North Carolina (NC).

• Region: Atlantic coast
• Population: 10,698,973 (ranked 9th) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Raleigh (pop. 476,587) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Charlotte (pop. 897,720) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 100
• State nickname: Tar Heel State
• State motto: Esse quam videri (To be rather than to seem)
• State flag: One-third is blue with a white star surrounded by letters N and C, with gold scrolls above and below reading “May 20th, 1775” and “April 12th, 1776”; other two-thirds are red and white

North Carolina, known as the Tar Heel State, entered the Union on November 21, 1789, as the twelfth state. It is part of the Upper South as well as part of the Mid-Atlantic region. The state is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and South Carolina and Georgia to the south. North Carolina has three main geographical regions: the western mountains (the Blue Ridge/Appalachian chain), the Piedmont plain, and the eastern coastal plain. The state’s economy is a mix of industrial and agricultural. Though production had declined to an extent, tobacco continued to play a large role, as North Carolina farmers raise a significant percentage of all US-grown tobacco. North Carolina has gained a reputation as a high-technology center, particularly in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill “Research Triangle.” Millions of visitors each year also come to enjoy the state’s natural beauty, ranging from the western mountains to the eastern coastal plain and the Outer Banks.

State Name: North Carolina was originally part of the larger English province of Carolina, chartered in 1663 by King Charles II of England. This region, extending from Albemarle Sound in the north to St. John’s River in the south, included present-day South Carolina as well. The king named the province for his father, King Charles I (the Latin for “Charles” is “Carolus”). North Carolina’s nicknames include the Old North State, referring to the 1710 division of Carolina into North and South. The most current nickname today is the Tar Heel State, a name said to have originated either in the American Revolution or the Civil War. According to one version, Confederate general Robert E. Lee said that a North Carolina regiment stuck like tar to a battle, refusing to surrender.

Capital: The state capital, Raleigh, is located in the center of the state. It has served as the capital since 1794, when it was moved from the coastal city of New Bern.

Flag: North Carolina’s current flag was adopted by the general assembly in 1885, based on the design adopted in 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War. The flag consists of a blue union, with a white star in the center. The state’s initials, NC, are written in gilt near the star, with the N on the left side of the star and the C on the right side. Gilt scrolls with inscriptions are located above and below the star. The upper scroll bears the inscription “May 20th, 1775,” referring to the date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. The lower scroll bears the inscription “April 12th, 1776,” referring to the state’s official declaration of independence from Great Britain.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Dogwood
• Bird: Cardinal
• Tree: Pine
• Fish: Channel bass
• Song: “The Old North State” by William Gaston and E. E. Randolph

State and National Historic Sites

• Appalachian National Scenic Trail
• Battleship North Carolina (moored in Wilmington)
• Biltmore Estate (Asheville)
• Cape Hatteras National Seashore
• Cape Lookout National Seashore
• Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (Flat Rock)
• Fort Fisher (near Wilmington)
• Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (Manteo)
• Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (Greensboro)
• Moores Creek National Battlefield (Currie)
• Orton Plantation (Brunswick County)
• Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (in Kings Mountain National Military Park)
• Tryon Palace (New Bern)
• Wright Brothers National Memorial (Kill Devil Hills)

State-Specific Holidays

• Mecklenburg Independence Day, May 20

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 10,698,973 (ranked 9th; 2022 estimate)
• Population density: 214.7/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 66.7% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 33.3% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 21.4% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 17.4% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 69.9% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 22.2% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 10.5% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 1.6% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 3.6% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.1% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 2.6% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $34,209 (ranked 35th; 2021 estimate)
• Unemployment: 3.7% (2022 estimate)

