VA-Z220 North Carolina

Marker text: NORTH CAROLINA

England first attempted to colonize the New World in present-day North Carolina at Roanoke Island in 1585. Originally a part of Virginia, North Carolina became a separate colony when King Charles II issued a charter in 1663. Meeting in Halifax, North Carolina, on 12 April 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Assembly, was the first state legislature to authorized its delegates to the Continental Congress to support the independence of the American colonies from Great Britain. Raleigh (named for Sir Walter Raleigh, patron of the Roanoke colony), has the state capital since 1792.

Department of Historic Resources, 2002.