50 Years of 50 States: North Carolina

Nickname: Tar Heel State
Date Ratified: November 21, 1789 (12th)
Capital: Raleigh

Map of North Carolina

• North Carolina was the site of the first English attempt to settle in North America. The Roanoke Colony was established on present-day Roanoke Island in 1587, and was also the birthplace of the first English child born in the New World. Unfortunately, the colony was lost, and every colonist disappeared. To this day, the circumstances of the colony’s fate are uncertain.
• Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, was the site of the first sustained heavier than air flight by the Wright Brothers, in 1903, hence the motto “First in Flight.”
• At a height of 6684 feet, Mt. Mitchell, in western North Carolina, is the highest point east of the Mississippi River.
• North Carolina played a major part in the Civil War. The first Confederate soldier killed during the Civil War was from North Carolina, and was killed at the Battle of Big Bethel in 1861. The 26th North Carolina Regiment advanced the farthest of any Confederate unit at the Battle of Gettysburg. Finally, the 75th North Carolina Regiment was the last to fire shots before Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in 1865.
• The first gold nugget found in the United States was in 1799 at Cabarrus County. The first gold dollar was minted at the Bechtler Mint in Rutherford County.
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, founded in 1795, was the first public university in the U.S.
• Krispy Kreme was founded in Winston-Salem.
• The state flag of North Carolina was adopted in 1885. The dates on the flag are to commemorate the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (1775) and the Halifax Resolves (1776). The authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration is in doubt, as it was first published in 1819, but if it’s true, it would pre-date the American Declaration of Independence by more than a year. The Halifax Resolves were adopted by the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina, and helped pave the way toward the American Declaration of Independence.

Flag of North Carolina

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