In October 2024, James Taylor performed “Carolina in My Mind” live to a crowd of more than 82,000 at the Concert for Carolina, which raised upward of $24 million for Hurricane Helene relief. photograph by John Shearer/Getty Images Entertainment
In 1968, when James Taylor wrote “Carolina in My Mind” — for many, our unofficial state song — he wasn’t taking in the snowy silhouette of the Blue Ridge Mountains or strolling the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks. Rather, he was on the Spanish island of Ibiza, stranded overnight with no money for lodging. At the time, Taylor was living in London, making his first record in the same studio where The Beatles were working on what became known as their White Album. So many North Carolinians have connected with the sound of a homesick Taylor envisioning his native Chapel Hill, the gentle picking of his guitar and his warm, melodic voice immediately transporting us, wherever we are, to the state we love.
In Manteo, Roanoke Island Festival Park’s Elizabeth II (left) interprets the merchant vessels of the Roanoke voyages, while the Elizabethan Gardens (right) honor the lost colonists. photograph by Emily Chaplin & Chris Council, Chris Hannant
Ralph Lane, governor of the first colony established on the Outer Banks and then, later, Roanoke Island, was transfixed by North Carolina’s lush landscape. In a letter he composed to an ardent supporter of colonization in the New World, Lane said the trees on the island were superior to those of France, Spain, and Italy. He even went on to say that if the land had horses and cows like England, “no realme in Christendome were comparable to it.” In the dappled sunlight that shines through the branches of these Roanoke Island trees, Lane’s observations ring true: Standing here sure feels divine.
Anglers meet the dawn at Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier in Wrightsville Beach. photograph by Matthew Prensky/Coastline Photography
These words — first sung on a Broadway stage — have been crooned by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, including Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Although the lyrics have been adopted by many North Carolinians, it’s unclear which “Carolina” the German-born songwriter Gus Kahn was referring to. Kahn is credited with writing the lyrics to dozens of standards, including “It Had to Be You” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” In a 2013 interview with Andy Marx, Kahn’s grandson, WUNC tried to get a clear answer about the songwriter’s intentions. Marx asserted that, to the best of the family’s knowledge, his grandfather loved both Carolinas. But in our hearts, he was paying tribute to the Old North State.
Last year, Wolfpack fans celebrated the Men’s and Women’s Final Four basketball teams at Memorial Belltower. Thirty-one years earlier, Coach Jim Valvano announced the founding of the V Foundation for Cancer Research at the 1993 ESPY Awards. The organization has since raised more than $300 million for the cause. photograph by NC State University; Jim Valvano and Basketball Team, 0008472, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina; Manny Millan/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Former NC State University basketball coach Jim Valvano said these iconic words less than two months before he died of cancer in 1993. That year, Valvano was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards. There, he delivered a passionate 10-minute speech urging listeners to make the most of their lives by spending time laughing, thinking, and crying each day. Valvano was best known for leading the Wolfpack to a 54-52 NCAA National Championship victory in 1983. After Lorenzo Charles dunked a 30-foot shot launched by Dereck Whittenburg with mere seconds left in the game, Valvano ran onto the court to celebrate with his players, a legendary image in the history of North Carolina sports.
A rainbow arcs near Pilot Mountain, about 25 miles from Winston-Salem, where the late Dr. Maya Angelou taught at Wake Forest University. photograph by Michael Steed; J. Silkstone Photography; Portrait by Ken Bennett/Wake Forest University
In a MasterClass episode hosted by Oprah Winfrey, guest Maya Angelou began to sing a 19th-century African American song called “God Put a Rainbow in the Clouds.” The poet, civil rights activist, and Wake Forest University professor encouraged viewers to be “a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud.” Before speaking to the public or teaching a class or directing a film, Angelou said, she often reminded herself of those words. Angelou and Winfrey were longtime friends: In 1993, the talk-show host filmed a segment in Angelou’s Winston-Salem home, where they cooked and discussed the poet’s inspiration and work. Angelou died in 2014, but her uncanny ability to push for positivity in herself, her students, and the community she so loved lives on in each colorful arc across the North Carolina sky.
