In 1972 the grave of a Native American woman was unearthed in Stokes County by anthropologists from UNC-Chapel Hill. Later, using forensic reconstruction, the Office of State Archaeology and the NC Museum of History re-created the woman's appearance.
Mary Riggs became the mistress of Somerset Place, a large plantation on the shores of Lake Phelps in Washington County, when she married Josiah Collins III. Later, Sarah Rebecca Jones Collins took charge of Somerset after Riggs suffered a stroke.
Colonial North Carolina's scattered rural population played games that were individualized or for small groups; among these were marbles, dolls, whittling, leapfrog, cards, hide-and-seek, and hopscotch.
Such recreational activities as marbles, cards, dancing, swimming, and fishing enabled slaves in North Carolina to mitigate the difficulties and harshness of their lives in ways that were neither violent nor competitive.
Between 1900 and 1960 the automobile significantly changed recreation in North Carolina by making travel cheaper and easier, recreation sites more accessible, and support businesses, such as gift shops and restaurants, more widespread.
Chapel Hill native Estelle Lawson Page never took formal golfing lessons, yet six years after learning the game she was one of America's top women golfers.
In the early 1950s, Eckie Jordan and Eunie Futch were key players on Winston-Salem's Hanes Hosiery women's basketball team, which won 102 straight games and three national AAU championships.
The state's Coastal Plain is divided into three sub regions: the Albemarle, middle Coastal Plain, and the Cape Fear. Each area is different geographically, and each had a different settlement history.
Before English colonists arrived, Native Americans had lived in the state 12,000 years. Thirty tribes totaling 100,000 occupied the state in the late 1500s, but colonial wars and diseases rapidly decreased that number to 20,000 in 1800.
Though land was cheap, rugged mountains, the lack of good roads, political conflict with the east, and isolation were challenges to those who came to the mountains to farm, start businesses, or search for gold.
Whites left the state in the 19th Century because of farm problems and poor state government, while lack of opportunities and a repressive environment caused Blacks to leave. As conditions improved for both, the need to leave lessened.
Following the Great Wagon Road and the Great Indian Trading Path, settlers began moving into the Piedmont shortly before the Revolution. Despite Indian warfare and the Regulator conflict, the best land was occupied by farms and towns by the 1770s.
From 1980 to 1990 about 400,000 people moved to the state. New jobs and industries in the three largest metropolitan areas attracted Blacks to return, as well as large numbers of Asians and Hispanics. In-state residents moved to urban from rural areas.
By the end of the Civil War, over 331,000 slaves had been freed statewide. Although they were free, life for former slaves was not easy. Opportunities were limited, and in the years following emancipation, progress was slow.