• The Wright brothers completed the first successful flight of a mechanically propelled airplane over the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

• The University of North Carolina was the first public university in the United States to open its doors.

• The first known miniature golf course was in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 

• Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville on March 7, 1914. 

• The first English child born in America, Virginia Dare, was born in Roanoke, North Carolina, in 1587.

• Many people believe that North Carolina was the first state to declare independence from England with the Mecklenburg Declaration of 1775.

• Cabarrus County, North Carolina, was the site of America's first gold rush.

• What was probably the first drawbridge built in the United States was built over the Cape Fear River.

• The first state art museum in the country is located in Raleigh.

• The first Pepsi was created and served in New Bern, North Carolina in 1898

• The first outdoor drama in America, The Lost Colony, is staged every year in Manteo, North Carolina.

Biggest/Smallest/Shortest/Tallest

• Mount Mitchell is the tallest mountain in the eastern United States.

• Jockey's Ridge is the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States. Depending on the weather, its height can range from 80 to 100 feet!

• Whitewater Falls in Transylvania County, one of over 200 waterfalls in North Carolina, is the highest waterfall on the East Coast.

• The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is the largest private house in the world, with 250 rooms.

• Grandfather Mountain is home to the nation's highest swinging bridge-one mile high.

• The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the United States.

• Albemarle Sound is the largest freshwater sound in the world.

• Fontana Dam is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States, at 480 feet high.

• The world's smallest daily newspaper is the Tryon Daily Bulletin.