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Early America

The Great Wagon Road

1664-1775

The Great Wagon Road was an important throroughfare in colonial and early America. Northern colonists searching for farmland began traveling the road in the 1720s, and thousands others followed suit during the mid-eighteenth century. The Moravians, in particular, migrated into North Carolina via the pathway, and the main road prompted the establishment of Charlotte and Salisbury.

Colonial North Carolina

The Mecklenburg Resolves

1664-1775

On May 31, 1775, the county of Mecklenburg, North Carolina signed 20 resolutions or “Resolves.” They start by saying that a recent address by Parliament had stated that “the American Colonies are declared to be in an actual State of rebellion.” Whereas by an Address presented to his Majesty by both Houses of Parliament in February last,...

Early America

The Battle of Kings Mountain

1776-1835

The Battle of Kings Mountain took place on Oct. 7, 1780. A Patriot victory, it was a turning point of General Charles Cornwallis's Southern Campaign and of the revolution itself.

Battle of Hayes Pond

The Battle of Hayes Pond took place on January 18, 1958. A clash or skirmish more than a battle, the event pitted two groups against one another—a Ku Klux Klan rally of about 50 men and a spontaneous gathering of about 500 Lumbee Indians. The place was near a pond close to Maxton, North Carolina,...

Revolution Era

The Mecklenburg Declaration (or Meck Deck)

1664-1775

The date May 20, 1775, is on North Carolina's state flag to commemorate the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of 1775. But was there really such a declaration?

Colleges and Universities

High Point University

1836-1865

 

Environment

Ben Cone, Jr., and the Endangered Species Act

1946-1990

One of the species that the Endangered Species Act was supposed to protect was the red-cockaded woodpecker. But the law's negative incentives led Ben Cone, Jr., to cut down trees that might harbor the woodpecker.

Tobacco in North Carolina History, Part II

Note: This entry continues the story of tobacco in North Carolina, beginning in the late 1800s. Part I tells the story of North Carolina tobacco from the time of its discovery by Europeans. Cigarette consumption in the U.S. reached 2.19 billion cigarettes in 1889. That was five times what it was before James Duke introduced...

The Tobacco Industry in North Carolina, Part I

Today, tobacco is known to be a dangerous product, and its use around the country has been on the decline for many years. Yet tobacco has been a crop associated with North Carolina since Sir Walter Raleigh took tobacco to England (from Virginia) in 1586. Starting around 1880, tobacco farming, and especially the manufacture of...