Top 5 Places to Visit in North Carolina

NORTH CAROLINA -- Visiting North Carolina and want to know the 5 top places to see? 

Maybe you're a resident and would like to go play tourist where you live! Let's look at the 5 top places, according to U.S.A.

1) The North Carolina Zoo in the rolling hills of North Carolina. Over 500 acres, more than 1,000 creatures and over 200 species. South of Asheboro, and the zoo is open every day, except Christmas.

2) The Halifax State Historic Site

How about an hour free guided tour, taking you around to historic sites. Historic private homes, two hostelries, the cemetery, and jailhouse.

3) The Uwharrie Mountains Wine Trail. This trail is 42 miles long, most of the trail runs from Salisbury to Albermarle. he Old Stone Winery (www.osvwinery.com) lists 18 wines as available in its tasting room and also has a gift shop. Uwharrie Vineyards (uwharrievineyards.com) lists six wines and offers a picnic area.

4) The Road to Nowhere

The Road to Nowhere is a real road running from Bryson City and ending at a tunnel within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (nps.gov). Head out of Bryson City along Everett Street, passing Swain County High School and continuing straight on until you reach a sign reading “The Road to Nowhere – A Promise Broken.” The road ends at a barrier with the tunnel beyond. Following the federal government taking over vast swathes of land to create Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, many generations-old homesites and cemeteries were swallowed up or made inaccessible. The old Swain County road ended up beneath the waters of the new lake. The government agreed to replace the road, but construction halted at the tunnel because of environmental issues. Park at the nearby campground, and visit three well-marked waterfall trails.

5) Underground Railroad Sites

The Underground Railroad was a network of both black and white people dedicated to helping runaway slaves, escaping the Southern states, to reach the North and Canada. Most active between 1780 and 1862, the North Carolinian extent of the Railway began in the Spanish moss-shrouded waterways of the Great Dismal Swamp and -- for many escapees -- ended at the Freedman’s Colony established by a Union presence on Roanoke Island. In 1862, Confederate forces were roundly defeated on the island; afterward, runaways knew that crossing the creek meant crossing to a safe haven. The Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (nps.gov) encompasses remains of this chapter of America’s past, along with several relics of England’s earliest settlements in the New World dating back to 1584.