North Carolina was one of the original thirteen colonies. Many think North Carolina was the first to declare its independence from Great Britian in 1775. North Carolina became the twelfth state of the Union on November 21, 1789 and remained so until the outbreak of the Civil War. It joined the Confederate States of America in 1861 and lost 40,000 of its citizens in the fighting. Following the Civil War, North Carolina was re-admitted to the Union in 1868. North Carolina is situated north of South Carolina, east of Tennessee, south of Virginia and to its east is the Atlantic Ocean coastline.

NORTH CAROLINA FACTS:

In 1799, the first gold nugget found in the United States was found near present-day Charlotte on a farm that would later become the Reed Gold Mine.

The Wright Brothers flew the first heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.

The largest house in America is the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.

For hundreds of years the Brown Mountain Lights have mystified people near Morganton, North Carolina and they still do. So far, science has not be able to explain them.