I Love North Carolina

Posted on by Joyful2bee

I was born and grew up in South Carolina but have spent the last 39 years of my life in North Carolina. Since North and South Carolina once were one state I consider myself a Carolinian. The previous name of South and North Carolina, “Carolina,” was a tribute to King Charles I of England. Later, in 1792, Carolina became North⁶ Carolina and South Carolina.
I have many memories, as a child, of family trips to Brevard and Asheville, Sunday afternoons when I lived in Greenville, SC. The trip there was a true joy for me because of the mountains. The view was fantastic.
My father loved to drive, and I think he really enjoyed navigating the curves of the mountain roads. I remember wondering, as a child, how the roads circled up to the top of the mountains and yet connected to the next mountain over. There were no bridges to drive across. Later, I learned the roads curved between the mountains.
The amazing views from the mountains were always a highlight of those trips and future visits to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I remember my father telling us, as we took a “hair-pin” turn, “Look, you can see the back end of the car as we take the sharp curve.” By the way, our cars were little ones for the most part. So you can visualize our trusting little minds looking to see if we could see the back of the car around the bend following us.
Later, I married, moved away, but returned to an area near Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where we had our first son. I worked in a hospital ICU/CCU there for 12 years. We were close enough to the mountains for occasional day trips there. But we were at the base of the Appalachians. Driving on the curving, steep mountain highways was still quite a thrill.
We noticed on the steepest parts of the mountains, there were short drive off points with a huge hill of sand or dirt at intervals. It was scary to find out they were emergency stopping sites for drivers of 18 wheelers, in case their brakes gave out driving down the mountain! I am sure a car could use them too.
People who drove down the mountain with their foot on the brake continuously, sometimes burned their brakes out because the hill was so steep to go down. To prevent this from happening the drivers were supposed to step on the brakes enough to slow way down periodically to keep the speed safe; and under the speed that could send them flying off the side of the mountain road!
Later, as an adult. I actually lived about 30 miles south of Asheville, near Tryon, NC. That was where 100 plus other people and my family survived a genuine blizzard. You can read that story here:
https://joyful2beeblogs.com/2024/03/22/the-blizzard-of-1993/
My husband, first son and I lived there for only a year or so. Then we moved to a place called Mamers, NC. I finally saw first hand what tobacco farming looked like and how the plants grew after the soil was plowed into very steep little furrows and fertilized with turkey manure. Here is a link for an article I wrote about the lives of tobacco farmers:in an upcoming post: https://joyful2beeblogs.com/2023/02/12/my-article-for-candid-slice-has-1000-shares/
Then we moved to historic Fuquay-Varina; two small towns joined to make one. Both rich in its own history and lore. I wrote about some of the history of Fuquay-Varina and gave help in pronouncing its name. https://joyful2beeblogs.com/2023/10/13/love-letters-and-healing-springs-the-story-of-fuquay-varina/
Two of my friends and I love to travel to the beaches of North Carolina. The beaches vary in adjoining terrain, but most have sea oats and sand spanned by walkways from the roads or motels to the beach. The scenery is always wonderful for photographers like myself. Sunsets, seagulls, museums, and state park aquariums are available.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
In Manteo, NC, there is a play about the landing and settling of the Lost Colony. Nearby Kill Devil Hill, not far from Manteo, is the Wright Brother’s Museum of First Flight, where the brothers flight is memorialized by a lovely museum.
The Elizabethan Gardens are also available nearby to the above attractions. There, you can see the site where the Roanoke Colony landed and the oldest Live Oak believed to have been there when the Roanoke settlers arrived in 1595.

Very old Live Oak at Elizabethan Gardens
There is also the ever growing and ever delightful Asheboro Zoo. Usually a friend and I visit it at least once a year. The zoo has acres of free-range land for the plains buffalo. Seals and polar bears have large areas to swim or maneuver around on. There are lions, wolves, alligators, and birds of many kinds in an aviary with all kinds of amazing plants and flowers and playgrounds for the little kids to play on, too. There is so much to see there!

Mother and baby at Asheboro Zoo
I’ve lived in NC since 1983. I now live near Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. There are amazing science, history, and art museums in the capital. There is often a festival or concert going on somewhere and, of course, football games between rivaling universities and all kinds of competitive games.
There are also water parks, huge shopping malls and all in one state. As you can see, there are so many things to do and see in North Carolina.
Oh, did I mention the wonderful sunrises and sunsets at the beaches.

Can you tell I love my second home state?

32 thoughts on “I Love North Carolina”

  1. Elaine,
    The photographs, combined with your beautiful style of words make me want to come and visit and have a nice chat watching the sunset together. 🙂
    Please have a gorgeous weekend! ❤

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  2. It is good to love where you live! I know NC is beautiful. I lived there for one year for a job that involved traveling all over the state. I would love to go back for a visit one day. Since my husband loves golf, i think he could enjoy it too!

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  3. I was stationed in Camp Lejeune not too long ago, and spent many weeks doing some active reserve training there. Also have some unforgettable memories of Myrtle Beach… 💓

    thanks for sharing, was a lot of fun to read and it took me back to some fun memories! peace 🙂

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    1. I am so pleased that you enjoyed it that much! It is a great place to live with so many activities and sights to see that I didn’t even mention!! Thank you!! Good luck in whatever you are doing now!

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              1. :DDDD My best friend in high school had a black version of that coat! The bloke with the cross is Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a priest holding a lot of firepower in that cross, haha XD Meryl and Milly were really cool insurance agents, lol.

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    1. Thank you. It is a state of mountains on one end and beaches on the other. Our weather is moderate in all seasons with occasional spikes enough to make it interesting. I have lived here since 1983.

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  6. I have lived in North Carolina several times during my life and have always loved it. Whether the Inner or Outer Banks, North Carolina is such a gem. I can remember many years ago going out to Emerald Isle and camping on the beach for the weekend and not seeing anyone else. Hard to imagine now, but still a beautiful place. Enjoy so much your photos. Thank you. All my best to you. Have a most excellent weekend.

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    1. Thank you, Johanna! Delighted that you enjoyed my photos. I am going to Carolina Beach two weekends from now. I too love the beach! That must have been an incredible experience to camp on the beach and hear the ocean at night! Thanks for sharing your experience!

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  8. Pingback: I Love North Carolina | Providing Inspiration,Hope,and Comfort. ORIGINAL WFH Photography Included.MY GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

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