National Park Service
A Study of the Park and Recreation Problem of the United States 		NPS Logo

NORTH CAROLINA

THIS STATE has a population of 3,750,000, of which approximately a million are Negroes. Its white population is heaviest in the central Piedmont section, while the Negro race is principally concentrated in the east-central part of the State. The population is growing rapidly, particularly in the industrial central Piedmont section. Due to the rapid industrial development, the State is now about equally balanced between agriculture and industry. While the wealth of the State has been increased tremendously by its industrial development, a majority of its people are relatively low in economic status.

The State's principal resources are its mountains with their scenery and cool summer climate, and its extensive seashore. Both of these resources are of such excellence as to make them of outstanding value as vacation resorts. There is now under development a system of four State parks, three for the white race and one for Negroes, and one historic site. Additional areas are needed in the industrial Piedmont section and the heavily populated agricultural section of eastern Carolina. Additional Negro parks are also needed in the Greensboro-High Point, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and eastern Carolina regions. There is also a great need for extensive ocean frontage, for the preservation of historic sites, and for an extensive program of stream control to eliminate pollution and silting which now greatly reduce recreational value of streams. Zoning legislation to control recreation developments by private capital and to eliminate billboards and other such detrimental features along the highways is badly needed to protect the State's recreational resources from unwise exploitations.

map
(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)



FEDERAL

National park:
3. Great Smoky Mountains229,434.42

National military parks:
13. Guilford Courthouse148.83
22. Moores Creek30
     Total
178.83

National seashore project:
34. Cape Hatteras4462,500

National memorial:
35. Kill Devil Hill314.40

Recreational demonstration area:
20. Crabtree Creek4,983.46

National forests:
1. Nantahala322,365
4. Pisgah449,662
18. Uharie Purchase Unit22,992
29. Croatan116,625
     Total
1911,644

National wildlife areas:
32. Swanquarter Migratory Bird Refuge15,500
33. Lake Mattamuskett Migratory Waterfowl Refuge50,144
37. Pea Island5,879
     Total
71,523

National parkway:
5. Blue Ridge11,898.3835,500


INTERSTATE

Trailway:
2. Appalachian



STATE

State parks:
7. Mount Mitchell1,224
8. Rendezvous Mountain140
12. Hanging Rock3,000
17. Morrow Mountain4,135
19. Sand Hills Development Project21,600
21. Jones and Satters Lake Development Project2225
28. Pettigrew16,800
30. Fort Macon500
38. Cape Hatteras1,100
     Total
28,724

Proposed State parks:
9. Burke County

10. Gaston or Mecklenburg County

11. Mecklenburg County

15. Guilford or Forsyth County

25. Onslow

26. Wayne County

27. Wilson County

31. Carteret County


State monument:
36. Fort Raleigh16

State wildlife area:
24. Holly Shelter94,000


LOCAL

County parks:
41. Guilford (4 areas)93
44. New Hanover (1 area)90
     Total
183

Municipal parks:
6. Asheville (2 areas)250
14. Greensboro (1 area)235
16. High Point (3 areas)1,016
23. Wilmington (1 area)175
39. Gastonia (2 areas)20
40. Charlotte (1 area)120
42. Durham (2 areas)345
43. Henderson (1 area)75
     Total
1,936

1 Areas under Federal administration June 1938

2 Soil Conservation Service projects transferred to State for administration. Acreage given is portion being developed for recreation.

3 Acreage of only 1 area reported.


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park-recreation-problem/north_carolina.htm
Last Updated: 18-May-2016