- North Carolina is named after King Charles I of England. His son, Charles II of England granted a charter to start a colony and named it after his father. The state's nickname is 'Tar Heel State' because tar and pitch was made from the state's native trees. The capital, Raleigh, was named after Sir Walter.
- Way before Charles I, Walter Raleigh founded a colony on Roanoke Island. The first English child born in America was born there in 1587. Her name was Virginia Dare, and there has been a re-enactment of her story performed every year since 1937. The colony also saw the first baptism of a Native American - Manteo, a Croatan Indian who had befriended the colony, taught them all about their new home and to speak Algonquin. However, the colony mysteriously vanished. The only trace they left behind was the word "Croatoan" scrawled on a tree.
- More firsts for the state – Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers made their first flight in 1903, is in North Carolina. It was also the first state to declare independence from the British, have a Gold rush, establish a state university and a state museum of art.
- People from North Carolina include three presidents: Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk. Also from here are actresses Ava Gardner and Julianne Moore, singers Ben E King, Roberta Flack and Nina Simone, the evangelist Billy Graham and Anna McNeill Whistler, the subject of the famous painting, Whistler's Mother.
- Murphy, the westernmost county in North Carolina, is closer to the capitals of six other states than it is to its own.
- North Carolina has some rare creatures: white squirrels (not albino ones) and fireflies which have blue green lights.
- There are lots of breweries and wineries in the state, but the official state beverage is Milk. Other state symbols include: Bird: Cardinal; flower: Dogwood; insect: Honey Bee; vegetable: sweet potato (the state is the US's biggest producer); rock: granite; gem: emerald; plant: Venus fly trap (native to the state); mammal: grey Squirrel; tree: longleaf pine. It even has a state Tartan – Carolina tartan.
- The only private park in the world to be designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve in in North Carolina. It's called Grandfather Mountain. One of its features is a mile high swing bridge.
- The largest private home in America is here, too. The Biltmore is a 250 room mansion in Asheville, built for the Vanderbilts in the late 1800s. It stands in 8,000 acres of grounds.
- If you're thinking of choosing North Carolina for a romantic getaway, bear in mind that by law, beds in hotel rooms must be single and at least two feet apart. Having sex in the gap between the beds is illegal. So is having sex in a churchyard. The only legal position is the missionary position and the blinds must be drawn. Also bear in mind that under state law, if a couple who are not married go to a hotel and register as married, this makes them legally married under state law. It's also against the law here to sing off key, ride a Bicycle without having both hands on the handlebars, or to use an Elephant to plough a Cotton field.
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