Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America

18 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Richard Zietz/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Richard Zietz/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuries, they began fighting the American Revolutionary War in April 1775 and formed the United States of America by declaring full independence in July 1776. Just prior to declaring independence, the Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: New England (New Hampshire; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut); Middle (New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware); Southern (Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; and Georgia). The Thirteen Colonies came to have very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of these colonies was Virginia Colony in 1607, a Southern colony. While all these colonies needed to become economically viable, the founding of the New England colonies, as well as the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders’ concerns related to the practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on an earlier Dutch colony, New Netherland. All the Thirteen Colonies were part of Britain’s possessions in the New World, which also included territory in Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean.   read more…

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the Appalachians

25 June 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Clingman's Dome Observation Tower, the highest point both in Tennessee and along the Appalachian Trail, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park © Scott Basford

Clingman’s Dome Observation Tower, the highest point both in Tennessee and along the Appalachian Trail, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park © Scott Basford

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The park contains some of the highest mountains in eastern North America, including Clingmans Dome, Mount Guyot, and Mount Le Conte. The border between the two states runs northeast to southwest through the center of the park. The Appalachian Trail passes through the center of the park on its route from Georgia to Maine. With 14.1 million visitors in 2021, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States.   read more…

Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina

14 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Sunset © SaiP/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sunset © SaiP/cc-by-sa-4.0

Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina. The population was 6,683 at the 2010 census, up from 5,897 in 2000. It is the most populous settlement in both Dare County and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills Micropolitan Statistical Area is part of the larger Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area.   read more…

Charlotte in North Carolina

27 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Dilworth © panoramio.com - James Willamor/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dilworth © panoramio.com – James Willamor/cc-by-sa-3.0

Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population was 885,708, making it the 15th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cultural, economic, and transportation center of the Charlotte metropolitan area, whose population ranks 23rd in the U.S., and had a population of 2,569,213, in 2018. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2018 census-estimated population of 2,728,933. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was ranked as the country’s fastest-growing metro area, with 888,000 new residents. Based on U.S. Census data from 2005 to 2015, Charlotte tops the U.S. in millennial population growth. It is the second-largest city in the southeastern United States, just behind Jacksonville, Florida. It is the third-fastest-growing major city in the United States. It is listed as a “gamma” global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Residents are referred to as “Charlotteans“.   read more…

Raleigh in North Carolina

14 June 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Downtown Raleigh from Boylan Avenue © Jmalljmall

Downtown Raleigh from Boylan Avenue © Jmalljmall

Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city. The city’s population is at as 451,000. It is also one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County. Raleigh is an early example in the United States of a planned city. It was chosen as the site of the state capital in 1788 and incorporated in 1792 as such. The city was originally laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. In the United States Civil War the city was spared from any significant battle, only falling in the closing days of the war, though it did not escape the economic hardships that plagued the rest of the American South during the Reconstruction Era. The twentieth century saw the opening of the Research Triangle Park in 1959, and with the jobs it created the region and city saw a large influx of population, making it one of the fastest growing communities in the United States by the early 21st century.   read more…

Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks

4 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Kitty Hawk Airfield © Wusel007/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kitty Hawk Airfield © Wusel007/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, and is a part of what is known as North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The population is at 3,300. It was established in the early 18th century as Chickahawk. The Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.   read more…

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