American Indians: The region now known as North Carolina has been home to numerous American Indian tribes. When English settlers first arrived in the late sixteenth century, the main language groups were Algonquian, Siouan, and Iroquoian. The Algonquian tribes, including the Hatteras and Pamlico, tended to settle in the eastern Tidewater region, along the coast. The Siouan tribes, such as the Catawba and Waxhaw, inhabited the Piedmont or foothills region in the central part of the state. The Iroquoian tribes settled throughout the state. Tribes such as the Cherokee lived in the western mountains, while the Tuscaroras and other tribes lived in the Tidewater. Many Cherokee still live in western North Carolina, on land known as the Qualla Boundary. That land is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the only federally recognized tribe in the state in the twenty-first century. State-recognized tribes include the Coharie Intra-Tribal Council Inc., the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, the Lumbee Tribe, the Meherrin Nation, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, the Sappony, and the Waccamaw-Siouan Tribe.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 53,819 sq mi (ranked 28th)
• Land area: 48,618 sq mi (90.3% of total area)
• Water area: 5,201 sq mi (9.7% of total area)
• Shoreline: 3,375 miles
• National parks: 10
• Highest point: Mount Mitchell (6,684 feet)
• Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean (sea level)
• Highest temperature: 110° F (Fayetteville, August 21, 1983)
• Lowest temperature: -34° F (Mount Mitchell, January 21, 1985)

Topography: North Carolina has three main regions: the western mountains (Blue Ridge/Appalachian chain), the central plateau (or Piedmont), and the eastern coastal plain. Mount Mitchell, part of the Appalachian chain, rises 6,684 feet; this makes it the highest point in eastern North America. The state has many watersheds, including five national wild and scenic rivers. There are seventeen major river basins, including over 40,000 miles of rivers and their tributaries.

Major Lakes

• B. Everett Jordan Dam and Lake
• Falls Lake
• Jones Lake
• Lake James
• Lake Norman
• Singletary Lake
• W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir

Major Rivers

• Catawba River
• Chattooga River
• Horsepasture River
• Lumber River
• Nantahala River
• Neuse River
• New River
• Pee Dee River
• Yadkin River

State and National Parks: North Carolina has more than forty state parks, recreation areas, and natural areas as well as ten national parks. Parks along the Atlantic coast include Fort Macon State Park, site of a Civil War fort, and Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve, on the Outer Banks. In the Piedmont, visitors can climb Pilot Mountain State Park, in Pinnacle, where the peak rises over 1,400 feet. The western part of the state is home to Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River. National parks include the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores and battlefields such as Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

Natural Resources: North Carolina has abundant natural resources. Much of the state is forested, especially in the west, where the Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests are a notable ecosystem. Mineral resources include mica, lithium materials, and feldspar as well as granite and phosphate rock. The rich soil is conducive to agriculture; in addition to tobacco, North Carolina farmers grow food crops such as corn and sweet potatoes. Many farmers also raise poultry and hogs.

Plants and Animals: North Carolina is home to numerous plants and animals. While elk disappeared because of hunting and human settlement, concerted reintroduction efforts established a small population of the animal in select habitats by the early decades of the twenty-first century. Larger wild animals include deer and black bears. Both of these are found in the western mountains as well as in the eastern swamps. Smaller animals include rabbits, opossums, raccoons, and foxes. North Carolina is home to many species of fish. These include bluefish, catfish, various kinds of herring, flounder, and mackerel. Sharks are also commonly found off the Atlantic coast. Shrimp and crabs are among the most important commercial species.

North Carolina is heavily forested. The pine forests of the coastal plain and Piedmont have served as sources of turpentine, once the state’s major export. Other hardwoods include hickory, red and white oak, and yellow poplar.

Climate: North Carolina’s climate is generally temperate, with four seasons as well as sufficient rainfall for agriculture throughout the state. Due to climate change, by the 2020s the state had experienced warmer average temperatures and had recorded a greater number of days of heavy rain than in the past. The state occasionally experiences hurricanes, such as Hugo in 1989, Floyd in 1999, Matthew in 2016, and Florence in 2018.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Appalachian State University (Boone)
• Barton College (Wilson)
• Bennett College (Greensboro)
• Brevard College (Brevard)
• Campbell University (Buies Creek)
• Davidson College (Davidson)
• Duke University (Durham)
• East Carolina University (Greenville)
• Elizabeth City State University (Elizabeth City)
• Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville)
• Gardner-Webb University (Boiling Springs)
• Greensboro College (Greensboro)
• Guilford College (Greensboro)
• Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte)
• Livingstone College (Salisbury)
• Meredith College (Raleigh)
• North Carolina A&T University (Greensboro)
• North Carolina Central University (Durham)
• North Carolina State University (Raleigh)
• Queens University of Charlotte (Charlotte)
• Salem College (Winston-Salem)
• Shaw University (Raleigh)
• St. Augustine’s University (Raleigh)
• University of Mount Olive (Mount Olive)
• University of North Carolina (Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Pembroke, Wilmington)
• University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston-Salem)
• Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem)
• Western Carolina University (Cullowhee)
• Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem)

