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Author: Jonathan Martin

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Vance, Robert; Carson, Samuel; Duel; Dueling; Henderson County

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Robert Vance and Samuel Carson, two North Carolina natives and politicians, dueled on November 5, 1827. Although the General Assembly had outlawed the practice of dueling in 1802 after the Stanly-Spaight duel of 1802, Vance and Carson agreed to settle a political dispute with pistols. During the duel, Carson shot and wounded Vance who died a day later.  Although Carson became somewhat of a pariah in North Carolina, he later helped create the Republic of Texas.

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Blount, Thomas; Revolutionary War; Congress; representative

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Born at Blount Hall on May 10, 1759, Thomas Blount served during the Revolutionary War and he was captured and sent to England during the conflict. After the war, Blount became a trader in Edgecombe County. Blount served in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 12th U.S. Congresses as a North Carolina representative.

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Chowanoac

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Once the strongest Algonquian tribe in North Carolina, the Chowanoac, or “people at the south,” thrived in areas that now make up the Bertie, Chowan, Gates, and Hertford Counties. Ralph Lane and other English explorers first encountered the tribe in 1586. Between 1666 and 1676, several conflicts led to the downfall of the once powerful Native American group. By the 1750s, the Chowanoac had sold most of their land holdings to English colonists.

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Griffith, Andy; Mt. Airy; Pilot Mountain; Surry County

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Born on June 1, 1926 in Mount Airy, Andy Griffith studied at UNC-Chapel Hill where he majored in music. Griffith worked as a teacher for several years before starting his career as an actor, starring in the play No Time for Sergeants, a Broadway show that opened in 1955. Five years later, Griffith starred in his most famous role as Sheriff Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith starred in several other television movies and shows, including Matlock before his retirement to Dare County. The actor died on July 3, 2012 from heart complications.

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MacDonald, Flora

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The subject of Scottish folklore and myth, Flora MacDonald assisted Prince Charles Stuart in his escape from King George II during the Jacobite rebellion. In 1774, Flora and her family moved to the North Carolina colony, and Flora’s husband and son fought for the Loyalists during the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge. The Jacobite heroine returned to her native Scotland in 1779 where she passed away in 1790.

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Chowan County, Courthouse

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As the oldest courthouse in North Carolina, the historic Chowan County Courthouse was constructed in 1767 in Edenton. Joseph Hewes, Samuel Johnston, and other important North Carolina Patriots used the courthouse during the 1770s and 1780s.  With the Cupola and Barker House, the Chowan County Courthouse remains an important historical structure and popular attraction in Edenton. Today, the courthouse is the oldest government building in use in the state.

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Martin, Josiah; Royal Governor; Tryon

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Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, was born in Ireland in 1737. Due to his family’s connection to the British crown, Martin replaced Governor Tryon in 1771 as royal governor of North Carolina. Martin assumed a difficult position because Patriot colonists in North Carolina had long resented overwhelming British taxation and the War of Regulation remained fresh in the colonist’s minds. In May 1775, Martin fled the Tryon Palace in New Bern, and he joined Lord Cornwallis in his efforts to regain control of the North Carolina colony.

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Simkins, Cone, 1963, Supreme Court

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In Simkins v. Cone (1963), the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that two Greensboro hospitals had discriminated against African American doctors and patients. Before the case, most North Carolina hospitals were segregated, and those designated solely for black patients offered only sub-optimal healthcare. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and Simkins became the first time a federal court applied the Fourteenth Amendment to private racial discrimination.

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Haywood, Jr., William H.; Senate; Democrat

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Born in Raleigh in 1801, William H. Haywood, Jr., served as a U.S. Senator from 1843 until 1846. He studied at the University of North Carolina, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and he later practiced in Raleigh. As a Democrat, Haywood served in the state legislature until moving to the U.S. Senate. Haywood resigned from office in 1846 and he practiced law until his death in 1852.

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WBTV

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Operated by the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation in the Charlotte area, WBTV was the first television station in the Carolinas.  The station aired its first program on July 15, 1949, but the Greensboro-based WFMY-TV soon followed with its first broadcast in the months to come. WBTV was the first television station to videotape episodes, to mount and operate a live camera in a NASCAR race car, and the first to use closed captioning during evening news programs.