Download Introduction to North Carolina PPT

Introduction to
North Carolina
What are the four major
regions of NC?
Tidewater
Coastal Plain
Piedmont
Mountains
NC Maps
So where is the 4th region?
 Our book uses four regions-breaking up
the coastal plain into two regions.
Section 1: The Tidewater
Region
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are the major features of the
Tidewater Region?

What words do I need to know?
1. sound
2. barrier islands
3. inlet
4. estuary
5. pocosin
6. Savanna
7. sediment
Section 1: The Tidewater Region
 Narrow strip of land along the Atlantic
Ocean
 30-50 miles wide
 Tides affect the region’s water
 sounds: inland bodies of salt/fresh water
mix
Barrier Islands
 Most less than two miles across, barely above sea level, and ever
changing due to surf and wind
 The Outer Banks are the most famous barrier islands
 At Cape Hatteras islands are widest; Jockey’s Ridge is tallest point
(114’)
 Inlets: low places in the sand; allows water from the ocean into the
sound
 “Graveyard of the Atlantic”: nickname for waters near Cape Hatteras
– dangerous due to storms caused by warm Gulf Stream colliding
with cold Labrador Current
 Cape Fear: true break in the island chain;
Cape Fear River flows directly into the Atlantic
The Sounds
 Each sound fed by fresh water river
 Oldest towns in NC near the sounds
 Great location for trade along river routes
and ocean
 Fishing is an important industry
 Sediment (soil, clay, gravel) is deposited
by the rivers in the sounds – makes them
too shallow for large ships
 estuaries: salt water wetlands; these
marshes are home to shellfish and shrimp
Largest Sounds
Currituck
Albemarle
Pamlico
Core
Bogue
Swamps and Lakes
 pocosins: wetland type; Indian name means “swamp on a
hill”

Alligator and Big Pocosin are the largest
 savanna: wetland type


tall grasses mix with various pines
example: Green Swamp (home of Venus Fly Trap)
 Most natural lakes in NC are in the Tidewater
 Lake Mattamuskeet is largest
(only 6’ deep)
 Least populated area of the state
Click here to return to Main Menu.
Section 2: The Coastal Plain
Region
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are the major features of
the Coastal Plain Region?
What words do I need to know?
crossroads hamlets
tobacco towns
Carolina bays
Sandhills
Section 2: The Coastal Plain Region
 Covers about 1/3 of the state
 Rich soil and flat land make area good for
farming
 Crossroads hamlets: serve rural areas,
usually one or two stores, church, school, etc.
Wilson, NC
Greenville, NC
Tobacco Towns
 Towns whose life and culture were dominated by tobacco farming
 Largest tobacco growing area in the world
 In mid-1900s, nearly every town in the coastal plain had at least one
tobacco warehouse
 Tobacco farming is declining because of health risks associated with
smoking and loss of government payments to guarantee farmers’
income
 Longleaf pines were original plants of the region; millions of acres cut
down for tobacco farming
Carolina Bays
 Carolina Bays are an unusual feature of the state
 Hundreds of elongated depressions in the ground, from
½ to 2 miles long and a mile wide
 Some filled with water; others are wet and mucky in wet
times, and dry other parts of the year
 Origin unknown
Google Maps
The Sandhills
 Located northwest of the bays
 Sandy, rolling ridges left by ancient coast
of the Atlantic Ocean
 Very poor soil
 Used as home for golf courses
and Fort Bragg military installation
Section 3: The Piedmont Region
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are the major features of
the Piedmont Region?
What words do I need to know?
fall line
headwaters
sectionalism
mill village
NASCAR
monadnock
Section 3: The Piedmont Region
 Large region of NC known for hills and red clay soil
 Red clay is a subsoil brought up through the black woods





