1. Warm-up Describe 2 regions of NC List five NC Counties
Make sure you tell me where they are located and why you consider them important.
List five NC Counties
What is the capital of the state of NC?
Where is Winston-Salem?

2. NC Geography

4. First… Where is Winston-Salem?
Well…that’s a little tougher and it depends…
Correct Answers:
Earth, USA, East Coast, NC, Forsyth County, 36° 6′ 9.95″ N, 80° 15′ 37.77″ W…the answers could be limitless
Depends on scale

5. North Carolina’s Location
Absolute Location: Degrees North latitude; Degrees West longitude
Relative Location: North Carolina is in the Southeast United States. It is bordered to the north by Virginia, to the west by Tennessee, to the south by South Carolina, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean makes up North Carolina’s eastern border.

6. NC’s Geographic Regions
What is a geographic region?
An area of land with similar features

9. 1. The Tidewater Region Low-lying lands nearest to the coast
Barrier Islands
Long chain of islands along the coast of NC
Long ridges of sand, only tops of sand islands reach the surface
Most are less than 2 miles across
The most famous of these islands are called the Outer Banks

12. Vocabulary
Barrier Islands are separated from the mainland by five main sounds
Sound – shallow bodies of brackish water (salty and fresh)
Largest
Albermarle Sound to the north
Pamlico Sound in the central portion of the state

14. Inlets
The sand along the barrier islands is lower in some places. These are called inlets.
These areas allow the seawater to flow in and out with the tide.
Inlets are not always permanent

17. Estuary The point where the tide meets the mouth of a river
Causes the sounds to be brackish (fresh + salt water)
Rich in shellfish, fish, and many species of bird
Flooded most of the year as a marshland

18. Jockey’s Ridge – highest point on Eastern Seaboard, 114’ above sea level

19. The Great Dismal Swamp (national wildlife refuge)

20. 2. The Coastal Plain

21. Key Characteristics Higher in elevation, but flat
Richest farmland in state
1/3 of the state in area
Large amount of farmland
Most rural area of the state
Rivers flow southeasterly, into sounds or Atlantic

23. Tobacco Towns

24. The Sandhills Poorest soil in state Two uses for the Sandhills
Golf Courses (Pinehurst)
Military Bases (Ft. Bragg)

25. Human Features First part of the state settled by Europeans
Tobacco, rice, lumber were major exports
Wealthiest region of the state until the end of the Civil War
Cotton, peanuts, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, tobacco and soy beans, chicken, turkey, and hog farms = major exports today
Military Bases: Ft. Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Pope AFB, Cherry Point Marine Air Station

26. 3. The Piedmont
“At the foot of the Mountain”

27. Characteristics Red clay soil!
Wide spread agriculture and timbering caused erosion
Topsoil was gone by the 1800s and left the red subsoil
Area stretches from VA to SC

28. Erosion Control: Kudzu

29. Why did erosion occur?
The piedmont’s red clay erodes so easily because the region is so hilly.
Coastal plain is lower in elevation, Blue Ridge is higher

30. Fall Line Separates the Piedmont from the Coastal Plain
Area where piedmont land drops to the lower land of the Coastal Plain
This is the area where rivers flowing out of the piedmont actually go down their last hill
Characterized by a small waterfall or rocks

32. Rivers of the Piedmont Yadkin Pee Dee Catawba
Flow to Charleston, SC, not through the fall line
What were the effects of these rivers flowing to SC instead of the Coastal Plain?

33. Human Features First region of the state to industrialize
Rivers that were too shallow and rocky for transportation were used for power
Textiles, furniture, and tobacco factories dominated the region
Most urbanized area of the state today
Triangle = Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill
Triad = HPC, W-S, G’boro
Metrolina = Charlotte Area

34. Current Issues
Decline in manufacturing, textiles, and tobacco in the 1990s
Region turned to new areas
Charlotte = Banking
Winston-Salem = Medical Industry
Triangle = Medical and Research
Research Park, Raleigh

35. 4. The Mountains

36. Characteristics
Blue Ridge Mountains, eastern boundary of the Appalachian Mountains
Name comes from the mist that evaporates off the slopes, gives the region a aqua blue color

37. The Appalachian Mountains
Extend from New York to Alabama
43 points in NC over 6000 feet
Mt. Mitchell = Highest 6685’ (highest east of Mississippi River)

38. The Black and Great Smoky Mountains

39. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure

40. Human Features Most sparsely populated region of NC
Small isolated farms on “bottom land” near rivers and streams
Apples, livestock and Christmas trees are major exports, along with minerals, lumber and forest products (paper pulp)
Tourism is the region’s major industry
Hiking, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, fishing

41. NC Rivers and Climate

42. Rivers of NC Rivers can be two things:
An asset for trade, communication, and transportation; stimulating a state’s economic growth
An impediment to economic growth and communication

43. Rivers that are important to a community have…
Presence of a port city for trade and commerce
Canals

44. Roanoke River Rapids made transportation difficult
Canals were constructed to allow navigation

45. The Roanoke River Canal
Connected Blue Ridge Mtns. to Norfolk
Well preserved
Not in use
Why?

46. The Cape Fear River

47. The Cape Fear River Flows through Fayetteville to Wilmington
Greensboro is located in the river’s basin
Completely contained in the state of NC
Largest in state
Main source of transportation in state during colonial period

48. NC Climate NC is located in a Warm Temperate Zone
Temperatures change based on region and elevation
Coastal Plain = lows in mid-forties in January to low-nineties in August
Mountains = lows around thirty in January to the low-eighties in August
Piedmont = somewhere in between