Originally from Sanford, N.C., Jonathan Martin grew up with a love for all things North Carolina, especially the state’s history. He graduated from Grace Christian High School and attended Campbell University as an undergraduate and then attended its law school. For two years (around 2011), Jonathan interned with John Locke and wrote numerous articles for the North Carolina History Project. He is currently a civil litigation attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina. When he isn’t in court, he’s busy keeping up with his wife, Christina, and their son, Augustus, and trying to discover a new park or museum throughout the Old North State.”
Jonathan Martin
North Carolina History Project
The Great Wagon Road
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.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Stretching nearly 470 miles from the Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is a popular tourist attraction. In 1912, Colonel Joseph Pratt had an idea for a mountainous parkway; however, funding issues contributed to its intermittent construction. The Blue Ridge Parkway was completed in 1987 with the construction of the Linn Cover Viaduct.
Vance-Carson Duel of 1827
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.