dirt as a result of timber loss and plowing fields
Piedmont: from Latin, means “foot of the mountains”
Principal rivers: Yadkin-Pee Dee and Catawba – flow
into South Carolina
River “highways” connected people in western NC with
SC more than they did with eastern NC, resulting in
“sectionalism”
Over ½ of region is forests; pines cover old farms
Most large cities in NC are in this region.
 Fall Line: divides the coastal plain from the
Piedmont, noted by the last waterfall a river hits
before going to the ocean
Farms and Factories
 Soil made farming difficult in the Piedmont
 Livestock and dairy farms were more profitable, but




have declined
Economy of the region has depended on factories
to produce textiles, furniture and cigarettes
mill villages: clusters of homes in a town where mill
workers lived; the company often provided the
homes, schools, and stores
1990s: decline in industry
Textile and furniture factories moved to Asia
Banking and Racing
 Charlotte: national banking center and home to
NASCAR, and NASCAR Hall of Fame
 Winston-Salem and Durham have grown in
medical service industries linked to Wake Forest
and Duke Universities
 Salisbury: home to grocery industry
 Research Triangle Park: leader in
pharmaceuticals and computers
The Uwharries
 monadnocks: geological formation in which a point of
land sticks out due to erosion of surrounding land
 Uwharrie Mountains: cluster of monadnocks south of
Greensboro (ex. Morrow Mountain) – slopes and slate
soil discouraged settlement
 Piedmont Crescent: string of towns from Raleigh to
Charlotte
Section 4: The Mountains
Region
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are the major features of
the Mountains Region?
 What words do I need to know?
1.
2.
3.
elevation
bald
cove
Section 4: The Mountains Region
 Blue Ridge: more than 1,000 ft above the
Piedmont hills; eastern boundary of the
Appalachians
 Blue Ridge Parkway: road that runs along the
top of the ridge – Cherokee NC to Waynesboro,
VA
 Continental Divide – streams on the east run to
the Atlantic; streams on the west run to the Gulf
of Mexico
The Blue Ridge
 Runs from Pennsylvania
to Georgia
 One long landform (like
the barrier islands) with
peaks and gaps
 Early settlers depended
on gaps to get through
the mountains
 1870s: tunnels and road
beds laid through
Swanannoa Gap – near
current I-40 from Old Fort
to Black Mountain
The
Appalachians:
 Run from New York to Alabama
 43 peaks in NC over 6,000 feet
 Mt. Mitchell (6,684 ft): highest point
east of the Rockies
 Ranges
 Black Mountains: known for
dark shadows during
thunderstorms
 Great Smoky Mountains: dew
rises in mists creating a smoky
effect; tallest peaks are
Clingman’s Dome and Mt.
Guyot; great variety of plants
 Balsams: large number of balds
(places where few trees grow)
Mountain Streams and Rocks
 Rivers run north and west out of NC
 Asheville is largest city in the region
 Cherokee built their villages along the Tennessee River
 Most of the over 100 lakes are manmade (ex. Lake Lure
& Fontana Lake)
 Fontana Dam (1930s) is highest in eastern US ; built to
provide cheaper electricity
 Famous sites: Blowing Rock, Chimney Rock, Grandfather
Mountain, Nantahala River Gorge
The Mountains Economy
 Early settlers isolated from others
 Farming, traveling, trading were more difficult
 Towns developed in valley areas
 Known for sales of local plants with medicinal
properties
 Tourism is a major industry
 Christmas tree is a new and growing industry;
Fraser firs most popular
Section 5: North Carolina’s
Weather and Climate
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are characteristics of North
Carolina’s climate?
 What words do I need to know?
1. weather
2. climate
3. westerlies
4. humidity
5. precipitation
6. tornado
7. hurricane

Section 5: North Carolina’s Weather
and Climate
 weather: short-term atmospheric conditions
 climate: long-term atmospheric conditions
 temperate climate: general climate zone for NC;
known for few extremes of temperature or
precipitation during the year
 -34°F: record cold at Mt. Mitchell (1985)
 Humidity (moisture in the air) can make
temperatures feel uncomfortably warm