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North Carolina
The Tar Heel State, from the Blue Ridge to the Outer Banks
North Carolina spans three sharply different worlds from west to east. The mountains come first — the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, the highest in the eastern United States, where Mount Mitchell reaches 6,684 feet (2,037 m), the loftiest peak east of the Mississippi. Then the rolling red-clay Piedmont, the populous heart of the state holding Charlotte and the Research Triangle. Finally the flat Coastal Plain runs out to the Atlantic and the Outer Banks, a long, fragile chain of barrier islands.
The Outer Banks are the state's most dramatic feature — thin ribbons of sand standing miles offshore, taking the brunt of Atlantic storms and shifting with every hurricane. The treacherous shoals off Cape Hatteras earned the name "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Behind them spread the broad sounds, among the largest enclosed coastal waters on the East Coast. From the cool spruce-fir forests of the highest summits to the windblown dunes of the barrier islands, North Carolina packs an unusual range of geography into a single state.
Economy
North Carolina has transformed from a textile, tobacco, and furniture economy into one led by banking and technology. Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York, and the Research Triangle around Raleigh and Durham is a major hub of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and research universities. Agriculture - especially hogs and poultry - and a growing film industry round out a fast-growing Sun Belt economy.
Politics
North Carolina carries 16 electoral votes and is one of the country's genuine swing states, decided by narrow margins and usually tilting slightly Republican in recent presidential elections. The booming, Democratic-leaning urban crescent from Charlotte through the Research Triangle is balanced against the more Republican rural and small-town regions.