Major Museums

• Ackland Art Museum (Chapel Hill)
• Greensboro Historical Museum (Greensboro)
• Mint Museum (Charlotte)
• Morehead Planetarium (Chapel Hill)
• Museum of the Cherokee Indian (Cherokee)
• Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (Winston-Salem)
• Museum of Life and Science (Durham)
• Museum of North Carolina Minerals (Spruce Pine)
• North Carolina Maritime Museum (Beaufort)
• North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh)
• North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh)
• Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro)

Major Libraries

• D. H. Hill Jr. Library, North Carolina State University (Raleigh)
• State Library of North Carolina (Raleigh)
• Sondley Reference Library (Asheville)
• Walter Clinton Jackson Library, University of North Carolina (Greensboro)
• Walter Royal Davis Library, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)

Media

North Carolina contains several major news markets, one of the largest of which is Charlotte. The city has two major daily newspapers, the Charlotte Observer and the Charlotte Post, as well as the weekly Charlotte Business Journal. Other major newspapers include the Greensboro News and Record, the Raleigh News and Observer, and the Winston-Salem Journal. The state also has numerous television and radio stations, both network and independent. The North Carolina News Network (NCNN), a service by the Capitol Broadcasting Co. of Raleigh, provides state-wide broadcast coverage.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 730,072.4 (ranked 10th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 3.2%

Major Industries: North Carolina has historically been largely agricultural, but it has a strong industrial base as well, particularly in high technology. The western part of the state, though heavily agricultural, also became an important center of the paper industry. The Piedmont, or central plateau, still has many farms but has become more industrialized. The Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is devoted to high technology. As of 2023, major pharmaceutical company Pfizer had focused expansion of gene therapy work on its sites in North Carolina, and technology start-ups had continued to emerge in the area. Manufacturing of products such as chemicals, machinery, and computer and electronics additionally continued to contribute to the state's economy. The central region is also a center for the tobacco industry, as well as textiles and furniture. The coastal plain is largely agricultural, producing crops including tobacco, soybeans, and peanuts. There is also much commercial and sport fishing along the coast.

Tourism: North Carolina is a favorite tourist destination. The state has three tourist regions: The western mountain region, the central or Piedmont region, and the coastal or Tidewater region. The western part of the state offers the great natural beauty of the Blue Ridge. Near Asheville, one can visit the Biltmore Estate, an American castle built in the style of a French chateau. In the Piedmont region, one can enjoy the cultural life of cities such as Charlotte, Greensboro, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh-Durham. In the Tidewater and coastal region, one can enjoy the windswept dunes of the Outer Banks, site of the Wright Brothers' historic 1903 flight as well as the site of England's sixteenth-century "Lost Colony" (Roanoke Island).

Energy Production: North Carolina relies on a mixture of sources to provide its energy. The main sources include natural gas, petroleum, and nuclear energy. The state has no oil wells or petroleum refineries, but there are several pipelines for petroleum products. In 2021, nuclear energy contributed 33 percent of the state's electricity generation. Renewable energy production increased in the twenty-first century, and the state became a leader in installed solar power generating capacity.

Agriculture: North Carolina is very agricultural, despite the large industrial presence. Tobacco, soybeans, corn, wheat, sweet potatoes, and peanuts are among the most important crops.

Airports: North Carolina has a well-developed system of public airports, including the international hubs Charlotte-Douglas, Piedmont-Triad, Raleigh-Durham, and Wilmington. There are also numerous regional and municipal airports. In the Outer Banks, the National Park Service operates two airports with limited facilities: Billy Mitchell Airport and Ocracoke Island Airport.

Seaports: The state ports authority operates Atlantic ports at Morehead City and Wilmington. Inland terminals are located at Greensboro and Charlotte.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Roy Cooper (Democrat)
• Present constitution date: 1971
• Electoral votes: 16
• Number of counties: 100
• Violent crime rate: 419.3 (per 100,000 residents) (2020 estimate)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: North Carolina’s current constitution was adopted in 1971. The state has had two previous constitutions since joining the Union. The first was adopted in 1776, when the state declared its independence from Britain. The second was adopted in 1868, as part of Reconstruction following the Civil War. When North Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861, the general assembly did not write a new constitution and simply amended the 1776 document. Since the Civil War, there have been several other constitutional conventions and commissions to propose amendments.

Branches of Government

Executive: North Carolina’s executive branch is partly elected and partly appointed. The governor, lieutenant governor, and eight executive department heads are elected (all to four-year terms), while others are appointed by the governor. The State Community College System is the eighteenth executive department; the president serves at the pleasure of the State Board of Community Colleges.

The governor is the state’s chief executive and oversees the activities of the various executive departments. The governor proposes and vetoes legislation, acts as commander in chief of the state military forces, and appoints the heads of numerous executive departments.

North Carolina’s top elected officials, in addition to the governor and lieutenant governor, include the secretary of state, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the secretary of labor, the state auditor, the superintendent of public instruction, and the separate commissioners of agriculture and insurance. The governor appoints the heads of the Departments of Administration, Commerce, Public Safety, Natural and Cultural Resources, Health and Human Services, Information Technology, Revenue, Transportation, Military and Veterans Affairs, and Environmental Quality.

Legislative: North Carolina’s two-house legislature, which meets annually, is known as the general assembly. The senate, the upper house, has 50 members. The house of representatives, the lower house, has 120 members. All members of the legislature are elected every two years.

Judicial: North Carolina’s court system has three branches or divisions: appellate (including the court of appeals and the state supreme court), superior courts, and district courts. The state supreme court includes the chief justice and six other justices. All state judges, whatever the level, are elected to their office. District court judges serve four-year terms, while superior-court and appellate-court judges serve eight-year terms.

HISTORY

1524 Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian navigator in the service of France, explores the North Carolina coast between Cape Fear River and Kitty Hawk.

1540–70 The Spanish undertake several explorations of the North Carolina coast but do not try to settle the region. Hernando de Soto, looking for gold, explores southwestern North Carolina.

1585 England makes its first attempt to colonize the New World. Queen Elizabeth I grants a colonial charter to Sir Walter Raleigh, who sends an expedition to the North Carolina coast. Under the leadership of Ralph Lane, a colony is established on Roanoke Island, in the Outer Banks. The venture quickly fails, however.

1587 Raleigh sends a second expedition of 110 settlers, including seventeen women and nine children, to coastal North Carolina. Led by John White, they build a second colony at Roanoke Island. There, the colonists celebrate the birth of Virginia Dare, the first child born to English-speaking parents in America. The colony soon runs short of supplies, and White is forced to return to England to gather new ones.

1588 The Spanish Armada sails to invade England. White is unable to return to Roanoke Island.

1590 When John White returns to Roanoke Island, he finds only traces of the colony. The only sign is the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. Over the following centuries, many people try to explain the colony’s disappearance; some argue that the colonists were killed in a battle with American Indians or that they moved elsewhere and intermarried with the local tribes. None of the explanations, however, has been completely accepted.

ca. 1650 The first permanent English settlers arrive in North Carolina as immigrants from tidewater Virginia. They settle in the Albemarle Sound region of eastern North Carolina. The Virginia legislature supports the new settlements as a way to protect Virginia from American Indian attacks.

