Upon the mention of North Carolina, the historic maker Babe Ruth clicks our minds. On 7th March 1914, the famous professional basketballer, George Herman Ruth, hit his first home run in North Carolina. Today, a historical marker stands in Fayetteville at Gillespie Street and South Avenue intersection to commemorate the historic event.
North Carolina Facts Trivia Questions and Answers
Did you know The Venus Fly Trap is endemic to North Carolina and South Carolina but was subsequently introduced to other states like Florida and New Jersey? The carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast is best known for its predatory eating habits.
The plant is biologically made of two hinged lobes at the end of each leaf, forming the ‘Traps.’ Interestingly, people even make special pilgrimages to North Carolina to see its State symbol –the Venus Fly Trap.
Below are North Carolina trivia questions with answers to expand your intelligence and exercise your mind.
1. What is the capital of North Carolina?
2. The state of North Carolina is geographically divided into three regions or landforms. Which of the following is NOT one of them?Your options: [ Coastal Plain ] [ Mountains ] [ Desert ] [ Piedmont ]
3. The state of North Carolina is home to the highest mountain east of the Rockies. What is the name of this mountain which also shares its name with a state park?Your options: [ Grandfather Mountain ] [ Mt. Mitchell ] [ Roan Mountain ] [ Cold Mountain ]
4. How many battles of the American Revolution took place in North Carolina?
5. A line of hills running north to south through the middle of North Carolina separates the rocky, rolling hills of the Piedmont plateau from the sandy, gently sloping plain of the eastern part of the state. What is this geographical feature, or escarpment, called?
6. Which of the following is NOT an export of NC? Your options: [ bananas ] [ hogs ] [ cotton ] [ tobacco ]
7. Greensboro is the seat of which North Carolina county? Your options: [ Alamance ] [ Randolph ] [ Rockingham ] [ Guilford ]
8. To indicate that something covers the whole of North Carolina from west to east, natives of the state proverbially use what phrase mentioning two cities on opposite ends of U.S. Highway 64, almost 600 miles (970 kilometers) apart?
9. North Carolina is home to three of the tallest lighthouses in America. What is the name of its tallest lighthouse, located on the coast of N.C.?
10. Jack is ready for a break from history and wants to head to Pinehurst for a few days to indulge one of his favorite hobbies. What is the town’s well-known attraction that has Jack ready to head west?
11. Raleigh became North Carolina’s capital in 1792. Which city served as the capital immediately before it was moved to Raleigh? Your options: [ Durham ] [ Greensboro ] [ Wilmington ] [ New Bern ]
12. North Carolina has many rivers within its boundaries. A river basin includes all the land that a river gets its water from. Which river basin is the largest in the state?
13. WFMY-TV, North Carolina’s second commercial TV station, signed on the air on September 22, 1949. What channel number does WFMY-TV occupy?
14. George Preddy, the man for whom one of Greensboro’s freeways is named, is best known for doing what?
15. Which of the following interstate highways does NOT run through North Carolina? Your options: [ I-64 ] [ I-85 ] [ I-95 ] [ I-26 ]
16. The North Carolina State Fair, one of the state’s biggest and most popular events, is held in Raleigh each year. During which month is the fair typically held? Your options: [ September ] [ November ] [ August ] [ October ]
17. Raleigh’s nickname honors which prolific tree?
18. To get from Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, to Asheboro, home of the North Carolina Zoo, which state highway would provide the most direct route? Your options: [ NC 49 ] [ NC 27 ] [ NC 8 ] [ NC 7 ]
19. Charlotte is located in which North Carolina county? Your options: [ Cabarrus ] [ Gaston ] [ Iredell ] [ Mecklenburg ]
20. Which of the following people has NOT served as mayor of Charlotte? Your options: [ Richard Vinroot ] [ John Belk ] [ Harvey Gantt ] [ Bill Lee ]
21. Which of the following interstate highways was completed in North Carolina in the early 1990s? Your options: [ I-40 ] [ I-77 ] [ I-85 ] [ I-95 ]
22. What is the oldest town in North Carolina?
23. How many campuses are there named “University of North Carolina”?
24. North Carolina has how many counties?
25. What is North Carolina’s state beverage?
26. Where is the Orton Plantation located?
27. Who is North Carolina named for?
28. When did North Carolina secede from the Union?
29. WBTV, the state’s oldest television station, signed on in Charlotte in what year?
30. This city is a major port and is also where many movies and the television show ‘Dawson’s Creek’ is filmed?
31. What city has the North Carolina Zoo?
32. What peak, in the Black Mountain subrange of the Blue Ridge/Appalachian Mountains, measures the highest point in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (approximately 2,037 meters) above sea level and is the highest elevation east of the Mississippi River?
