About

North Carolina has a habit of being first, and a habit of being overlooked. The first English child born in the Americas was born on Roanoke Island. The first powered airplane flight lifted off the sand at Kill Devil Hills. Four college freshmen sat down at a Greensboro lunch counter in 1960 and changed what was possible across the South.

For every story like those, there are hundreds of smaller ones: a mill village that grew up beside a river, a lighthouse keeper who stayed through the storm, a county courthouse where something happened that still shapes the town around it. Those are the stories we’re here to tell.

North Carolina Backstory covers four centuries of North Carolina history, from the Algonquian towns the English found on the coast to the Research Triangle, along with the moments in American history where this state played a part.

What you’ll find here

Every story is written to be read in one sitting: what happened, who was there and why it still matters. You’ll also find This Day in History, a timeline that walks through the state era by era, and guides to historic places where you can stand where it happened.

How we work

We’d rather be right than first. Our stories draw on published histories, state and federal archives, museum collections and primary sources. When historians disagree, we tell you so instead of picking the more exciting version, and when a story is legend rather than record, we say that too.

Images come from public archives and openly licensed collections, and every one is credited. Our Editorial Policy explains how we research, write, use technology and correct mistakes.

The people behind the stories

Help us get it right

History is never finished. If you spot a mistake, know a story we should tell, or have a letter, photograph or family account that belongs in the record, we’d like to hear from you. Get in touch.