At their restaurants in Winterville and Raleigh, Sam Jones BBQ follows the eastern North Carolina tradition of whole-hog barbecue cooked over
a wood-fired pit. photograph by VisitNC.com
Go on, tell your neighbor or coworker or grocery store clerk which type of barbecue you fancy — chances are they, too, are going to have something to say on the subject. If Lexington-style is lauded, eastern-style traditionalists will argue that whole-hog, rather than pork shoulder, is the tried-and-true method. If you prefer the sweet, white eastern-style slaw, Lexington-style fans might counter that their tangy tomato-and-vinegar-based side is a better ’cue complement. John Shelton Reed, an author, former UNC professor, and barbecue aficionado, summed up these contentious opinions in Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue, co-authored with his late wife, Dale Volberg Reed. John has written or edited more than 20 books on Southern culture, his most recent publications focusing on barbecue specifically. And while he’s traveled the country tasting all types of ’cue, he confidently asserts that “good barbecue cooked entirely with wood is the gold standard by which all others are judged.”
Although she was raised in Johnston County (bottom), Ava Gardner’s first screen test for MGM was silent, hiding her Southern accent. She went on to achieve great fame in Hollywood, and her life has been memorialized at the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield. Photography courtesy of Johnston County Visitors Bureau
Ava Gardner was born on a tobacco and cotton farm in Grabtown, a rural Johnston County community located seven miles from Smithfield. On the precipice of the Great Depression, the family’s cotton gin and barn burned down, forcing her parents to get jobs as teachers and then run a boardinghouse. Gardner’s upbringing stands in juxtaposition to her Hollywood image — a bombshell beauty who captivated audiences with her dark, curly hair, full-lipped pout, and green eyes. In a 1982 interview with London’s Daily Express, the actress lamented how she’d been portrayed in the media, saying she would have traded in her fame for a happy, long-lasting marriage. She was known the world over, but she always took pride in being a homegrown North Carolina girl.
Sun-kissed tulips wave near the Old Well at UNC, where William Mead Prince once served as head of the art department. The illustrator contributed to many publications, including The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, and Collier’s. photograph by Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill; Historical photo in the William Meade Prince and Lillian Hughes Prince Papers #03660, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In terms of having North Carolina experiences, author and illustrator William Meade Prince checked a lot of boxes. He led the UNC art department, played Ananias Dare in The Lost Colony outdoor drama, and was related to a state governor. Prince’s 1950 autobiography, The Southern Part of Heaven, chronicling his experiences growing up in Chapel Hill, was named for a local tale about a former Franklin Street store owner. In the anecdote, the store owner, nearing death, asks a minister what heaven is like. The minister replies, “I believe Heaven must be a lot like Chapel Hill in the spring.”
On a 40-acre cotton farm in Cleveland County, Earl Scruggs began playing his dad’s open-back banjo at age 4. That same year, his father died, and later, in high school, Scruggs moved to Shelby to work at Lily Mills to support his family. Scruggs’s music and life had humble beginnings, but his three-finger picking style revolutionized banjo playing and bluegrass music. When he was presented with the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1996, he paid tribute to the inspiration for his music: the North Carolina foothills.
At the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, a bronze-and-steel sculpture commemorates the historic first flight on December 17, 1903. photograph by Chris Hannant; Portrait from Miscellaneous Items in High Demand Collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-108041)
In 1900, while researching information about attempts to fly, Wilbur Wright began corresponding with construction engineer Octave Chanute. Even though Chanute had written a book on flying machines and conducted his own experiments, none of his gliders had yet taken flight. Nonetheless, the Wright brothers found Chanute to be a source of great encouragement, and they wrote to him for 10 years. It was in Wilbur’s first letter to Chanute that he penned these famous words. At the start of the letter, Wilbur wrote, “For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man.” Three years later, he would run beside his brother, Orville, as their flying machine soared over the swirling sands in Kill Devil Hills, his affliction finally cured.
This story was published on Dec 30, 2024
Mark our words: Whether they nod to North Carolina or were penned by its residents, these notable, quotable passages remind us of the power of speech inspired by our state.
When one stream flows into another, the two chart a new course for the future — together.
When the weather outside is frightful, one chef serves loved ones dishes so delightful.
A historic Rose Bowl pitted Duke University against Oregon State in Durham. Then, in the dark days of World War II, those same football players — and a legendary coach — joined forces to fight for freedom.
