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#   Entered Union   Year Settled

12th       Nov. 21, 1789     1660

 

Nickname

Tar Heel State

 

Rank      Population

10th       9,222,414

 

Rank      Square Miles

28th       53,819

 

State Bird

Northern Cardinal

 

State Flower

Flowering Dogwood

 

State Tree

Pine

 

State Motto

Esse quam videri               To be rather than to seem

 

The first European settlement in North Carolina is the famous Lost Colony of Roanoke Island that vanished sometime after 1587. North Carolina is the northern portion of the original 1629 land grant made by England's King Charles I, which was named in his honor (Carolus is Latin for Charles). North Carolina joined the Union in 1789 and is the 12th of the original 13 states. Today, North Carolina is a growing research center and banking state. The capital of the "Tar Heel State" is Raleigh.

 

President Andrew Johnson

If you looked only at Andrew Johnson's childhood, you would never guess that he would rise to the highest office of the United States. The 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808.

 

His father died when he was young, leaving the family in poverty. From ages 10 to 17, young Johnson worked as an apprentice to a tailor. He worked at that trade for a number of years, during which time he moved with his mother to Greenville, Tennessee. Johnson never attended school. Once married, however, his wife, Eliza McCardle, became his tutor, providing him with a good common education.

 

A gifted political speaker, Johnson climbed the political ladder quickly. In 1829, he won his first office as an alderman, or county councilman. In rapid succession he became mayor of Greenville, a member of the Tennessee state legislature, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee, and U.S. senator.

 

In Congress, Johnson was a strong advocate of America's westward expansion. He did not, however, make friends among his Southern compatriots. He was the only Southerner in Congress who firmly supported the Union throughout both the secession crisis and the Civil War. After Union forces captured portions of Tennessee, Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of the state. Johnson took the job in the face of lynch mobs and bullets

 

Two years later, Johnson became Abraham Lincoln's running mate, despite the fact that he was a Democrat and Lincoln was a Republican. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, Johnson went from vice president to president. In foreign affairs, things went fairly smoothly. But at home, Johnson faced a crisis.

 

Trying to reconstruct the country after the Civil War, radical Northern Republicans thought his policies toward the South were not harsh enough. Ill will and deep political disagreements ended with Congress voting to impeach (accuse of high crimes) Johnson in February 1868. A few months later, the Senate acquitted Johnson of the impeachment charges by just one vote. He served the remainder of his presidential term, but the brand of impeachment has traveled with his memory.

 

The Lost Colony

Do you know the story of the lost colony of Roanoke Island?

 

The legend of Roanoke Island has been passed down from generation to generation since 1590 when a group of 120 English settlers mysteriously vanished.

 

In the late 1500s, the English made their first attempts to settle in North America on Roanoke Island, which is off the coast of North Carolina. These first settlers ended up returning to England because of a shortage of food and Indian attacks.

 

In 1587, a second colony was founded on Roanoke. It was then that Virginia Dare, the first baby born to English parents in North America, was born. John White, the leader of the colony, went to England to get more supplies.

 

When he returned in 1590, the settlement was deserted. All the settlers had mysteriously disappeared. The only clue he found was the word "Croatoan" carved in a tree. To this day no one knows what happened to them. It's possible that the Colonists joined with the friendly Croatoan natives. Or were they massacred by the unfriendly Wanchese tribe? No one knows for sure.

 

Since 1937, this mystery has been relived every year in a play called The Lost Colony. It is performed outdoors at Wayside Theatre at Fort Raleigh in North Carolina.

 

Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers

The Wright brothers were from Ohio, but they achieved most of their successes in North Carolina. Do you know why they decided to do their flying experiments there?

 

To find a better location for their pioneering aeronautical (aircraft) experiments than their home in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright consulted the U.S. Weather Bureau. The brothers found that the town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, offered the sand dunes and high winds that they hoped would help them in their attempts at powered flight.

 

The Wrights spent months in North Carolina working toward their goal. On December 17, 1903, they finally succeeded. Orville flew the powered glider first, then Wilbur, then each once more. The brothers had achieved the first powered, controlled, sustained flight of a heavier-than-air machine.