Listen as the pages of the magazine come to life in the Storytellers podcast showcasing the voices of six Our State writers. Each podcast episode features a writer reading their column aloud, allowing each distinct voice to shine. Click below to listen to Brad read his column aloud. 

In October 1993, at the bicentennial celebration of the founding of UNC Chapel Hill, those in attendance at McCorkle Place saw a rare sight: flags representing all 100 North Carolina counties waving in the autumn breeze.

The sight was unusual for two reasons. For one thing, many counties in the United States don’t even have a flag. For another, official seals often overshadow flags as the most recognizable symbol of a county. Both facts made the display of flags at the bicentennial event even more stirring.

No one knows the reason behind North Carolina’s widespread affinity for county flags, but we know exactly where and when it started and who was responsible. According to Granville County native Jim Crawford, his aunt Elizabeth Hicks Hummel deserves the credit.

In 1964, Capt. Alfred L. Nicholson of the British Consulate in Norfolk, Virginia, visited Granville County and presented Elizabeth Hicks Hummel and T. Watkins Carrington with a replica of the Earl of Granville’s flag. Photography courtesy of Durham Herald Co. Newspaper Photograph Collection, Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill

In 1964, she was president of the Granville County Historical Society. That year, Hummel invited representatives of the British Consulate in Norfolk, Virginia, to the bicentennial celebration of the first Oxford Courthouse. The visitors presented their hosts with a replica of a unique and historic flag: that of John Carteret, second Earl Granville. Carteret was descended from one of the eight Lords Proprietors to whom King Charles II granted land in the Carolinas in 1663. His title became the basis for Granville County’s name in 1764.

Hummel thought the Earl of Granville’s flag — featuring four white diamonds on a red background — would make a fitting symbol for the county and petitioned county commissioners to act. On August 3, 1964, they did just that. The colorful banner became the first official county flag in the Old North State.

• • •

When Crawford thinks of his aunt, a certain expression comes to mind, one often used by politicians to describe legislators who work quietly and effectively without seeking attention: “She was a real wheel horse,” he says. The same could be said of Crawford, who served 28 years in the North Carolina legislature, 12 of them as appropriations chair. Today, the 87-year-old is as humble and hardworking as ever: You can still find him stocking the shelves of his store, Hometown Hardware in Henderson, every Wednesday.

Jim Crawford photograph by Alex Boerner

Crawford remembers Hummel as “a very strong, positive influence.” She cared for her husband after he had a heart attack, took over his insurance business, and sold $1 million in policies — “when $1 million still meant something,” Crawford says. After her husband died, she singlehandedly raised their three sons. In her spare time, she delved deeply into local history, a passion she picked up from her father, who’d started the Granville County Historical Society years before. “She got it back on its feet after it had been dead for years,” Crawford says.

The county flag is just one example of how Hummel made history by celebrating it. Almost three decades earlier, in 1936, her advocacy had led to one of the state’s first four highway historical markers being placed in Granville County to honor local resident John Penn, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Irene Parham, the county’s first Black home economics agent. Photography courtesy of The Oxford Public Ledger (June 9, 1996)

If Hummel was the General Washington of the Granville County flag, then Irene Parham was its Betsy Ross. As the county’s first Black home economics agent, Parham made a number of notable civic contributions. But her most enduring legacy may be her love of the county’s flag. She stitched many of the first Granville County flags — one of which is still owned by Crawford.

The Earl of Granville’s banner quickly became a visible expression of community pride. “When I was in the legislature, I bought 50 of them at a time and gave them away,” Crawford says. “It’s been a great symbol.”

• • •

No one understands the appeal of flags like Liz Morris. She’s the CEO of Carrot-Top Industries in Hillsborough, one of the largest independently owned flag dealers in the country. “It’s easy to bring people together when you’ve got a cool design and a flag,” she says. Carrot-Top does flag business with 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

Flag enthusiasts like Morris — known as vexillologists — find kindred spirits in the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA). Like Morris, Triad resident Will Levin has been a longtime member of the organization. A former educator, he found that flags served as engaging teaching aids — “useful shorthand for complex issues we were trying to understand,” he says.

The county flags that fly across North Carolina are windows into the landscapes and personalities of the areas they represent. Photography courtesy of their respective counties

While reviewing several of North Carolina’s county flags, Levin was immediately drawn to the Granville County flag. And with good reason: Its design is simple, bold, arresting, and utterly memorable. According to “Good” Flag, “Bad” Flag, a guidebook published by NAVA in 2006, a well-designed flag is simple, symbolic, and distinctive. It uses basic colors and omits lettering and seals. Based on those criteria, the Granville County flag passes the style test with flying colors. But Levin likes to use even simpler rubric: Can a first grader draw it?

That’s certainly true of the Granville County flag, but not so for many of North Carolina’s county flags, which often repurpose county seals in their designs — a technique referred to by vexillologists as a “seal on a bedsheet.” But, hey, some rules are made to be broken. And, Levin explains, flags also have other purposes. “One of the jobs of a flag is to be distinctive,” he says. “Is this a special place? Then it deserves a special flag.”

Based on that criterion, our county flags do a commendable job of saluting the places they represent. After all, who wouldn’t be charmed by the kilted bagpiper on the Scotland County flag? Or uplifted by the sight of a Canada goose spreading its wings on the Currituck County flag?

The symbols that various counties use to illustrate what makes their home so special are myriad. In North Carolina, if you happen to drive past a courthouse that’s flying its official colors, you’re liable to see on that waving rectangle of fabric a design that could include just about anything: an overstuffed chair, an apple, a bell tower, or a sweet potato, to name just a few.

• • •

Beyond adapting their official seals, some counties — like Pitt and Jackson — have held competitions to design their banners. In other cases, they’ve turned to professionals. In 2012, Durham County hired a local branding agency, Engine, to help differentiate itself from the City of Durham and other organizations with “Durham” in their names. The distinctive new flag designed by Engine’s president and creative director, Domenick Rella, features green, white, and blue — colors, Rella says, that represent the natural world in the rural parts of Durham County.

The flag sees widespread use. It hangs in the county’s many buildings and waves with pride alongside the North Carolina and American flags at special events. Rella and his team are working on a similar project for Johnston County and expect to unveil a new flag later in 2025.

Hummel’s nephew Jim Crawford still owns an original Granville County flag stitched by Irene Parham. photograph by Alex Boerner

Yet the first North Carolina county to have an official flag also happens to be No. 1 in another area: sales. According to Carrot-Top’s figures, the Granville County flag is the company’s most widely purchased North Carolina county flag over the past five years, followed by Jackson, Davie, Vance, and Surry counties.

There seems to be no letup in North Carolina’s fascination with county flags. For the residents of Granville County, who have waved their official banner high for more than six decades, the Earl of Granville’s flag isn’t just a symbol of their home. It’s an old friend — one they’ll continue to look up to for many years to come.