1. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the oldest State University in the United States and ranked the 5th best public university in the country.
2. In 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first successful powered flight by man at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk.
3. High Point is known as the Furniture Capital of the World.
4. #1 Hottest Job Market (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), 2004, Business 2.0.
5. The Outer Banks of NC boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.
6. Whitewater Falls in Transylvania County is the highest waterfall in the eastern United States.
#2 Most Educated City, US Census Bureau-American Community Survey, 2004, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC.
7. Cape Hatteras is the largest lighthouse ever to be moved due to erosion problems.
8. The University of North Carolina's mascot, the Tarheels, is a nickname for North Carolinians that supposedly came from the days when NC produced a lot of tar, and someone saw a set of footprints made by someone who had stepped in the tar.
9. Havelock is home of Marine Base "Cherry Point." It is the largest air base in the Marine Corps.
#1 City with the Happiest Workers, Hudson Employment Index, 2004, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC.
10. North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation.
11. The first English colony in America was located on Roanoke Island. Walter Raleigh founded it. The colony mysteriously vanished with no trace except for the word "Croatoan" scrawled on a nearby tree.
12. Mount Mitchell in the Blue Ridge Mountains is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. It towers 6,684 feet above sea level.
13. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts was founded in Winston-Salem in 1937.
14. #1 Best Place to Live, MSN House & Home, 2003, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC.
15. The Venus Fly-Trap is native to Hampstead, NC.
16. The first miniature golf course was built in Fayetteville, NC.
17. Winston-Salem was created when the two towns Winston and Salem combined.
18. The Biltmore Estate in Ashville is America's largest privately owned home, and includes a 255-room chateau, an award-winning winery and extensive gardens.
19. #1 Best Place to Live & Work, Employment Review Magazine, 2003, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC.
20. IBM's largest employment facility is in Research Triangle Park,NC.
21. Fontana Dam in Graham County, NC is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States, at 480 feet high.
22. Many people believe that North Carolina was the first state to declare independence from England with the Mecklenburg Declaration of 1775.
23. Grandfather Mountain, highest peak in the Blue Ridge, is the only private park in the world designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve.
24. The Mile-High Swinging Bridge near Linville is 5,305 feet above sea level. The bridge actually hangs about 80 feet above the ground.
25. Pepsi was invented and first served in New Bern in 1898.
26. Beech Mountain is Eastern America's highest town at 5,506 ft above sea level.
27. Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, was born in the Waxsaws area on the border of North and South Carolina.
28. Arnold Palmer recognized as the player whose aggressive play and winning personality raised golf to national attention, honed his skills on the championship golf team of Wake Forest University.
29. James K. Polk, born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, was the eleventh President of the United States.
30. Hiram Rhoades Revels, born in Fayetteville in 1822, was the first African-American member of the United States Congress.
31. Andrew Johnson started his career as a tailor's apprentice in Raleigh, North Carolina and rose to lead in the reuniting of the nation as the seventeenth President of the United States.
32. Saluda, North Carolina is located at the top of the Saluda Grade. The crest of the steepest standard gauge mainline railroad in the United States.
33. State Motto: Esse quam videri (To be rather than to seem).
34. The town of Wendell town was named for the American writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes.
35. North Carolina was the first state in the nation to establish a state museum of art.
36. North Carolina was one of the first states in the U.S. to establish a state symphony. The North Carolina Symphony, founded in 1943, currently performs nearly 185 full-orchestra concerts each year.
37. North Carolina has the largest state-maintained highway system in the United States. The state's highway system currently has 77,400 miles of roads.
38. The General Assembly of 1987 adopted milk as the official state beverage.
39. The oldest town in the state is Bath, incorporated in 1705.
40. Raleigh #1 Best Place to Live Southern Region, 2000, Money Magazine.
41. Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville on March 7, 1914.
42. White Lake near Elizabethtown is very unique in that it has a white sandy bottom and is blessed with crystal clear waters. It has also been labeled as the "Nation's Safest Beach." It is truly a child's paradise in that there are no currents, no tides, no hazardous depressions or real dangers of any kind to swimmers.
43. North Carolina has 1,500 lakes of 10 acres or more in size and 37,000 miles of fresh water streams.
44. Dellview is the smallest town with a population of 16 and regularly competes for the honor of smallest incorporated town in the U.S.
45. “The Triangle”,consisting of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill claims the highest percentage, per capita, of residents holding undergraduate and graduate college degrees in the nation.
The Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in the U.S.

Clay Aiken, singer, Raleigh
Fantasia Barrino, singer, Winston-Salem
Braxton Bragg, soldier, Warrenton
Robert C. Byrd, politician, North Wilkesboro
David Brinkley, TV newscaster, Wilmington
Howard Cosell, sportscaster, Winston-Salem
Elizabeth Hanford Dole, public official, Salisbury
James B. Duke, industrialist, Durham
Donna Fargo, country music, Mount Airy
Roberta Flack, singer, Black Mountain
Ava Gardner, actress, Smithfield
Richard Gatling, inventor, Hertford County
Billy Graham, evangelist, Charlotte
Kathryn Grayson, singer, actress, Winston-Salem
Andy Griffith, actor, Mount Airy
Jesse Helms, politician, Monroe
O. Henry, writer, Greensboro
Andrew Johnson, U.S. president, Raleigh
Charles Kuralt, TV journalist, Wilmington
Dolley Payne Madison, first lady, Guliford County
Ronni Milsap, country music singer, Robinsville
Thelonious Monk, pianist, Rocky Mount
Edward R. Murrow, commentator, Greensboro
Floyd Patterson, boxer, Waco
Richard Petty, auto racer, Level Cross
James K. Polk, U.S. president, Mechlenburg
William Sydney Porter, author, Greensboro
Soupy Sales, comedian, Wake Forest
Earl Scruggs, bluegrass musician, Flint Hill
Randy Travis, musician, Charlotte
John Scott Trotter, orchestra leader, Charlotte
Thomas Clayton Wolfe, author, Asheville
Source: 50states.com