207 Best Sights in North Carolina, USA

If you're approaching the town from Kure Beach and Fort Fisher via U.S. Route 421, the state-operated year-round car ferry provides a 35-minute Cape Fear River ride between Old Federal Point at the tip of the spit and the mainland. Bald Head Lighthouse on Bald Head Island is seen en route, as well as the Oak Island Lighthouse and the ruins of Price's Creek Lighthouse—in fact, this is the only point in the United States where you can see three lighthouses at the same time. It's best to arrive early (30 minutes before ferry departure), as it's first come, first served. During peak season, there are 16 scheduled ferries each day.

This quarter-mile trail through a 124-acre preserve leads to Springer's Point, a sound-side beach where Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) gathered with fellow pirates and ultimately met his demise in a battle with British naval lieutenant Robert Maynard. The enchanting trail traverses maritime forest and coastal marsh.

There is no parking at the trailhead—walk or bike from the village.

This beautifully preserved example of Greek revival architecture from 1840 once housed all the functions of state government. Today it's part museum, part executive offices. Under its domed rotunda is a copy of Antonio Canova's statue of George Washington depicted as a Roman general. Guided tours are given Saturday starting at 11 and 2. Self-guided tours are available throughout the week.

One block north of the State Capitol, this complex hums with lawmakers and lobbyists when the legislature is in session. It's fun to watch from the gallery. Free guided tours are available but must be scheduled in advance through Capitol Area Services.

Mountain crafts and artwork are displayed—and much of them are for sale—at this cultural hub that promotes and pays tribute to the people and traditions of Graham County, including the native Cherokee. During summer, the Appalachian Evening Concert Series brings the region's best folk and bluegrass musicians to perform in the center's restored historic theater.

Located in the gold-domed Swain County Courthouse dating from 1908, this charming museum has displays on the history of settlers of this mountain area, including a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin. It also serves as a visitor information center for both Bryson City, Swain County, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Once land claimed for Queen Elizabeth by Sir Walter Raleigh, this park's amenities include golfing, boating, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, and a large swimming pool with waterslides. There is also a dog park, campground, and an arboretum filled with plants native to the Carolina Piedmont. The Tanglewood Festival of Lights, one of the largest holiday-lights festivals in the Southeast, runs from mid-November to early January.

The elegant home of former governor John Motley Morehead is considered the prototype of the Italian-villa architecture that swept the country during the mid-19th century. Noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis designed the house, which has a stucco exterior and towers and still contains many of its original furnishings. A kitchen garden and rose garden on the grounds are maintained by local volunteers. Guided tours highlight the architecture and history. The house also serves as the headquarters of Preservation Greensboro. Among the fascinating and well-preserved artifacts is a bracelet woven by Governor Moreland's daughter from her deceased husband's hair, featuring a posthumous portrait.

The Blowing Rock, after which the mountain town is named, is a cliff, which at 4,000 feet looms over the Johns River Gorge about 3,000 feet below. If you throw your hat over the sheer precipice, it may blow back to you, should the wind gods be playful. The story goes that a Cherokee man and a Chickasaw maiden fell in love. Torn between his tribe and his love, he jumped from the cliff, but she prayed to the Great Spirit, and he was blown safely back to her.

Hear live music nightly at this popular venue situated in the center of the NoDa Arts District, or wait for "Find Your Muse," its frequent open-mic night.

Historic Brooklyn, as the once-thriving African American neighborhood here was known, is long gone, but this celebration of black art, history, and culture serves its memory well. The exhibits change frequently, but you can always see John and Vivian Hewitt's collection of African American visual art, including those of Harlem Renaissance–famed and Charlotte-born Romare Bearden.

Pulitzer Prize--winner Paul Green's drama was written in 1937 to mark the 350th birthday of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World; in 2013 the show won a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. Except from 1942 to 1945 (when enemy German U-boats prowled the nearby Atlantic Ocean during World War II), it has played every summer since then in Fort Raleigh National Historic Site's Waterside Theatre, on the same grounds where the doomed English settlers tried to establish their new home. On a huge stage—larger than any on Broadway—and with a cast and crew of more than 130, the story of the first colonists, who settled here in 1587 and mysteriously vanished, is reenacted. Cast alumni include Andy Griffith and Lynn Redgrave.

Try to buy tickets at least a week in advance. Preshow, hour-long backstage tours, dinner packages, and afternoon shows for children are available.

In the heart of the "Thomas StrEATery" collection of restaurants and hangouts, this little bar is one of the best places in Plaza Midwood to grab a beer and play games like cornhole and ping-pong on the spacious patio. There's also live music.

