Just outside Bryson City, inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is a road named Lakeview Drive. If you follow it, it will lead you to a dead end at a tunnel – an unfinished project from the 1940s that was promised after Swain County gave up much of its private land to the federal government to create Fontana Lake and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
You can experience many of the plants and animals of Canada while walking through the southern Appalachians at Mount Mitchell State Park. Standing at 6,684 feet, the summit is the highest point in the eastern United States and one of the must-do mountain adventures in North Carolina.
Gem mining is a popular activity for visitors to North Carolina, and when it comes to emeralds, the Hiddenite area in Alexander County is unmatched. The largest and longest emeralds ever found in North America were discovered in the Hiddenite area, which is home to Emerald Hollow Mine, the only emerald mine in the US open to the public for prospecting.
Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord is a mecca for motorsports fans and thrill-seekers alike. Home to major NASCAR events like the Coca-Cola 600 and the Bank of America ROVAL™ 400, the track offers high-octane excitement in every season.
Imagine world-class whitewater rapids that can intensify or lessen at your request. Visitors to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte can live that experience at the largest manmade whitewater channel system in the world and the only outdoor recreation center of its size and kind.
Adventure to what feels like your own private island in the coastal town of Swansboro. As part of Hammocks Beach State Park, Huggins Island is 225 acres of undeveloped land that's home to a maritime swamp forest listed as a Globally Rare and Significant Area.
Escaped from Spanish ships, North Carolina's wild horses have run freely for nearly 500 years on the Outer Banks beaches of Corolla and on the Shackleford Banks in the Crystal Coast. The best way to see them is on a wild horse vehicle tour or a trip with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
As many Nicholas Sparks fans know, nearly all of his books and movies are set in different parts of North Carolina; he even resides in New Bern.
The sands and constant wind of the Outer Banks make the area the perfect destination for gliding on the air. In fact, Orville Wright set the world record for gliding in the Outer Banks several years after his historic flight.
The coast of North Carolina has inspired mankind for centuries, but on Dec. 17, 1903, the pull reached new heights. Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved man's first successful heavier-than-air, powered, controlled flight that day at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk.