50 Fun Facts About North Carolina

North Carolina's planned capital, established in 1792, borrowed its street grid from the 1682 plan of which city?

Philadelphia: William Christmas laid out Raleigh in 1792 on a grid copied from William Penn's 1682 plan for Philadelphia, with a central square for the Capitol.

In which North Carolina city did the 1960 Woolworth's lunch-counter sit-ins begin?

Greensboro: on 1 February 1960 four students from North Carolina A&T sat down at the whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter, sparking sit-ins across the South.

North Carolina became which numbered state when it ratified the US Constitution on 21 November 1789?

North Carolina was the 12th state, ratifying on 21 November 1789 after first rejecting the Constitution in 1788 for lacking a bill of rights.

The nickname 'Tar Heel' comes from North Carolina's historic prominence as a producer of what?

Pine tar and turpentine: colonial North Carolina led the naval-stores trade from its longleaf pines, and Confederate soldiers later wore the 'Tar Heel' name with pride.

The name Carolina honours which English king?

Charles I: the 1629 Heath patent called the land Carolana for Charles I, and in 1663 his son Charles II kept the name when granting it to eight Lords Proprietors.

North Carolina's state motto, Esse quam videri, means what?

Esse quam videri means 'To be, rather than to seem'; adopted in 1893, it comes from Cicero's De Amicitia and appears on the state seal.

Roughly how many colonists were on Roanoke Island in 1587 when the 'Lost Colony' vanished?

About 118 colonists, including women and children, were left on Roanoke in 1587; Governor John White sailed for supplies and found the settlement deserted when he returned in 1590.

Virginia Dare, who arrived on Roanoke Island on 18 August 1587, was the first what?

Virginia Dare was the first English person born in North America; her grandfather, Governor John White, left for supplies days later and found the colony gone in 1590.

What single word was found carved into the palisade of the abandoned Roanoke colony in 1590?

White read it as meaning the settlers had moved to Croatoan Island, but a storm stopped him from checking.

How long did Orville Wright's first powered flight last on 17 December 1903?

Orville's first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet; Wilbur's fourth flight that day stayed up 59 seconds for 852 feet.

The Wright brothers' first flights took place at a spot now inside which town, four miles south of Kitty Hawk?

Kill Devil Hills: the brothers flew from the sand flats below Big Kill Devil Hill on 17 December 1903, where the Wright Brothers National Memorial now stands.

Mount Mitchell, the highest point in mainland America east of the Mississippi, stands how tall?

Mount Mitchell rises 6,684 feet; Elisha Mitchell, the professor who first measured it, died in 1857 in a fall at a nearby waterfall while checking his figures.

The Outer Banks are a string of barrier islands roughly how long?

The Outer Banks run roughly 200 miles along the North Carolina coast; their shifting shoals have wrecked hundreds of ships, earning the name Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the US, stands at what height?

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stands about 198 feet tall, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States; its black-and-white spiral has marked Diamond Shoals since 1870.

In 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved how far inland to save it from the sea?

It was rolled 2,900 feet inland over 23 days in summer 1999, leaving it roughly as far from the surf as when it was built in 1870.

Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground in June 1718 near which North Carolina town?

Beaufort: the Queen Anne's Revenge grounded on a sandbar at Beaufort Inlet in June 1718; the wreck was located in 1996 and has yielded cannons and anchors.

Blackbeard was killed at Ocracoke in 1718 by the crew of a Royal Navy lieutenant named what?

Robert Maynard, a Royal Navy lieutenant sent by Virginia's governor, killed Blackbeard (Edward Teach) in a boarding fight at Ocracoke on 22 November 1718.

The Halifax Resolves of 12 April 1776 made North Carolina the first colony to do what?

The date is written on the state flag alongside 20 May 1775, the disputed Mecklenburg Declaration.

Which document does the 20 May 1775 date on the North Carolina flag commemorate?

The Mecklenburg Declaration, supposedly adopted in Charlotte on 20 May 1775, is widely doubted by historians, yet its date has appeared on the state flag since 1861.

Which three universities give the Research Triangle its name?

NC State in Raleigh, Duke in Durham and UNC Chapel Hill form the triangle; Research Triangle Park, founded between them in 1959, is the largest research park in the United States.

The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789 and enrolled its first students in which year?

UNC opened to students in 1795, the first public university in the US to do so; Hinton James of Wilmington was the first student to arrive, in February 1795.

Durham's Trinity College was renamed in 1924 for the father of which tobacco magnate?

James Buchanan Duke's 1924 endowment turned Trinity College into Duke University, named in memory of his father Washington Duke; the school began in 1838 as Brown's Schoolhouse.

How many NCAA men's basketball championships did Duke win under Mike Krzyzewski?

Five: 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015. Coach K led the Blue Devils from 1980 to 2022 and retired with 1,202 career wins.

Duke's basketball student section, packed into the team's historic home arena, is known as what?

The Cameron Crazies fill the student section of Cameron Indoor Stadium, opened in 1940, and are known for camping out in 'Krzyzewskiville' before the North Carolina game.

Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937 in which North Carolina city?

Winston-Salem: Vernon Rudolph opened the first Krispy Kreme there on 13 July 1937, selling doughnuts from a rented building on South Main Street.

Pepsi was invented in 1893 by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in which North Carolina town?

New Bern: Caleb Bradham first mixed the drink at his Middle Street pharmacy in 1893, and the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated there in 1902.

Which is the oldest incorporated town in North Carolina?

Bath was incorporated in 1705, the first town in North Carolina; it sits on the Pamlico River and was briefly home to Blackbeard in 1718.

Cheerwine, the cherry-flavoured soft drink created in 1917, comes from which North Carolina city?

Salisbury: L.D. Peeler created Cheerwine there in 1917 during a wartime sugar shortage; the name nods to its wine-dark colour, though it contains no alcohol.

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the largest privately owned house in the US, has how many rooms?

Biltmore has 250 rooms, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces; George Vanderbilt built it between 1889 and 1895 with nearly 179,000 square feet of floor space.

Who designed the grounds of the Biltmore Estate?

Frederick Law Olmsted, co-designer of New York's Central Park, planned Biltmore's gardens and forests as his last major project; Richard Morris Hunt designed the house.

The Venus flytrap grows wild only within about 60 miles of which North Carolina city?

Wilmington: the flytrap is native only to wet pine savannas within roughly 60 miles of the city; North Carolina made poaching one a felony in 2014.

What distinction does Great Smoky Mountains National Park hold among US national parks?

Most visited: the Smokies drew about 12 million visitors in 2024, far ahead of any other national park; it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kuwohi, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, was known until 2024 by what name?

Clingmans Dome was renamed Kuwohi, Cherokee for 'mulberry place', in September 2024; at 6,643 feet it is the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail.

How long is the Blue Ridge Parkway, which links Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smokies?

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles; work began at Cumberland Knob, North Carolina, in September 1935, and the last section, the Linn Cove Viaduct, opened in 1987.

Andy Griffith was born in 1926 in which North Carolina town, the model for Mayberry?

Mount Airy, where Griffith was born on 1 June 1926, inspired Mayberry; he played Sheriff Andy Taylor from 1960 to 1968 and later the lawyer Ben Matlock.

The Queen City is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of which British king?

George III married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761; the city was named for her in 1768 and the county for her German birthplace.

Charlotte's NationsBank adopted which name after its 1998 merger with a San Francisco bank?

Bank of America: NationsBank, led by Hugh McColl, bought San Francisco's BankAmerica in 1998, kept the acquired name and ran the merged bank from Charlotte.

America's first gold rush began in 1799 with Conrad Reed's 17-pound nugget in which North Carolina county?

Cabarrus County: Conrad Reed found the nugget in Little Meadow Creek on his father John's farm in 1799; Reed Gold Mine later became a state historic site.

How much did John Reed sell his 17-pound gold nugget for in 1802, thinking it a fair price?

$3.50: the Fayetteville jeweller who paid John Reed that in 1802 got a nugget worth about $3,600; organised mining began on the farm in 1803.

Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne, is one of the world's largest military bases by what measure?

Number of personnel: with more than 50,000 active-duty soldiers, Fort Bragg is the largest US Army installation by population; it was called Fort Liberty from 2023 to 2025.

The state capital, nicknamed the City of Oaks, is named after which Elizabethan figure?

Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored the Roanoke voyages of the 1580s but never set foot in North Carolina; the capital took his name when it was founded in 1792.

Milk was designated North Carolina's state what in 1987?

Milk became the official state beverage in 1987; the state vegetable is the sweet potato and the state fruit the Scuppernong grape.

What is North Carolina's official state sport, adopted in 2011?

Stock car racing was made the state sport in 2011; Charlotte hosts the NASCAR Hall of Fame, opened in 2010, and most race teams are based nearby.

What is North Carolina's state dog?

The Plott Hound, a bear-hunting breed developed in the mountains by the Plott family from German stock, became the state dog in 1989.

What is North Carolina's official state precious stone?

Hiddenite in the western foothills has produced some of the largest emeralds ever found in North America.

What was North Carolina's population at the 2020 census?

The 2020 census counted 10,439,388 North Carolinians, about 10.4 million, a 9.5% rise from 2010 that earned the state a 14th congressional seat.

The North Carolina State Capitol building was completed in which year?

The Capitol was completed in 1840 after seven years of work, replacing the State House that burned in 1831; Raleigh celebrated it and the new Raleigh & Gaston Railroad together.

What is the state bird of North Carolina, adopted in 1943?

The cardinal, adopted in 1943, is the state bird of seven states; the state flower is the flowering dogwood and the state tree simply the pine.

The Great Smoky Mountains firefly Photinus carolinus is famous for what behaviour each June?

The park runs a lottery for the few thousand people allowed to watch it.

Which two horizontal bars make up the fly of the North Carolina flag, below the blue union?

Red over white: the 1885 flag has a red upper bar and a white lower bar beside the blue union, whose white star is flanked by the gilt letters N and C.