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Raleigh
Capital of North Carolina, the "City of Oaks"
Raleigh, like a handful of other American capitals, was created on purpose to be the seat of government — the state bought land in 1792 in the wooded Piedmont and laid out a planned city, named for Sir Walter Raleigh. Set on rolling, oak-shaded hills between the coastal plain and the mountains, it earned the nickname "City of Oaks" for the tree canopy that still shades its streets.
Raleigh anchors one corner of the Research Triangle, a fast-growing region of universities and technology that has made it one of the booming metros of the Sun Belt. The surrounding Piedmont is gently rolling red-clay country, midway between the Atlantic beaches to the east and the Blue Ridge to the west.