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Region: Piedmont Plateau

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A New Light "Infestation": Charles Woodmason on Colonial Piedmont Religion Commentary

North Carolinians do not think of the present-day and economically thriving Piedmont as an ignorant backcountry that undermines social order.  But in the eastern part of the Province of North Carolina during the Pre-Revolutionary Period (1750-1775) many believed it was exactly that.

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Town of Apex Encyclopedia

Originally named “Apex” because it was the highest point on the Chatham Railroad line between Richmond, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida, the town of Apex still exemplifies its motto: “Peak of Good Living.”   Although a little over 30,000 people reside there, and many industries have moved to the area, Apex remains a quaint place to live.

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The Battle of Averasboro-Day One Encyclopedia

The Battle of Averasboro (also called Averysborough, Smith’s Mill and Black River) was the first deliberate, tactical resistance to the infamous march on federal forces through Georgia and the Carolinas. The battle was fought on the plantation lands of the John Smith family four miles south of the Cape Fear River village of Averasboro.

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The Battle of Averasboro- Day Two Encyclopedia

The Battle of Averasboro (also called Averysborough, Smith’s Mill and Black River) was the first deliberate, tactical resistance to the infamous march on federal forces through Georgia and the Carolinas. The battle was fought on the plantation lands of the John Smith family four miles south of the Cape Fear River village of Averasboro.

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Prelude to the Battle of Averasboro Encyclopedia

The Battle of Averasboro (also called Averysborough, Smith’s Mill and Black River) was the first deliberate, tactical resistance to the infamous march on federal forces through Georgia and the Carolinas. The battle was fought on the plantation lands of the John Smith family four miles south of the Cape Fear River village of Averasboro.

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A Missionary of English Civilization to the Piedmont: Backcountry Religion and One Man’s Perspective Lesson Plan

During the mid-1700s, the North Carolina backcountry (now known as the Piedmont) was much different than Eastern North Carolina.  Anglican itinerant Charles Woodmason of Charleston, South Carolina, “a missionary of English civilization,” went to the backcountry to convert Piedmont farmers and bring stability and order to a region where religious dissidents lived.  This lesson plan includes four selections from Woodmason's sermons and reports, a reading worksheet, and discussion questions for advanced students.

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John H. Baker (1935-2007) Encyclopedia

John H. Baker served as North Carolina’s first African American sheriff.  He served in this office for twenty-four year and proposed one of Wake County's first charter schools.

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Barringer Gold Mine Encyclopedia

Historians claim the opening of Barringer Gold Mine was a watershed event.  Formerly one of the most important gold mines in 1800s North Carolina, the Barringer Gold Mine is remembered now mostly for being the first gold mine in the Southern Piedmont to use lode mining (pure mining from mineral deposits). 

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Bessemer City Encyclopedia

In the mid-1700s, Europeans looking for arable land started settling in modern-day Gaston County.  Many arrived with land grants from King George II (1683-1760) or migrated from other colonies, such as Pennsylvania and Maryland.  The area’s natural resources attracted skilled laborers, such as miners, lumberjacks, and farmers.

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Cameron Village Encyclopedia

The Cameron Village Shopping Center opened in 1949 with three stores and one restaurant.  The open-air shopping mall was not only Raleigh's first shopping center away from downtown but also is considered the first shopping center constructed between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia.  By 1950, Cameron Village, a “town within a town,” comprised 65 stores, 112 business or professional offices, 566 apartment units, and 100 private homes.

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Edmund Fanning (1737-1808) Encyclopedia

Friend of Royal Governor William Tryon and clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County, Edmund Fanning angered many North Carolina Regulators, who accused him of embezzlement and abuses of power.  After helping put down the Regulator Rebellion, Fanning accompanied Lord Tryon to New York, where he worked in the royal colony's administration and remained a Loyaist during the American Revolution.

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Fort Dobbs Encyclopedia

Twenty-seven miles west of modern-day Salisbury, North Carolina, Fort Dobbs is located in Iredell County.  In 1756, colonial Governor Arthur Dobbs commissioned the construction of the fort to protect Piedmont settlements during the French and Indian War (1754-1763).  At that time, Fort Dobbs was North Carolina’s only frontier fort; all others were on the coast.

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Antebellum Gold Mining (1820-1860) Encyclopedia

“The mining interest of the State is now only second to the farming interest.”  So wrote a reporter of the Western Carolinian of Salisbury in 1825.  But according to historians Richard D. Knapp and Brent D. Glass in Gold Mining in North Carolina (1999) the average Tar Heel did not fall victim to gold fever.  Nevertheless, there was enough demand by 1830 for a Charlotte-based Miners’ and Farmers’ Journal to begin publication.  

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Greensboro Shootings Encyclopedia

On November 3, 1979, an armed confrontation between members of the Maoist Communist Workers Party (CWP) and several Klansmen and Nazis ended with four CWP members and one supporter being shot dead.  Three trials soon followed, and CWP survivors and their supporters claimed that their anti-establishment views incited a conspiracy to have them killed.

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Harper House Encyclopedia

Considered by the North Carolina Department of Archives and History to possess the “finest Queen Anne interior styling in the entire state,” the Harper House of Hickory also has a restored landscape, including period gardens.  The Catawba County Historical Association (CCHA) raised $2,000,000 for restorations to start the house museum to interpret not only the histories of Hickory and the families who lived in the house but also the history of the Victorian South.

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