NORTH CAROLINA , though the most
industrialized of the Southern states, remains relatively rural
and poor, with just six million people spread over an area larger
than England. It suffered heavily during the Civil War
, and Reconstruction brought mixed fortunes:
although poverty and hostility were still endemic the Democrats,
once they regained control in 1870, were effective in stamping
out the Ku Klux Klan. Since then there have been parallel traditions
of radical black, and white racist, activity. Greensboro
, for example, where Jesse Jackson served his
political apprenticeship, was the site of the 1960 lunch-counter
sit-in by black students, and also of the Greensboro Massacre
of 1979, when Klansmen killed five people at a Communist Workers
Party demonstration.
Geographically, North Carolina breaks down into
three distinct areas - running from east to west, the coast,
the Piedmont and the mountains - that help make it one of the
more interesting states to tour around. For visitors, the coast
is the most promising area, with good beaches, beautiful landscapes
and a fascinating history. The inner coast consists largely of
the less developed Albemarle Peninsula , with
colonial Edenton nearby. The central Piedmont
is dominated by manufacturing cities, and by the academic institutions
of the prestigious Research Triangle: Raleigh
, the state capital, is home to North Carolina State University.
Duke University is at Durham , and the University
of North Carolina at trendy Chapel Hill. Winston-Salem
combines tobacco culture and Moravian heritage, while Charlotte
bills itself as the next boom city of the South, though for the
moment it's distinguished by little but its downtown skyscrapers.
In the mountains , one of the most stunning stretches
of Appalachia, the only towns of any size, Boone
and Asheville , are linked by the spectacular
Blue Ridge Parkway , while Great Smoky
Mountains National Park overlaps the border with Tennessee.
