North Carolina Trivia
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North Carolina was first in flight, first to call for independence and first to lose an entire colony, and this quiz covers all of it in 100 free questions with answers: Roanoke and Virginia Dare, the Wright brothers at Kill Devil Hills, Blackbeard's last stand at Ocracoke, the Halifax Resolves and the two dates on the state flag. Then there is the geography and the culture people actually argue about: Mount Mitchell and Kuwohi, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse that was rolled inland, the Venus flytrap's tiny home range, the Biltmore Estate, Duke versus Carolina, Krispy Kreme, Pepsi and Cheerwine, Mayberry, the Reed gold nugget used as a doorstop, and why anyone is called a Tar Heel. Easy openers for visitors, harder ones for people who know their state dog from their state beverage. Every answer has been checked against a documented source and each question shows its citation and a short explanation after you answer.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01North Carolina's planned capital, established in 1792, borrowed its street grid from the 1682 plan of which city?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia: William Christmas laid out Raleigh in 1792 on a grid copied from William Penn's 1682 plan for Philadelphia, with a central square for the Capitol.
Q 02In which North Carolina city did the 1960 Woolworth's lunch-counter sit-ins begin?
Greensboro
Greensboro: on 1 February 1960 four students from North Carolina A&T sat down at the whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter, sparking sit-ins across the South.
Q 03North Carolina became which numbered state when it ratified the US Constitution on 21 November 1789?
12th
North Carolina was the 12th state, ratifying on 21 November 1789 after first rejecting the Constitution in 1788 for lacking a bill of rights.
Q 04The nickname 'Tar Heel' comes from North Carolina's historic prominence as a producer of what?
Pine tar and turpentine
Pine tar and turpentine: colonial North Carolina led the naval-stores trade from its longleaf pines, and Confederate soldiers later wore the 'Tar Heel' name with pride.
Q 05The name Carolina honours which English king?
Charles I
Charles I: the 1629 Heath patent called the land Carolana for Charles I, and in 1663 his son Charles II kept the name when granting it to eight Lords Proprietors.
Q 06North Carolina's state motto, Esse quam videri, means what?
To be, rather than to seem
Esse quam videri means 'To be, rather than to seem'; adopted in 1893, it comes from Cicero's De Amicitia and appears on the state seal.
Q 07Roughly how many colonists were on Roanoke Island in 1587 when the 'Lost Colony' vanished?
118
About 118 colonists, including women and children, were left on Roanoke in 1587; Governor John White sailed for supplies and found the settlement deserted when he returned in 1590.
Q 08Virginia Dare, who arrived on Roanoke Island on 18 August 1587, was the first what?
English person born in North America
Virginia Dare was the first English person born in North America; her grandfather, Governor John White, left for supplies days later and found the colony gone in 1590.
Q 09What single word was found carved into the palisade of the abandoned Roanoke colony in 1590?
CROATOAN
White read it as meaning the settlers had moved to Croatoan Island, but a storm stopped him from checking.
Q 10How long did Orville Wright's first powered flight last on 17 December 1903?
12 seconds
Orville's first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet; Wilbur's fourth flight that day stayed up 59 seconds for 852 feet.
Q 11The Wright brothers' first flights took place at a spot now inside which town, four miles south of Kitty Hawk?
Kill Devil Hills
Kill Devil Hills: the brothers flew from the sand flats below Big Kill Devil Hill on 17 December 1903, where the Wright Brothers National Memorial now stands.
Q 12Mount Mitchell, the highest point in mainland America east of the Mississippi, stands how tall?
6,684 ft
Mount Mitchell rises 6,684 feet; Elisha Mitchell, the professor who first measured it, died in 1857 in a fall at a nearby waterfall while checking his figures.
Q 13The Outer Banks are a string of barrier islands roughly how long?
