North Carolina

Top 10 Places

Elk in Cataloochee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Elk in Cataloochee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (including part of the Appalachian Trail) – a World Heritage Site, is shared with Tennessee, where it is listed.

10. Reed Gold Mine

9. Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

8. Revolutionary North Carolina: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and Moores Creek National Battlefield

7. Top North Carolina State Parks:

      • Chimney Rock State Park
      • Hanging Rock State Park
      • Stone Mountain State Park
      • Grandfather Mountain State Park and the Mile High Swinging Bridge

6. Old Salem Historic District of Winston-Salem (within Piedmont Triad – Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point)

5. Biltmore Estate and Asheville

4. Charlotte

      • U.S. National Whitewater Center
      • Levine Museum of the New South
      • NASCAR Hall of Fame
      • Historic Rosedale Plantation
      • 7th Street Public Market

3. Blue Ridge (including part of the Appalachian Trail)

      • Blue Ridge Parkway (a National Park Service unit and an All-American Road – shared with Virginia, with the northern terminus at Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park)
      • Blue Ridge National Heritage Area
        1. Linville Gorge Wilderness of Pisgah National Forest
        2. Craggy Gardens Trail
        3. Craggy Pinnacle Trail

2. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill

      • Downtown Raleigh
      • American Tobacco Historic District in Durham
      • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
      • North Carolina State University in Raleigh
      • Duke University in Durham

1. Outer Banks

      • Bodie Island
        1. Kitty Hawk – Public Access Beach (dogs allowed)
        2. Kill Devil Hills – Wright Brothers National Memorial
        3. Nags Head – Jockey’s Ridge State Park
      • Roanoke Island – Manteo
        1. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
        2. The Lost Colony at the Historic Waterside Theatre
        3. Freedmen’s Colony
        4. William B. Umstead Bridge purple martins
        5. The Mother Vine
      • Cape Hatteras National Seashore
        1. Bodie Island Lighthouse
        2. Chicamacomico Life Saving Station
        3. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
        4. Hatteras Island Weather Bureau Station

See also, under South Carolina, the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor – shared with Georgia and Florida.

State Info

A) State Nicknames+

      • The Tar Heel State
      • The Old North State
      • First in Flight

B) State Symbols

      • Motto: “To be, rather than to seem”
      • Flower: Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
      • Bird: Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
      • Tree: Pine (Genus Pinus)
      • Carnivorous plant: Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
      • Horse: Colonial Spanish Mustang
      • Mineral: Gold (Aurum)
      • Stone: Emerald
      • Sport: Stock car racing

C) Major Metros

      1. Charlotte
      2. Raleigh (state capital)-Durham-Chapel Hill (Research Triangle)
      3. Greensboro-Winston-Salem

D) Just for Fun

      • North Carolina birthplace of traditional pottery in Seagrove
      • Bioluminescent Blue Ghost Fireflies in Hendersonville
      • White Squirrels in Brevard
      • Grove Park Inn in Ashville – secret Cold War relocation facility for the U.S. Supreme Court

E) Historic Sites

      • Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
      • Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
      • Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
      • Moores Creek National Battlefield
      • Blue Ridge National Heritage Area

F) Iconic Foods

      • Main Dish
        1. Lexington-Style Barbecue (pork shoulder with vinegar, salt, pepper, ketchup, and sugar)
        2. Eastern North Carolina Whole-Hog Barbecue (vinegar, salt and pepper)
        3. Carolina-Style hot dog (Bright Leaf) or burger (chili, onion, and coleslaw)
        4. Oysters (NC Oyster Trail)
        5. North Carolina Clam Chowder
        6. Calabash Seafood
      • Side Dish
        1. State Vegetable: Sweet Potato
        2. Pimento Cheese
        3. Collard Greens
      • Desert
        1. Sweet Potato Pie
        2. Sonker (Mount Airy – a deep-dish cobbler in a crust)
        3. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
        4. Moravian Sugar Cookies
      • Beverage
        1. Pepsi (New Bern)
        2. Cheerwine
      • Chains
        1. Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits
        2. Cook Out
        3. Biscuitville
        4. Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q
        5. Char-Grill
        6. Hardee’s

G) Top State Parks

      • Chimney Rock State Park
      • Hammocks Beach State Park
      • Hanging Rock State Park

H) Famous People

      • Billy Graham Jr. (evangelist – statue in U.S. Capitol)
      • Zebulon Vance (secessionist – statue in U.S. Capitol)
      • O. Henry (author: “Gift of the Magi”)
      • John Coltrane (jazz)
      • Andy Griffith (actor)
      • Soupy Sales (comedian)
      • David Brinkley (newscaster)
      • Edward R. Murrow (journalist)
      • Dale Earnhardt Sr. (NASCAR driver)
      • Sugar Ray Leonard (boxer)