National North Carolina Day

by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy

Now, y’all know my five-, or maybe ten-year plan includes a move to the Carolinas. Will it happen? Prob’ly not. My desert roots run deep. Having said that, I do consider them my vacation home especially since I head out to Asheville every year for a quasi-family reunion known as the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

There’s Nothing Like Coming Home. . .

A lot of my people live in South Carolina, but it’s the beauty of the northern C we’re celebrating today.

Imagine my joy when I received my Daily Celebrations email and National North Carolina Day was listed for tomorrow. This Girl say wwhhhaaat?! I didn’t even know there was such a thing! Well sweeten my tea and bake me a biscuit!

Here’s a few things you may not know about the Tar Heel State:

There are 29 state parks. South Mountain is the largest, at around 87,000 acres. (Of course, I’m partial to Blue Ridge.)
The state flower is dogwood. The state tree is pine. The state bird is cardinal. The state insect is honeybee. The state reptile is eastern box turtle. The state gemstone is emerald.
It is the birth place of Virginia Dare, the first person born to born in America to English settlers
In 2013, the entire state population was less than 10 million. That’s roughly the same as Los Angeles.
In 1903, the Wright Brothers made history with the first manned self-propelled airplane flight from a cliff near Kitty Hawk.
One of the original thirteen colonies, North Carolina was admitted to statehood on November 21, 1789.
It was the first state to tell its delegates to vote for independence from Britain.
After the Revolutionary War, it developed an expansive slave plantation system. It was a major exporter of tobacco and cotton, even though the slave population was smaller than other states.
In 1861, North Carolina seceded from the United States with ten other states. This began the American Civil War. And while no major battles were fought in North Carolina, the state sent more soldiers to fight for the Confederacy than any other rebel state.

I’m pleased as punch that my second home has such rich history.

And let’s not forget the pizza.