For the moment (for about another month), the state of North Carolina is home to one of my sisters. She moved to Wilmington several years ago, but is about to relocate to the Garden State. As a result of her presence and some really good beaches, I have been to North Carolina several times. If one needed another good reason to visit the Tarheel State, the company that produces this delicious treat was founded and is headquartered in North Carolina.
What eventually became North Carolina was also the home of the first English settlement in the New World - Roanoke. Founded in 1585, more than twenty years before Jamestown and thirty five years before the Pilgrims put their buckled shoes on Plymouth Rock. Of course, the colonists at Roanoke disappeared without a trace and their fate is still undetermined, among them Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas.
The Outer Banks are a very popular destination for Americans for those who like golf, lighthouses, and great beaches. Kitty Hawk is also located in the Outer Banks and it was the beach conditions that drew two bicycle shop owners from Ohio there to try and get their newfangled contraption into the air.
The state of North Carolina has produced two Presidents, the first was elected (as Vice President) from the state of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson. The other Andrew President (Jackson) was born near the border of North and South Carolina.The second was James K. Polk. North Carolina also brought us our fourth First Lady, Dolley Madison.
Until her term ends later this year (she has decided not to run for reelection), the current Governor of North Carolina is Bev Purdue, a Democrat. In this state that has been turning "purple" of late (President Obama carried the state in 2008 and is hoping to do so again this year), North Carolina's Senators are divided by the ideological aisle. Richard Burr is a Republican, Kay Hagan is a Democrat. The House delegation is currently split 7-6, in favor of the Democrats.
- 1st District - G.K. Butterfield (D)
- 2nd District - Renee Elmers (R)
- 3rd District - Walter Jones (R)
- 4th District - David Price (D)
- 5th District - Virginia Foxx (R)
- 6th District - Howard Coble (R)
- 7th District - Mike McIntyre (D)
- 8th District - Larry Kissell (D)
- 9th District - Sue Myrick (R)
- 10th District - Patrick McHenry (R)
- 11th District - Heath Shuler (D) (yes the former Washington Redskin)
- 12th District - Mel Watt (D)
- 13th District - Brad Miller (D)
- State Capital - Raleigh
- Largest city - Charlotte (and the location of the 2012 Democratic Convention)
- Date of Admission - November 21, 1789
- Area - 53,819 sq mi (28th)
- State Motto - "Esse quam videri" (To be rather than to seem)
- State Nickname - the Tarheel State
- State bird - cardinal
- State wildflower - dogwood
- State University - The University of North Carolina - the first public university in the United States (1795)
- State Archives - North Carolina Office of Archives and History, North Carolina State Archives
- Population (2011 est.) - 9,656,401
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence - Joseph "North Carolina yields to South Carolina" Hewes, William Hooper, John Penn
- nc.gov - the Official Website of the State of North Carolina
- The North Carolina Tourism site - visitnc.com
- The Encyclopedia Britannic entry for North Carolina
- Wikpedia
- 50states.com entry for North Carolina
- InfoPlease entry for North Carolina
- North Carolina State Guide (from the Library of Congress)
- Braxton Bragg - the Fort is named for him
- David Brinkley
- Howard Cosell
- Charlie Daniels - but didn't he sing about the Devil Going Down to Georgia?
- Virginia Dare - the first child born of English parents in the New World
- Roberta Flack
- Ava Gardner
- Billy Graham
- Charles Kuralt
- Sugar Ray Leonard
- Edward R. Murrow
- Floyd Patterson
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