Regarded as one of the top mountain biking trail systems in the eastern United States, the four loop trails at Tsali offer ride opportunities from 4 to 14 miles. There's a campground and restrooms. Bike rentals are available from Tsali Cycles in Bryson City ( www.tsalicycles.com).

A Wild West theme park built into the side of a mountain between Boone and Blowing Rock, Tweetsie Railroad is centered on coal-powered steam locomotives beset by robbers. A petting zoo, carnival amusements, gem panning, shows, food, and concessions are also here. Several of the attractions are at the top of the mountain and can be reached from the parking lot on foot, by bus, or by ski lift.

The national park's Twentymile entrance on the northern side of Cheoah Lake is its most difficult to reach, and thus the least crowded. This is an incredible area of the park, especially during spring when the flowers and wild azaleas bloom. An easily manageable 7.2-mile loop follows old logging roads along Twentymile Creek and Moore Springs Branch, connecting via the Twentymile Loop Trail. The elevation gain is minimal, but the solitude and serenity found along the creeks (there are multiple swimming holes) is a local secret. Moderate.

Franklin Street runs along the northern edge of the campus, which is filled with oak-shaded courtyards, stately old buildings, and tucked-away gems like the mystical Forest Theatre and the gorgeous Coker Arboretum. Regarded as one of the top public institutions in the United States, UNC-Chapel Hill is also one of the country's oldest public universities and was the first to admit students (it opened its doors in 1795). To this day, it remains the very heart of Chapel Hill, which has grown up around it for more than two centuries.

You don't have to walk the 1.2-mile round-trip trail to the summit of Waterrock Knob for a view—the vistas from the visitor center are also wonderful—but a trip to the top for sunrise or sunset can be stunning. Heading northeast from Cherokee on the Parkway, this is the first trail and notable summit. 

Set on the campus of UNC Greensboro, the museum is known for its permanent collection, which includes lithographs and bronzes by Henri Matisse and over 400 Japanese woodblock prints. There's an outdoor sculpture garden, and ever-changing exhibitions of 20th-century and modern American art.

This 388-acre city park on the banks of the Eno River boasts a restored mill dating from 1778—one of 32 that once dotted the area. Also on-site are a 19th-century Greek revival farmhouse that was occupied by John Cabe McCown, the onetime owner of the mill, and a museum that showcases early-20th-century photographer Hugh Mangum's pictures of the surrounding area. The Festival for the Eno, held around July 4, includes musicians, artists, and craftspeople from around the region.

This 21,000-square-foot monument to gracious living was built in the 1920s as the private residence of a northern couple attracted by the area's reputation for waterfowl hunting (the home was given its current name by the second owner). After having been abandoned, sold, and vandalized, it was renovated and opened for tours in 2002. Inside the ornamental art nouveau structure, a floral motif is evident in Tiffany lamps with flower detailing and mahogany woodwork carved with water lilies. The home is on 39 waterfront acres inside Currituck Heritage Park and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Even if you don't tour the mansion, it's worth a sunset visit to walk the waterfront yard and grounds.

Near Highlands and Cashiers, Whiteside Mountain is one of the highest continuous cliffs in the East. The sheer cliffs of white granite rise up to 750 feet, overlooking the Chattooga River in the Nantahala National Forest. A 2-mile loop (moderate) takes you to the top of the cliffs. The cliffs are also popular with rock climbers. Peregrine falcons nest here, and the cliffs are closed to climbers during falcon mating season.

Set in Myers Park, one of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods, this 4-acre garden is a serene environment for feathered visitors and others. The grounds include a nursery and education building.

The highest-volume farmers' market in North Carolina may not have the prettiest exterior, but it's a good place to buy local jams, jellies, honey, stone-ground grits and cornmeal, and, in season, local fruits and vegetables. It's open every day, year-round, except for major holidays. On the grounds of the market is a Southern-style restaurant, Moose Café.

In the 1920s, this building shaped like an 18th-century chest of drawers was constructed to call attention to the city's standing as the "furniture capital of the world." The 36-foot-high building, complete with a 6-foot-long pair of socks dangling from one of its drawers, remains one of the strangest sights in North Carolina to this day. Nearby Furnitureland South has actually built a much larger chest of drawers as the facade to one of its showrooms, although it is not freestanding.

Clean, wide beaches here provide the setting for all sorts of water sports. Surfers dominate the sunrise waves at Crystal Pier. Kayakers, parasailers, paddleboarders, bodyboarders, and windsurfers all share the waters here while shoreline runners and walkers hit the sand, which is also perfect for sandcastle building and people-watching. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (Memorial Day to Labor Day); parking (fee); toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming.