North Carolina is a state in the Southern United States. One of the original states, it is home to the first English colony in the Americas. It was also the location of the first successful flight of the Wright brothers' airplane — one of the first heavier than air flying machines.
Aberdeen Albemarle Apex Archdale Arden Asheboro Asheville Atlantic Beach Bald Head Island Balsam Banner Elk Battleboro Belmont Benson Biscoe Black Mountain Blowing Rock Boiling Springs Boone Brevard Bryson City Burlington Buxton Calabash Candler Canton Carolina Beach Carthage Cary Chapel Hill Charlotte Cherokee Claremont Clayton Clemmons Clinton Columbus Concord Conover Cornelius Corolla Creedmoor Dillsboro Duck Dunn Durham Eden Edenton Elizabeth City Elizabethtown Elkin Emerald Isle Fayetteville Flat Rock Fletcher Forest City Franklin Fuquay Varina Garner Gastonia Goldsboro Graham Greensboro Greenville Havelock Haw River Henderson Hendersonville Hickory High Point Highlands Huntersville Jacksonville Jefferson Jonesville Kannapolis Kenly Kernersville Kill Devil Hills King Kings Mountain Kinston Kitty Hawk Knightdale Lake Lure Laurinburg Lenoir Lexington Lincolnton Louisburg Lumberton Maggie Valley Manteo Marion Mars Hill Matthews Mebane Mocksville Monroe Mooresville Morehead City Morganton Morrisville Mount Airy Mount Olive Murphy Nags Head New Bern Newland Ocean Isle Beach Oxford Pilot Mountain Pine Knoll Shores Pinehurst Pineville Plymouth Raeford Raleigh Reidsville Roanoke Rapids Rockingham Rocky Mount Rowland Roxboro Salisbury Sanford Sapphire Selma Shallotte Shelby Siler City Smithfield Southern Pines Southport Spindale Spring Lake Spruce Pine Statesville Sunset Beach Sylva Tarboro Thomasville Wade Wadesboro Wake Forest Warsaw Washington Waynesville Weldon West Jefferson Whiteville Whitsett Whittier Wilkesboro Williamston Wilmington Wilson Wrightsville Beach Yadkinville
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 encompass two sounds — Albemarle Sound in the north and Pamlico Sound in the south; they are the two largest landlocked sounds in the United States. Inland the coastal plain is relatively flat, with rich soils which grow tobacco, soybeans, and cotton. The major rivers of this section, the Neuse River, Tar River, Pamlico River, and Cape Fear River, tend to be slow-moving and wide.
The coastal plain turns into 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 North Carolina's most urbanized and densely-populated region. It consists of gently rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low isolated mountain ridges. Many small, deeply eroded mountain ranges and peaks are located in the Piedmont, including the Saura Mountains, Pilot Mountain, the Uwharrie Mountains, Crowders Mountain, Kings Mountain, 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. Due to the higher altitude in the mountains, the climate often differs starkly from the rest of the state. Winters in western NC typically feature significant snowfall and subfreezing temperatures more akin to a northern state than a southern one.
Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:
* Appalachian National Scenic Trail * Blue Ridge Parkway * Cape Hatteras National Seashore * Cape Lookout National Seashore * Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site at Flat Rock * Croatan National Park in Eastern North Carolina * Fort Raleigh National Historic Site at Manteo * Great Smoky Mountains National Park * Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro * Moores Creek National Battlefield near Currie * Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail * Trail of Tears National Historic Trail * Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina * Uwharrie National Forest
Native Americans and 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 first 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.
The first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were British colonists migrating 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 was experiencing full-scale British settlement.
In 1860, North Carolina was a slave state. 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 in the Civil War it provided at least 125,000 troops to the Confederacy— more than any other Confederate 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-slaveowning farmers in the state's mountains and western Piedmont region.
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