North Carolina Trivia & Tidbits

Looking for North Carolina trivia? Try our list North Carolina little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Bat Cave in Henderson Çounty (pop. 89,173) is the largest known granite fissure cave in the world. Unlike most caves that are formed by water eroding rock, fissure caves are formed by rocks splitting and earth moving.

first appeared: 10/18/2009

Mount Mitchell in the Black Mountain Range is named for Elisha Mitchell, a science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (pop. 48,715). Mitchell fell to his death in 1857 while on an expedition to verify the mountain's elevation.

first appeared: 10/4/2009

The majestic Airlie Oak, a live oak tree, dates back to 1545 and is one of the jewels at the seaside Airlie Gardens in Wilmington (pop. 75,838).

first appeared: 9/20/2009

The television teen drama Dawson's Creek, which aired from 1998 to 2003, was filmed in Wilmington (pop. 75,838).

first appeared: 9/6/2009

Tucker Haas, 11, of Charlotte, invented "My Personal Swing Thing" and won the 2008-2009 Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors. The swing is designed for children with movement disorders and provides neck and back support with different amounts of Bubble Wrap cushioning. Haas received a $10,000 U.S. savings bond.

first appeared: 8/23/2009

Established in 1867 by Reuben Dellinger, Dellinger Grist Mill on Cane Creek near Bakersville (pop. 357) continues to grind corn into cornmeal and grits under the direction of another generation of Dellingers.

first appeared: 8/9/2009

When Kristen Dalton, 22, of Wilmington (pop. 75,838), was crowned Miss USA in April, she continued the family's tiara-wearing tradition. Her mother was Miss North Carolina in 1982, and her sister served as Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2008.

first appeared: 7/26/2009

—Founded in 1865, Shaw University in Raleigh is the first historically black college in the South.

first appeared: 7/12/2009

—Polk County (pop. 18,324) is known for its mild mountainside temperatures created by a "thermal belt." Warm air settles and creates cooler temperatures in summer and warmer temperatures in winter.

first appeared: 6/28/2009

—The first female in the United States to be elected chief justice of a state supreme court was Susie Marshall Sharp, elected in 1974 to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. She was born in 1907 in Rocky Mount (pop. 55,893).

first appeared: 6/14/2009

—Herman Warden Lay, born in 1909 in Charlotte, started his snack chip empire in 1932 driving his Model A truck to deliver snack foods in the Nashville, Tenn., area for Barrett Food Products Co. In the late 1930s, he bought the company and changed the name to H.W. Lay & Co., which in 1961 merged with the Dallas-based Frito Co. to become Frito-Lay Inc.

first appeared: 5/31/2009

—The state operates three aquariums, located at Pine Knoll Shores (pop. 1,524), Fort Fisher at Kure Beach (pop. 1,507), and on Roanoke Island near Manteo (pop. 1,052).

first appeared: 5/17/2009

—Rare gemstones in the rough can be found at the Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine in Franklin (pop. 3,490), where the public is permitted to prospect.

first appeared: 5/3/2009

–The largest privately owned pickle company in the United States is Mt. Olive Pickle Company, founded in 1926, at the corner of Cucumber and Vine in Mount Olive (pop. 4,567).

first appeared: 4/19/2009

—The state's four national forests-Pisgah, Nantahala, Uwharrie and Croatan-cover more than 1.2 million acres.

first appeared: 4/5/2009

—Sajith M. Wickramasekara and Andrew Y. Guo, both 17 and seniors at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, won the $100,000 top team prize last year in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. The winners' genetics research has the potential to identify new cancer drugs and improve existing ones.

first appeared: 3/22/2009

—Wilmington (pop. 75,838) was one of the first cities in the United States to permanently switch all television broadcasting from analog to digital. The city converted last September.

first appeared: 3/8/2009

—The state’s first female governor, former Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, 61, was elected last November. She also made history as the first female lieutenant governor.

first appeared: 2/22/2009

—The Museum of the Alphabet at the JAARS Center in Waxhaw (pop. 2,625) highlights the story of alphabet makers from ancient to modern times and exhibits samples of scripts from around the world.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

—The state’s largest county in terms of land is Robeson County, which encompasses 949 square miles. The most populated is Mecklenburg County, with 695,454 residents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

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