North Carolina at a Glance
In 1992, Eva Clayton became the first African-American woman elected to represent North Carolina in Congress.
Hiram Rhoades Revels, born in Fayetteville in 1882, was the first African-American member of Congress.
Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United Sates, was born in the Waxsaws area.
James K. Polk, born in Mecklenburg County, was the 11th President.
Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of United States, started his career as a tailor's apprentice in Raleigh.
North Carolina has 50 State Senators who serve 2-year terms.
North Carolina has 120 State Representatives who serve 2-year terms.
North Carolina has more paved miles of road than any other state in the United States.
The first English colony in America was located on Roanoke Island.
More than 9 million people live in North Carolina – twice as many of them in towns and cities like Charlotte, the Triangle and the Triad than in the rural areas of the state.
North Carolinians are sometimes called Tar Heels, a nickname born of a time when our state produced more tar than any other in the nation.
The state motto is Esse quam videri – To be rather than to seem.
North Carolina considers itself the first state to declare independence from England with the Mecklenburg Declaration of 1775.
North Carolina was the first state in the nation to establish a state museum of art, and one of the first states in the U.S. to establish a state symphony.
North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation, and leads the nation in furniture, tobacco, brick and textile production.
Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful powered flight by man at Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk, in 1902.
The largest air base in the Marine Corps – Cherry Point – is located in Havelock.
The Furniture Capital of the World is located in High Point.
More than 1.6 million North Carolina students enrolled in our state’s public, private and home schools.
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the oldest state university in the United States.
Whitewater Falls in Transylvania County is the highest waterfall in the eastern United States.
At 6,684 feet above sea level, Mount Mitchell in the Blue Ridge Mountains is the highest peak east of the Mississippi.
Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded in Winston-Salem.
The Venus Fly-Trap is native to Hampstead.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan, one of the best and best-known athletes to play the sport, was born in Wilmington and went to college at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The first miniature golf course was built in Fayetteville.
NC Mutual, the nation’s largest and most successful black-owned businesses, was founded and is still headquartered in Durham.
Babe Ruth hit his first home run in Fayetteville on March 7, 1914.
The Biltmore Estate in Ashville is America's largest home.
Of the 5.8 million North Carolinians registered to vote, 45% are registered Democrats, 33% registered Republicans, 0.01% are registered Libertarian, and 22% are unaffiliated.
John Chavis, an African-American Revolutionary War hero and prominent Presbyterian minister, taught white and black children in Wake, Chatham, Orange and Granville counties for almost 30 years in the early 1800s.
The first English child – Virginia Dare - born in America was born in Roanoke in 1587.
Fontana Dam is the tallest dam in the eastern United States, at 480 feet high.
Singers Clay Aiken and Roberta Flack, evangelist Bill Graham, movie stars Ava Gardner, Pam Grier and Andy Griffith, TV personality Star Jones and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, Jr., were all born in North Carolina.
Grandfather Mountain is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge.
Pepsi was invented and first served in New Bern in 1898.
Beech Mountain is Eastern America's highest town at 5,506ft above sea level.
