An Our State Playlist: The Watsons: 40 Favorites

Forty songs that give a glimpse of Doc Watson’s life and legacy as an Appalachian folk singer, gifted musician, and pioneering flat-picker who created a distinctly signature North Carolina sound.
Acrocanthosaurus skeleton display at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

State of Wonder

Hoping to recapture the excitement of a school field trip, a writer plays tourist in her own backyard. In our capital city, she finds treasures that have been waiting nearby all along.

Dogwood blossom

Dogwoods

Come spring, North Carolinians celebrate the delicate blossoms that leaf out on dogwood trees with festivals and fanfare across the state.

Illustration of Shad Fish and a number 1 trophy

Best in Shad

When a beloved catch returns to North Carolina’s fresh waters to spawn, residents of a Pitt County town set their sights — and lines — on an annual spring celebration.

Video: Airlie Gardens

More than a century after a Gilded Age couple designed an elaborate estate in Wilmington, their legacy lives on for all to enjoy at Airlie Gardens.
Doc Watson playing his guitar in Deep Gap, NC

The First Family of NC Mountain Music

Doc Watson’s legendary flat-picking style helped define the sound of North Carolina. But he would’ve been the first to say that he was one link in a long tradition of folk and bluegrass. Raised in a musical home in Deep Gap, his influence branched out far beyond Watauga County, welcoming new generations of musicians into the fold.