1663 King Charles II of England grants a proprietary charter to eight of his supporters. These men, who had helped restore him to the throne, receive title to the lands between Virginia and the coast of Florida. The king names the province Carolina in honor of his father, King Charles I. (The Latin for Charles is “Carolus.”) The new owners are called lords proprietors.

1663–1729 North Carolina is a proprietary colony under the control of the lords proprietors and their heirs.

1669 Political theorist John Locke writes the “Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina,” a document that serves as the basis for North Carolina’s colonial government.

1691 The northern and southern parts of the colony become known as North and South Carolina.

1692–1712 North and South Carolina are governed as a single unit, but the emphasis is on the southern colony. The proprietary governor lives in Charleston, South Carolina, while North Carolina is administered by a deputy governor. The northern colony retains its own legislative assembly and council.

1705 Bath, the colony’s first town, is established.

1711–13 During the Tuscarora War, the European colonists battle with the local American Indians. One of the reasons for the war is White settlers’ enslavement of American Indian children. The colonists’ victory ends the last major American Indian attempt to stop European colonization. The American Indians go north and join the Iroquois League.

1712 The Carolina colony is divided into northern and southern administrative units (North Carolina and South Carolina), each with its own governor. Efforts to treat the colony as a single governmental unit had failed because of Carolina’s immense size.

1716–18 Pirate captain Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, terrorizes shipping routes along the North American coast and in the West Indies. The governor of North Carolina protects Blackbeard and shares in the spoils.

1718 Blackbeard is killed in a battle with British vessels off North Carolina’s coast. His sunken ship is rediscovered in 1996 in the waters off Beaufort.

1729 Carolina becomes a royal colony when seven of the lords proprietors sell their interests to the crown. The eighth proprietor, John Carteret, Lord Granville, maintains his economic interest, including the ability to make land grants. His family keeps possession of the Granville Tract until the Revolutionary War. The crown, however, retains all political power in Carolina.

1730 North and South Carolina become separate royal colonies.

1768–71 The Regulator movement, composed of backcountry farmers in western North Carolina, rises up to protest high taxes and the eastern planters’ political influence. Governor William Tryon calls out the colonial militia. He eventually puts down the uprising, in a battle at Alamance Creek in 1771, and executes several Regulator leaders. The North Carolina movement is not connected to the Regulator movement in South Carolina, which from 1767 to 1769 seeks to improve law and order in the backcountry. The South Carolina government agrees to many of the Regulators’ requests and generally avoids violence. The South Carolina Regulators disband in 1769.

1775 On March 17, the Transylvania Company of land speculators signs a treaty with the Cherokee. Under the terms of the treaty, the Cherokee cede 20 million acres of western land. The Transylvania Company wants to create a fourteenth colony in the west.

1775–83 The American Revolution. On May 20, 1775, residents of Mecklenburg County in western North Carolina reportedly publish a declaration of independence from Great Britain. On February 27, 1776, about 1,000 Patriots defeat a similar number of Loyalists at the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge. This was the Patriots’ first important victory and ended British hopes to regain the colony. On April 12, 1776, North Carolina becomes the first colony to call officially for independence from Great Britain. On April 12, meeting at Halifax, the Fourth Provincial Congress adopts the Halifax Resolves, authorizing the North Carolina delegates at the Second Continental Congress to vote in favor of independence. Several battles take place in North Carolina, including the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (on the site of present-day Greensboro).

1789 The state charters the University of North Carolina, the nation’s first public university.

1794 The capital is moved from coastal New Bern to more centrally located Raleigh.

1795 The University of North Carolina opens in Chapel Hill and admits its first students.

1799 Gold is discovered on the Reed plantation in Cabarrus County. The seventeen-pound nugget helps start a gold rush.

1808 The city of Greensboro (originally Greenborough) is incorporated and becomes the county seat of Guilford County. The city is named for Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Greene, who fought British forces at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

1830s–50s The Underground Railroad becomes active in North Carolina. Many abolitionists are Quakers, especially in and around Guilford County.

1837 Quakers open the New Garden Boarding School, the United States’ third coeducational institution, four miles south of Guilford Courthouse. It later becomes a degree-granting institution known as Guilford College. Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, the campus serves as a station on the Underground Railroad.

