NORTH CAROLINA 



4260 



NORTH CAROLINA 



nent author, who kept the schools in session 

 during the War of Secession, and for his wise 

 reforms was called the "Horace Mann of the 

 South." 



The system is administered by a state board 

 of education consisting of the superintendent 

 of public instruction, the governor, lieutenant- 

 governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor 

 and attorney-general. County schools are di- 

 rected by county superintendents and local 

 committees. Although the illiteracy is high, 

 averaging 18.5 per cent, it is exceeded in seven 

 of the Southern and South-Central states. A 

 compulsory education law has been passed, and 

 in 1914 about two-thirds of the school popula- 

 tion were enroled in schools. High standards 

 are encouraged by a state appropriation of 

 $2,500 or less for instruction in industrial arts 

 and farm life, to be given to county schools 

 meeting certain requirements. In 1914 there 

 were fifteen farm-life schools in twelve coun- 

 ties. 



Separate schools are maintained for negroes 

 and Croatan Indians. The state maintains nor- 

 mal schools for white teachers at Greensboro 

 and Greenville, and for the colored at Eliza- 

 beth City, Fayetteville and Winston-Salem ; 

 also the College of Agriculture and Mechanical 

 Arts at West Raleigh. Other well-known insti- 

 tutions of higher education are : the University 

 of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Davidson 

 College at Davidson; Trinity College at Dur- 

 ham; Elon College at Elon; Guilford College 

 at Guilford; Lenoir College at Hickory; Ca- 

 tawba College at Newton; Meredith College 

 at Raleigh ; Wake Forest College at Wake For- 

 est; Saint Mary's College at Belmont. Promi- 

 nent among the woman's colleges are: Eliza- 

 beth College at Charlotte; Greensboro Female 

 College at Greensboro, and Presbyterian col- 

 leges at Red Springs and Charlotte. Institu- 

 tions for the negroes are: Biddle University at 

 Charlotte ; Shaw University at Raleigh ; Living- 

 ston College at Salisbury. 



North Carolina was one of the pioneer states 

 of the South in the systematic care of defective 

 and dependent classes. A board of charities 

 controls charitable and correctional institutions, 

 including hospitals at Morgantown, Raleigh 

 and Goldsboro; an .institution for the feeble- 

 minded at Kingston; a tuberculosis sanitarium 

 at Aberdeen; a school for the white deaf at 

 Morganton; institutions for the white blind 

 and colored blind and deaf, a soldiers' home 

 and the state prison at Raleigh; a colored or- 

 phanage at Oxford; a training school at Con- 



cord. There are many private homes and hos- 

 pitals under the indirect control of the board, 

 which are legally a part of the system of pub- 

 lic charil: 



The Land. The state includes the three well- 

 marked surface divisions of Eastern United 

 States the coastal plain occupying the eastern 

 half of the state, the Piedmont plateau in the 

 central section, and the Appalachian system in 

 the west. 



The coastal plain, or "low country," 100 to 

 150 miles in width, rises gradually from the 

 coast lagoons and swamps of moss-hung cedar 

 and cypress, to level, sandy pine barrens. The 

 most extensive tract of swamp land is the Dis- 

 mal Swamp, lying partly in Virginia. Along the 

 streams there are forests of gum trees, and 

 south of the Cape Fear River there are luxu- 

 riant groves of palmettos, magnolias, the mock 

 orange and American olive. A narrow barrier 

 of sand beaches stretches 325 miles along the 

 entire coast, enclosing Albemarle and Pamlico 

 sounds and smaller, tideless lagoons and bays. 

 The bar projects in prominent points at Cape 

 Hatteras, Cape Lookout and Cape Fear, which 

 are bordered by dangerous shoals and washed 

 by treacherous currents. 



The Piedmont plateau, popularly called the 

 "up country," rising abruptly 200 feet above the 

 coastal plain and extending to the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains, is at its greatest width in North 

 Carolina. Its undulating fields merge into bold 

 and rugged hills near its western extremity. It 

 is the most thickly settled and most highly cul- 

 tivated and developed region of the state. 



The Blue Ridge Mountains, marking the 

 eastern boundary of the Appalachian region, 

 rise precipitously above the Piedmont plateau, 

 reaching an altitude of 4,000 feet in the north. 

 These mountains are densely forested to their 

 domelike summits. West of this range, in the 

 Black Mountains and the Great Smoky Moun- 

 tains of the Unaka Range, the cliffs are steep 

 and the peaks pointed and bare. The lower 

 slopes are heavily wooded and covered with a 

 luxuriant undergrowth of mosses, ferns, rhodo- 

 dendrons, magnolias and azaleas of rare beauty. 

 There are many beautiful waterfalls in the 

 mountain ravines, and swift streams thread the 

 narrow, deep valleys. The Unaka Range, Black 

 Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains consti- 

 tute the largest and highest mountain masses 

 of Eastern United States. The loftiest peak 

 east of the Rockies is Mount Mitchell, which 

 rises 6,711 feet in the Black Mountains. Other 

 noteworthy peaks are Black Brother and Hairy 



