National North Carolina Day Date in the current year: September 28, 2025

North Carolina is located in the southeastern United States and is bordered by Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Atlantic Ocean. The state’s nicknames are the Old North State and the Tar Heel State. The latter nickname refers to North Carolina’s prominence as a producer of tar, pitch, and turpentine in the 18th and 19th centuries.

North and South Carolina have a period of shared history because the states used to comprise the Province of Carolina, named after King Charles I of England. The word “Carolina” is derived from “Carolus”, the Latin form of the name “Charles”.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the North Carolina region was inhabited by numerous Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan tribes. The first Europeans to explore the area were the Spanish in the mid- to late 16th century.

English colonization of North Carolina began in 1584 when Queen Elizabeth I granted Sir Walter Raleigh, the namesake of the state’s capital, a charter for land in the region. Raleigh attempted to establish two colonies on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina, but both attempts failed. The second colony is the infamous Lost Colony, whose fate remains one of the biggest mysteries in American history.

The second English attempt to settle the region occurred in 1629 when King Charles I granted Sir Robert Heath a patent for the land between the 31st and 36th parallels north. However, this attempt failed for two reasons. First, the king only permitted members of the Church of England to settle in the colony, but Heath intended to settle it with French Huguenots. Second, the English Civil War resulted in the execution of King Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England in 1649, which halted the settlement.

The colonization of Carolina began in earnest after the Restoration in 1660. In 1663, King Charles II granted the land to the Lords Proprietors, eight noblemen who had helped him regain the throne. The Province of Carolina, named by the king after his late father, was established on March 24, 1663.

As the colony grew, it became clear that its northern and southern regions had little in common and operated mostly independently from each other. Due to disputes over governance, Carolina was split into North and South Carolina in 1712. Seventeen years later, the Carolinas became Crown colonies.

North Carolina was one of the Thirteen Colonies that rebelled against British rule, as well as the first colony to formally declare independence from Britain by adopting the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776. On November 21, 1789, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

National North Carolina Day is unofficially celebrated on August 28, which does not coincide with the state’s anniversary of admission. It is part of National Day Calendar’s National State Days project, which was launched in 2017 to celebrate the history and culture of each state in the order in which they joined the Union.