33. Where did Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run?
34. The next stop on Jack and Jill’s agenda includes a tour of the state capital, a football game at the University of North Carolina, and a visit to the home of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball champions. What three cities, commonly known as the “Triangle”, are they planning to see? Your options: [ Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point ] [ Greenville, Washington, Williamston ] [ Charlotte, Concord, Kannapolis ] [ Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill ]
35. Wilmington is home to which World War II battleship?
36. There are three distinct landforms in the Southeast U.S. and in North Carolina. Which one of the following is NOT one of those geographical landforms? Your options: [ Coastal Plain ] [ Peninsula ] [ Piedmont ] [ Mountains ]
37. What was the population count at the 2000 census?
38. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the 16 member schools of the University of North Carolina system, was established on March 9, 1891. The school’s athletic teams are known by what nickname?
39. What WB teen drama is filmed in Wilmington?
40. Raleigh boasts the oldest historically black college in the southern United States. What is the name of this school?
41. What was the name of the island that Sir Walter Raleigh established a colony on?
42. Which US highway would take the weary traveler from Rockingham north to Greensboro? Your options: [ US 220 ] [ US 29 ] [ US 74 ] [ US 601 ]
43. What small town does Senator John Edwards come from?
44. What is the state gem?
45. North Carolina has two mountain ranges in the southern Appalachian chain. Can you name either?
46. What is the nickname of UNC-Charlotte’s athletic teams?
47. What city has a record of being the ‘Furniture Capital’?
48. What town is the birthplace of “Pepsi”?
49. What Confederate General was the last to surrender after the Civil War?
50. The ranges and sub-ranges of the Blue Ridge/Appalachian Mountains comprise some of the oldest mountain chains in North America. What is the oldest, lowest, and easternmost of these ranges, named for a Native American tribe that once made a home there? Your options: [ The Catskills ] [ The Smoky Mountains ] [ The Uwharrie Mountains ] [ The Kemo Sabe Mountains ]
51. Which of the following is Wilmington NOT known for? Your options: [ nice beaches ] [ ski resorts ] [ Azaleas ] [ having a very nice climate ]
52. Which of the following is the largest city in the state? Your options: [ Charlotte ] [ Fuquay ] [ Burgaw ] [ Southport ]
53. After several days of shopping and sightseeing, our vacationers have decided to head west for a stop at the North Carolina Zoo. What town is next on their itinerary?
54. What is the state insect?
55. The first English colony in America was located on which North Carolina island? Your options: [ Hatteras ] [ Roanoke ] [ Croatoan ] [ James ]
56. Which US highway connects the cities of North Wilkesboro and Winston-Salem? Your options: [ US 421 ] [ US 301 ] [ US 521 ] [ US 64 ]
57. February 1, 1960, marked a watershed for Greensboro and the modern civil rights movement when four black college students staged a sit-in in what store?
58. Which is NOT a chief agricultural resource? Your options: [ Cotton ] [ Tobacco ] [ Poultry ] [ Hogs ]
59. What number has been given to Charlotte’s long-awaited Outer Belt?
60. What city is known as the ‘Queen City’?
61. On July 29, 2006, Raleigh officially reopened which street to vehicular traffic, some 30 years after it had been converted to a pedestrian mall? Your options: [ Dawson Street ] [ Person Street ] [ McDowell Street ] [ Fayetteville Street ]
62. What town is home to the world’s largest frying pan?
63. North Carolina was readmitted to the Union in what year?
64. On the summits of some mountains in the Southern Appalachians – primarily in North Carolina but also in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia – areas of grass or heath grow where forests normally would appear in regions with cooler climates. What term is used for these mountaintop meadows that have been called “an ecological enigma” by scientists?
65. The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks of the World League of American Football (later known as NFL Europa) managed to achieve what milestone during their single year of existence, in 1991?
66. Which river in North Carolina is only one of two rivers that flows north in the United States?Your options: [ Catawba ] [ French Broad ] [ Watauga ] [ Neuse ]
67. Billy Graham Parkway, which connects I-85 to I-77 on the west side of Charlotte, was previously part of which US highway? Your options: [ US 521 ] [ US 321 ] [ US 421 ] [ US 221 ]
68. November 3, 1979, marked one of Greensboro’s darkest days. Five people belonging to what organization were killed during an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally that turned tragically violent?
69. Jack is a huge fan of “The Andy Griffith Show” and is excited to learn that a visit to the actor’s hometown is on the agenda. Located at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, what is the name of this city?
