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 50 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 50 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
It has been nicknamed the City of Oaks for its tree-lined streets ever since.
Q 02North Carolina's most populous city ranked where among all US cities at the 2020 census?
14th
It counted 874,579 people, and its metro area is the state's largest.
Q 03North Carolina became which numbered state when it ratified the US Constitution on 21 November 1789?
12th
It had earlier been the first colony to authorise its delegates to vote for independence, through the Halifax Resolves of April 1776.
Q 04The nickname 'Tar Heel' comes from North Carolina's historic prominence as a producer of what?
Pine tar and turpentine
Confederate soldiers adopted it proudly; one wrote in 1863 that Tar Heels 'stuck up like a sick kitten to a hot brick'.
Q 05The name Carolina honours which English king?
Charles I
King Charles II granted the territory to eight Lords Proprietors in 1663 and named it for his executed father.
Q 06North Carolina's state motto, Esse quam videri, means what?
To be, rather than to seem
It was adopted in 1893 and appears on the state seal; 'First in Flight' is on the licence plates.
Q 07How many colonists were on Roanoke Island in 1587 when the 'Lost Colony' vanished?
118
When Governor John White got back in 1590 the only clue was the word CROATOAN carved on a post.
Q 08Virginia Dare, who arrived on Roanoke Island on 18 August 1587, was the first what?
English person born in North America
She was the granddaughter of Governor John White and vanished with the rest of the colony.
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
It covered 120 feet; Wilbur's fourth flight later that day managed 59 seconds and 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
The original Flyer has hung in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum since 1948.
Q 12Mount Mitchell, the highest point in mainland America east of the Mississippi, stands how tall?
6,684 ft
Elisha Mitchell, the professor who first measured it, fell to his death at a nearby waterfall in 1857 while checking his figures.
Q 13The Outer Banks are a string of barrier islands roughly how long?
200 miles
Their shifting shoals have wrecked hundreds of ships, earning the coast the name Graveyard of the Atlantic; wild banker ponies still roam them.
Q 21The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789 and enrolled its first students in which year?
1795
That makes it one of the oldest public universities in the country; its Old Well is the campus symbol and Michael Jordan is its most famous alumnus.
Q 22Durham's Trinity College was renamed in 1924 for the father of which tobacco magnate?
James Buchanan Duke
It began in 1838 as Brown's Schoolhouse; the campus is dominated by a 210-foot chapel.
Q 23How many NCAA men's basketball championships did Duke win under Mike Krzyzewski?
Five
1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015; Coach K led the Blue Devils from 1980 to 2022 and retired with 1,202 wins.
Q 14Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the US, stands at what height?
198 feet
In 1999 the whole thing was jacked up and rolled 2,900 feet inland to escape the eroding shoreline.
Q 15In 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved how far inland to save it from the sea?
2,900 feet
The move left it 1,500 feet from the shoreline, about where it had stood when built in 1870.
Q 16Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground in June 1718 near which North Carolina town?
Beaufort
Five months later he was killed at Ocracoke and his head hung from the bowsprit of Lieutenant Maynard's sloop.
Q 17Blackbeard was killed at Ocracoke in 1718 by the crew of a Royal Navy lieutenant named what?
Robert Maynard
His real name was Edward Teach, or Thatch, and he reportedly wore lit slow-matches under his hat to terrify his victims.
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
Historians think the Mecklenburg Declaration is spurious, but the state has kept it on the flag and seal since 1885 anyway.
Q 20Which three universities give the Research Triangle its name?
NC State, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill
Research Triangle Park, in the middle of them, 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
Duke and North Carolina did not meet in the NCAA Tournament until 2022, when the Tar Heels ended Krzyzewski's career.
Q 25Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937 in which North Carolina city?
Winston-Salem
Vernon Rudolph bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef; the company moved its headquarters to Charlotte in 2017.
Q 26Pepsi was invented in 1893 by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in which North Carolina town?
New Bern
He first sold it as Brad's Drink and renamed it Pepsi-Cola in 1898 after the digestive enzyme pepsin.
Q 27What was Pepsi originally called when it went on sale in 1893?
Brad's Drink
The Pepsi-Cola name arrived in 1898.
Q 28Cheerwine claims to be the oldest soft-drink company still run by what?
The same family
Despite the name it contains no wine or alcohol; it is just unusually fizzy and tastes of black cherry.
Q 29The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the largest privately owned house in the US, has how many rooms?
250
George Vanderbilt built it between 1889 and 1895 with 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces; his descendants still own it.
Q 30Who designed the grounds of the Biltmore Estate?
Frederick Law Olmsted
He also laid out Central Park; Richard Morris Hunt designed the house itself.