1840 The state opens its first public schools.

1861–65 The Civil War. At the outbreak of the war, many North Carolinians are of divided opinions about secession. The western part of the state has many Union sympathizers. North Carolina votes on May 20, 1861, to leave the Union and join the Confederacy. Unlike the other Confederate states, however, the Tarheel State does not technically secede but rather undoes the vote by which it chose to enter the Union seventy-two years earlier. Around 40,000 citizens of North Carolina are killed during the war.

1868 The state adopts a new constitution and is readmitted to the Union, but Reconstruction lasts another nine years.

1877 Reconstruction ends in North Carolina, as the last federal troops depart.

1898 The soft drink Pepsi is invented in New Bern.

1901 Governor Charles B. Aycock institutes educational reforms.

1903 At Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks, Orville and Wilbur Wright test the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine.

1914–18 World War I. Fort Bragg (originally Camp Bragg) is built in 1918 as an artillery post and named in honor of Confederate general Braxton Bragg.

1931 The state legislature consolidates all the state colleges and universities into a Consolidated University administered from Chapel Hill. The system includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Women’s College at Greensboro, and North Carolina State College at Raleigh.

1941–45 World War II. Thousands of North Carolinians serve in the war, and the state’s industries produce much war equipment. The army’s Fort Bragg becomes even larger as it prepares soldiers for overseas service. In September 1941, the Marine Corps establish Camp Lejeune at the mouth of the New River.

1943 The state establishes Pembroke State College. This is the nation’s first four-year college for American Indians. The school later becomes the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. That same year, the state establishes the North Carolina State Symphony, one of the first state-sponsored orchestras in the nation.

1954 Hurricane Hazel strikes North Carolina.

1959 The state gains a home for high-technology business with the opening of Research Triangle Park, a business park between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

1960 Black Americans in Greensboro stage the nation’s first sit-in at a lunch counter that refuses service to Black diners. They refuse to leave and are arrested. This incident prompts similar protests throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country.

1971 North Carolina adopts a new state constitution.

1989Hurricane Hugo strikes the South, doing much damage in North Carolina.

1996 Governor Jim Hunt wins a fourth term of office. The ship of eighteenth-century pirate Blackbeard is discovered in waters off Beaufort.

1999 Hurricane Floyd triggers statewide flooding, killing fifty-one people and causing billions of dollars in property damage.

2002 Elizabeth Dole, wife of former US senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, is elected US senator from North Carolina. She fills the seat of retiring senator Jesse Helms.

2004 In the November 2004 elections, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina are defeated by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Edwards had resigned from his Senate seat in order to pursue the election.

2007 Edwards announces his candidacy for the 2008 US presidential election. Shortly after his announcement, his wife Elizabeth is diagnosed with bone cancer for the second time. Her condition is treatable but not curable. The couple decides to continue with the campaign; however, Edwards withdraws from the race a few months later and announces his support for candidate Barack Obama.

2009 A North Carolina resident discovers a large emerald known as the Carolina Emperor, which measures nearly sixty-five carats when cut.

2011 Hurricane Irene causes property damage and several deaths in North Carolina.

2012 Pat McCrory is elected governor, becoming North Carolina’s first Republican governor in more than twenty years.

2013 North Carolina passes a restrictive voting law that requires government-issued photo identification, ends same-day registration, and eliminates the week of early voting.

2015 A federal trial begins in which organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of Women Voters challenge the 2013 voting law as discriminatory.

2016 Democrat Roy Cooper becomes the first challenger to defeat an incumbent North Carolina governor in an election since 1850. Republicans in the state legislature subsequently pass special bills intended to reduce the governor's power.

2020 Like other states, North Carolina enacts restrictions to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic, including a statewide stay-at-home order.

2021 A bill is passed and signed that raises the minimum marrying age for minors with parental consent or judge's approval in the state to sixteen rather than fourteen; spousal age difference is limited to four years and under.

2023 A new law banning most abortions after twelve weeks goes into effect.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Alma Adams, 1946– (Caldwell Point) , Politician.