200 miles
The Outer Banks run roughly 200 miles along the North Carolina coast; their shifting shoals have wrecked hundreds of ships, earning the name Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Q 21The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789 and enrolled its first students in which year?
1795
UNC opened to students in 1795, the first public university in the US to do so; Hinton James of Wilmington was the first student to arrive, in February 1795.
Q 22Durham's Trinity College was renamed in 1924 for the father of which tobacco magnate?
James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke's 1924 endowment turned Trinity College into Duke University, named in memory of his father Washington Duke; the school began in 1838 as Brown's Schoolhouse.
Q 23How many NCAA men's basketball championships did Duke win under Mike Krzyzewski?
Five
Five: 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015. Coach K led the Blue Devils from 1980 to 2022 and retired with 1,202 career wins.
Q 14Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the US, stands at what height?
198 feet
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stands about 198 feet tall, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States; its black-and-white spiral has marked Diamond Shoals since 1870.
Q 15In 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved how far inland to save it from the sea?
2,900 feet
It was rolled 2,900 feet inland over 23 days in summer 1999, leaving it roughly as far from the surf as when it was built in 1870.
Q 16Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground in June 1718 near which North Carolina town?
Beaufort
Beaufort: the Queen Anne's Revenge grounded on a sandbar at Beaufort Inlet in June 1718; the wreck was located in 1996 and has yielded cannons and anchors.
Q 17Blackbeard was killed at Ocracoke in 1718 by the crew of a Royal Navy lieutenant named what?
Robert Maynard
Robert Maynard, a Royal Navy lieutenant sent by Virginia's governor, killed Blackbeard (Edward Teach) in a boarding fight at Ocracoke on 22 November 1718.
Q 18The Halifax Resolves of 12 April 1776 made North Carolina the first colony to do what?
Empower its delegates to vote for independence
The date is written on the state flag alongside 20 May 1775, the disputed Mecklenburg Declaration.
Q 19Which document does the 20 May 1775 date on the North Carolina flag commemorate?
The Mecklenburg Declaration
The Mecklenburg Declaration, supposedly adopted in Charlotte on 20 May 1775, is widely doubted by historians, yet its date has appeared on the state flag since 1861.
Q 20Which three universities give the Research Triangle its name?
NC State, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill
NC State in Raleigh, Duke in Durham and UNC Chapel Hill form the triangle; Research Triangle Park, founded between them in 1959, is the largest research park in the United States.
Q 24Duke's basketball student section, packed into the team's historic home arena, is known as what?
The Cameron Crazies
The Cameron Crazies fill the student section of Cameron Indoor Stadium, opened in 1940, and are known for camping out in 'Krzyzewskiville' before the North Carolina game.
Q 25Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937 in which North Carolina city?
Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem: Vernon Rudolph opened the first Krispy Kreme there on 13 July 1937, selling doughnuts from a rented building on South Main Street.
Q 26Pepsi was invented in 1893 by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in which North Carolina town?
New Bern
New Bern: Caleb Bradham first mixed the drink at his Middle Street pharmacy in 1893, and the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated there in 1902.
Q 27Which is the oldest incorporated town in North Carolina?
Bath
Bath was incorporated in 1705, the first town in North Carolina; it sits on the Pamlico River and was briefly home to Blackbeard in 1718.
Q 28Cheerwine, the cherry-flavoured soft drink created in 1917, comes from which North Carolina city?
Salisbury
Salisbury: L.D. Peeler created Cheerwine there in 1917 during a wartime sugar shortage; the name nods to its wine-dark colour, though it contains no alcohol.
Q 29The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the largest privately owned house in the US, has how many rooms?
250
Biltmore has 250 rooms, including 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces; George Vanderbilt built it between 1889 and 1895 with nearly 179,000 square feet of floor space.
Q 30Who designed the grounds of the Biltmore Estate?
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted, co-designer of New York's Central Park, planned Biltmore's gardens and forests as his last major project; Richard Morris Hunt designed the house.