70. Which of the following states does not border North Carolina? Your options: [ Oregon ] [ South Carolina ] [ Virginia ] [ Tennessee ]
71. Due to the filming of many movies in Wilmington, what is one of its nicknames?
71. What city has an Army base that trains paratroopers?
72. The town of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, on U.S. Highway 52 in the inner Piedmont region, is named for a nearby landform that was designated a U.S National Natural Landmark in 1976. Called in some countries an “inselberg” and colloquially in America a “knob”, what type of isolated mountain is made of hard rock (in this case, metamorphic quartzite) from which all the softer rock has worn away? Your options: [ A sandhill ] [ An alp ] [ A monadnock ] [ A molehill ]
73. While having lunch at Aunt Bea’s in Pilot Mountain, a waitress overhears Jack and Jill discussing their love of architecture and suggests a trip to Asheville. What landmark, known as the largest private home in America, is first on their list of things to see?
74. What baseball slugger hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville, NC?
75. How many Presidents were born in North Carolina?
76. In which of the following motion pictures does Charlotte NOT appear? Your options: [ Shallow Hal ] [ Nell ] [ Eddie ] [ Sharky’s Machine ]
77. Which one of the following pairs of cities and landforms are INCORRECT pairings of cities located in North Carolina’s three landforms? Your options: [ Asheville-Mountains ] [ Charlotte-Mountains ] [ Greensboro-Piedmont ] [ Wilmington-Coastal ]
78. The facility known today as Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) got a kick-start from which famed aviator, who encouraged the two cities to not let jealousy and selfishness get in the way of the project? Your options: [ Charles Lindbergh ] [ James Doolittle ] [ Billy Mitchell ] [ Eddie Rickenbacker ]
79. What is the state mammal?
80. The bridge that carries Interstate 85 across the Catawba River at the Gaston-Mecklenburg line is named for which North Carolina governor? Your options: [ Cameron Morrison ] [ William Umstead ] [ Luther Hodges ] [ Jim Holshouser ]
81. Which long-time CBS News personality could claim Charlotte as his hometown? Your options: [ Eric Sevareid ] [ Douglas Edwards ] [ Walter Cronkite ] [ Charles Kuralt ]
82. What popular soda was invented in 1898 in New Bern, NC?
83. What classic movie takes place in North Carolina?
84. When was North Carolina admitted to statehood?
85. In which small town did the Wright Brothers make their first successful flight? Your options: [ Newport ] [ Wilson ] [ Kitty Hawk ] [ Rodanthe ]
86. What is North Carolina’s state reptile?
87. Home of the Venus fly trap, a carnivorous plant native only to the inner coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina, what verdant U.S. National Natural Landmark is found in Brunswick and Columbus counties, about twenty miles from Wilmington?
88. Blandwood Mansion, a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Greensboro, served as the home to which North Carolina governor from 1827 until his death in 1866? Your options: [ Richard Dobbs Spaight ] [ Edward Bishop Dudley ] [ Zebulon Baird Vance ] [ John Motley Morehead ]
89. Less than an hour’s drive west of Asheville lies the town of Cherokee. In which activity are Jack and Jill LEAST likely to participate during their visit to the headquarters of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians? Your options: [ Seeing an outdoor play ] [ Visiting a museum ] [ Gambling ] [ Having cocktails with dinner ]
90. On August 4, 1985, WRAL-TV 5 became the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville television market, after many years as an ABC station. What event prompted this switch in affiliation?
91. What is the state rock?
92. In what city can you find the “Museum of Oddities”?
93. What city does former Senator Bob Dole’s wife Elizabeth come from?
94. Both of our friends are NASCAR fans, so no trip to North Carolina would be complete without a visit to the Charlotte area. What is the name of the Charlotte suburb that is headquarters to several race teams and home to one of the most well-known tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit?