Etta Baker, 1913–2006 (Caldwell County) , Musician.

Braxton Bragg, 1817–76 (Warrenton) , Confederate general.

David Brinkley, 1920–2003 (Wilmington) , Television journalist.

William Blount, 1749–1800 (Bertie County) , Governor of Tennessee Territory; US senator from Tennessee.

Levi Coffin, 1798–1877 (New Garden) , Quaker abolitionist.

John Coltrane, 1926–67 (Hamlet) , Jazz musician.

Howard Cosell, 1918–95 (Winston-Salem) , Television sports reporter.

Virginia Dare, 1587–date unknown (Roanoke Island) , First child born to English parents in the New World.

James B. Duke, 1856–1925 (Durham) , Tobacco manufacturer; founder of Duke University.

Elizabeth Hanford Dole, 1936– (Salisbury) , Head of American Red Cross; US senator.

Sam Ervin, 1896–1985 (Morganton) , US senator.

Dale Earnhardt, 1951–2001 (Kannapolis) , Automobile racing driver.

Roberta Flack, 1939– (Asheville) , Singer.

Ava Gardner, 1922–90 (Smithfield) , Actress.

Billy Graham, 1918–2018 (near Charlotte) , Evangelist; Baptist minister.

Andy Griffith, 1926–2012 (Mount Airy) , Actor.

O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), 1862–1910 (Greensboro) , Author.

Jim “Catfish” Hunter, 1946–1999 (Perquimans County) , Baseball player.

Andrew Jackson, 1767–1845 (Waxhaw region on North Carolina-South Carolina border) , Seventh US president.

Andrew Johnson, 1808–75 (Raleigh) , Seventeenth US president.

Charles Kuralt, 1934–97 (Wilmington) , Television journalist.

Buck Leonard, 1907–97 (Rocky Mount) , Baseball player.

Sugar Ray Leonard, 1956– (Wilmington) , Boxer

Dolley Madison, 1768–1849 (New Garden) , First lady of the United States (wife of President James Madison).

Thelonious Monk, 1917–82 (Rocky Mount) , Jazz musician.

Edward R. Murrow, 1908–65 (near Greensboro) , Broadcast journalist.

James K. Polk, 1795–1849 (Mecklenburg County) , US president.

Leonidas Polk, 1806–64 (Raleigh) , Bishop in the Episcopal Church; Confederate general.

Charlie Rose, 1942– (Henderson) , Broadcast journalist.

Terry Sanford, 1917–98 (Laurinburg) , US Senator; governor of North Carolina.

Edward Snowden, 1983– (Elizabeth City) , Computer specialist known for leaking classified information from the US National Security Agency.

Zebulon Baird Vance, 1830–94 (Buncombe County): Governor , Confederate army officer.

Nancy "Nanye'hi" Ward, 1738–1822 (Chota) , Cherokee warrior and peace broker

Thomas Wolfe, 1900–38 (Asheville) , Author.

TRIVIA

• Mayberry, North Carolina, the fictional town which serves as the setting for TV's Andy Griffith Show, is reputedly based on Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy.
• The Biltmore Estate, located in Ashville, was built by the Vanderbilt family and includes a huge French-style chateau.
• Each summer, the drama The Lost Colony is performed outdoors at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, in the Outer Banks community of Manteo. The play, which tells the story of the first British colony in the New World, has been performed there since 1937. Other than in 1944, it had only been canceled, up to that point, in 2020, due to COVID-19.
• Both North Carolina and South Carolina claim seventh US president Andrew Jackson as a native son. Jackson was born in the Waxhaw Region, on the border between the two states.
• North Carolina has several major military installations. Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps training base (founded 1941), is located near the mouth of the New River. Fort Bragg (founded 1918) is located near Fayetteville.
• The country's first gold rush took place in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, in 1805.
• In 2022, North Carolina was declared the top state for business in the country by CNBC.

Bibliography

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Hardy, Michael C. North Carolina in the Civil War. History P, 2011.

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Eric Badertscher