The North Carolina Highway System is comprised of a vast network of Interstate highways, U.S. routes, and state routes. North Carolina has the second largest state-maintained highway network in the United States. Major highways include:
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Politics and government
The governor, lieutenant governor, and eight elected executive department heads form the Council of State. Ten other executive department heads appointed by the governor form the North Carolina Cabinet. The state's current governor is Democrat Mike Easley. The North Carolina General Assembly, or Legislature, consists of two houses: a 50-member Senate and a 120-member House of Representatives. For the 2007–2008 session, the current President Pro Tempore of the Senate is Democrat Marc Basnight (the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the President of the Senate); The House Speaker is Democrat Joe Hackney.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court; it numbers seven justices. The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state; it consists of fifteen judges who rule in rotating panels of three. Together, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals constitute the appellate division of the court system. The trial division includes the Superior Court and the District Court. All felony criminal cases, civil cases involving more than $10,000 and misdemeanor and infraction appeals from District Court are tried in Superior Court. A jury of 12 hears the criminal cases. Civil cases—such as divorce, custody, child support and cases involving less than $10,000—are heard in District Court, along with criminal cases involving misdemeanors and lesser infractions. The trial of a criminal case in District Court is always without a jury. The District Court also hears juvenile cases involving children under the age of 16 who are delinquent and children under the age of 18 who are undisciplined, dependent, neglected, or abused. Magistrates accept guilty pleas for minor misdemeanors, accept guilty pleas for traffic violations, and accept waivers of trial for worthless-check cases among other things. In civil cases, the magistrate is authorized to try small claims involving up to $4,000 including landlord eviction cases. Magistrates also perform civil marriages.
State constitution
The state constitution governs the structure and function of the North Carolina government. It is the highest legal document for the state and subjugates North Carolina law. Like all state constitutions in the United States, this constitution is subject to federal judicial review. Any provision of the state constitution can be nullified if it conflicts with federal law and the United States Constitution.
North Carolina has had three constitutions:
- 1776: Ratified December 18, 1776, as the first constitution of the independent state. The Declaration of Rights was ratified the preceding day.
- 1868: Framed in accordance with the Reconstruction Acts after North Carolina was readmitted into the Union. It was a major reorganization and modification of the original into fourteen articles. It also introduced township which each county was required to create, the only southern state to do so.
- 1971: Minor consolidation of the 1868 constitution and subsequent amendments.
North Carolina currently has 13 congressional districts, which, when combined with its two U.S. Senate seats, gives the state 15 electoral votes. In the 109th Congress, the state was represented by 6 Democratic and seven Republican members of congress, plus two Republican Senators. The Democr