95. Hiram Revels, a North Carolinian, was noted for what?
96. In April 2001, which two major financial institutions announced a stunning merger of equals? Your options: [ First Union and First Citizens ] [ First Union and Bank of America ] [ First Union and BB & T ] [ First Union and Wachovia ]
97. Which of the following US highways does NOT run through Greensboro?Your options: [ US 64 ] [ US 70 ] [ US 29 ] [ US 421 ]
98. Blandwood Mansion, a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Greensboro, served as the home to which North Carolina governor from 1827 until his death in 1866? Your options: [ Richard Dobbs Spaight ] [ Edward Bishop Dudley ] [ Zebulon Baird Vance ] [ John Motley Morehead ]
99. The coastline of North Carolina is characterized by many estuaries, inlets, lagoons, capes, and barrier islands, as well as the two largest landlocked sounds in the United States. What are the names of these two sounds, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the barrier islands of the Outer Banks? Your options: [ Mississippi Sound and Pine Island Sound ] [ Long Island Sound and Puget Sound ] [ Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound ] [ Plymouth Sound and Calf Sound ]
100. After visiting the Maritime Museum in Beaufort, Jill is anxious to learn more about Edward Teach, so she decides to take the ferry to the nearby island that hosted Blackbeard’s final battle in 1718. What is the name of this island, which lies in the southernmost area of North Carolina’s Outer Banks? Your options: [ Roanoke Island ] [ Oak Island ] [ Topsail Island ] [ Ocracoke Island ]
101. Jill is a history buff, so I have the perfect suggestion for the first phase of her trip. This coastal town, filled with historic homes and burial grounds, was one of two first-place winners in “Budget Travel” magazine’s 2012 “America’s Coolest Small Towns” contest. Nearby Fort Macon hosted battles in both the War of 1812 and the US Civil War. What is the name of this quaint and beautiful village?
102. The Appalachian Mountains extend from Canadian provinces in the north through North Carolina, Georgia, and northern Alabama. Which of the following are the two sub-chains of the Appalachians in the state of N.C.? Your options: [ Blue Ridge and Ozarks ] [ Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains ] [ Adirondack and Great Smokies ] [ Cumberland and Black Mountains ]
103. Josephus Daniels, the man who owned and published Raleigh’s main newspaper, The News & Observer, served in what Cabinet post from 1913 to 1921?
104. What is North Carolina’s state vegetable?
105. Which of these four famous people is not from Greensboro? Your options: [ William Sidney Porter ] [ O. Henry ] [ Edward R. Murrow ] [ Thomas Clayton Wolfe ]
106. What city is known for its tobacco products and diverse food products and also has a large office and manufacturing plant for cigarettes?
107. North Carolina’s Piedmont contains most of the state’s largest cities. One of the reasons for this is the fact that rivers in this region begin their drop in elevation, which allowed them to be used for water-powered mills and later for hydroelectric power. This led to many towns being founded along these rivers. What is the geographic term for this sudden decrease in elevation of waterways? Your options: [ River Crest ] [ The Fall Line ] [ Transition Zone ] [ Tributary Confluence ]
108. First called “Rio Jordan” by Spanish explorers in 1526, what river’s system is the largest in North Carolina, including tributaries that flow through 29 of the state’s 100 counties?
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109. If you were to attend the oldest state supported university in the country, where would you be a student?
110. In what year did the Charlotte Hornets first begin play in the NBA?
111. Which state route, connecting Ocracoke and Corolla, serves as the main highway for the Outer Banks? Your options: [ NC 12 ] [ NC 14 ] [ NC 17 ] [ NC 19 ]
112. In geography, a sound is a sea or ocean inlet that is larger than a bay (or a narrow sea or ocean channel), which is found between two bodies of land. Here the water is usually much more shallow than a lake or ocean. Which of the following is NOT a sound located in North Carolina? Your options: [ Bogue ] [ Puget ] [ Pamlico ] [ Core ]
113. Jack and Jill’s vacation will end where it started, on the coast. This time, however, they’ve opted for a larger city that includes a state port, a movie studio, and a World War II battleship that is open to the public for tours. Which city is our final stop?Your options: [ Southport ] [ Kitty Hawk ] [ New Bern ] [ Wilmington ]
114. Which of the following notable people was born in Raleigh? Your options: [ Kristi Yamaguchi ] [ Elizabeth Edwards ] [ Jesse Helms ] [ Andrew Johnson ]
115. Which of the following famous people was NOT a native of Greensboro? Your options: [ Edward R. Murrow ] [ Caroline Lind ] [ Dolley Madison ] [ Orson Scott Card ]
116. What is the North Carolina state bird?
117. Where is the North Carolina state fair held?
118. What city has an Indian Reservation located there?
119. Which major thoroughfare, long a source of irritation for Charlotte motorists, is being converted into a freeway? Your options: [ Freedom Drive ] [ Tyvola Road ] [ Harris Boulevard ] [ Independence Boulevard ]
120. Which military unit has a base located in Jacksonville, NC?
121. The Hornets were not originally known as the Hornets. What was their original nickname?
122. What 3-digit interstate number was given to the Cliff Benson Beltline, Raleigh’s circumferential highway, in 1991?
123. Where was the first airplane flown?
124. What is the river with the longest length within North Carolina?
125. Besides Andrew Johnson, what other US President was an NC native?
126. Independence Square, the heart of Charlotte’s downtown business district, lies at the intersection of what two streets?
127. What is the longest interstate in NC?
128. Where is North Carolina’s geographic center?
129. Which former mayor of Charlotte tried unsuccessfully to unseat Jesse Helms from the US Senate? Your options: [ Eddie Knox ] [ Richard Vinroot ] [ Sue Myrick ] [ Harvey Gantt ]
130. What is the average temperature in January?
131. North Carolina has many famous people. In questions 13 to 16 say where the person called if from. Soupy Sales?
132. Which company is the title sponsor of Charlotte’s downtown NFL stadium? Your options: [ Wachovia ] [ Duke Energy ] [ BellSouth ] [ Bank of America ]
133. Lake Norman was created by a dam on what river?
134. In North Carolina what is the average mean temperature in July?
135. Charlotte is the only major city in the United States served by two nuclear power plants. What are the names of those two plants?
136. Donna Fargo? Your options: [ Rocky Mount ] [ High Point ] [ Winston-Salem ] [ Mount Airy ]
137. What of these cities is home to a Tobacco Museum? Your options: [ Raleigh ] [ Greensboro ] [ Goldsboro ] [ Durham ]
138. Howard Cosell? Your options: [ Rocky Mount ] [ High Point ] [ Mount Airy ] [ Winston-Salem ]
139. Ava Gardner? Your options: [ Sunbury ] [ Clinton ] [ Efland ] [ Smithfield ]
140. What is the highest point in North Carolina?
141. North Carolina is known for its outer banks. Which county is not an outer banks county? Your options: [ Beaufort ] [ Carteret ] [ Dare ] [ Currituck ]
142. Of the four national forests in North Carolina, which is located nearest Asheboro? Your options: [ Uwharrie ] [ Croatan ] [ Nantahala ] [ Pisgah ]
143. The North Carolina Zoological Park is located near what city?
144. What town is home to a giant cigarette?
145. Where is the “Aluminum Tree Museum” located?
146. Who is North Carolina’s capital named for?
147. Where does North Carolina rank in terms of hurricane landfall in the continental US?
148. What tobacco plantation, located in Reidsville, features a mansion decorated with treasures and artifacts from throughout the world and rooms designed with various architectural styles?
149. The waters off the coast of North Carolina are often called what?
150. The 1999 US Open golf tournament was held at what NC country club?
151. What town was founded by the Moravians in 1766 and merged in 1913 with another town founded by the Quakers to form the ‘Twin Cities’?
152. The ‘Furniture Capital of the World’ has been attributed to what NC city?
153. One of the largest and hotly-contested battles of the southern campaign of the Revolutionary War was fought in March of 1781 in NC. What costly battle for Lord Cornwallis was this?
154. Into what body of water does the Tar River flow?
155. What states border North Carolina to the south?
156. What is the North Carolina State sport?
157. What are the North Carolina State colors?
158. North Carolina is bordered to the north by what state?
159. What is the North Carolina State flower?
160. The climate of North Carolina’s coastal plains is strongly influenced by what body of water?
161. What borders North Carolina to the east?
162. What is the North Carolina State folk dance?
163. What is the North Carolina State carnivorous plant?
164. How many North Carolinians served in the military during the Civil War?
165. What is North Carolina State rock?
166. What is the North Carolina State reptile?
167. How many ships have been lost off the coast around Cape Hatteras which is known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”?
168. What are the names of North Carolina’s two sounds, the largest landlocked sounds in the United States?
169. What is the North Carolina State shell?
170. What river is the widest river in the United States at its mouth?
171. Where do the river basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to?
172. How many major river basins does North Carolina have?
173. How many of the 17 basins are contained entirely within the state’s borders?
174. What was the strongest storm to make landfall in North Carolina as a Category 4 in 1954?
175. What was the most damaging storm of the 21st century?
176. Only what two states are struck by hurricanes more often than North Carolina?
177. What is the North Carolina State song?
178. North Carolina’s economy was based on slave labor for the production of what?
179. Most of the English colonists were indentured servants, who hired themselves out as laborers to pay for their what?
180. During Colonial times, what town was the state capital, beginning in 1722?
181. A major American victory in the war took place when a force of 1000 mountain men from western North Carolina overwhelmed a force of some 1000 British troops led by who?
182. In the 1700s, a series of epidemics swept the South and a 1738 epidemic was said to have killed half of the Cherokee Indians. What type of epidemics were they?
183. What is the North Carolina State red berry?
184. North Carolina was where the first successful flight was executed by what pair of brothers, near Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903?
185. How many tornadoes does North Carolina experience on average per annum?
186. The worst tornado outbreak in the state’s history occurred on April 16, 2011, when 30 confirmed tornadoes touched down, killing how many people?